ok so i filed as a pro the last 2 years and this will be my third year doing so. in the previous two i never cashed for over $5k (or whatever the min# is) in any live tournaments, so i never recieved a W-2G form "Certain Gambling Winnings". in 2009 i cashed for two pretty big scores that made up most of my profits during the year.

i'm filing on the H&R Block website and i'm a bit confused as to what i need to do. under income, they have a section ("Gambling W-2G") where you can fill out W-2G forms with the Payer's info and gross winnings. however, having a negative number for the rest of my poker playing for the year (negative live cash games, negative online tourneys, negative live tourneys (not including the scores) and small positive online cash)), would i file those under gambling losses? from reading the sticky and some links from it, it seems like pros are only supposed to subtract the losses from the wins and just come up with a net number, if that's so then should i just not fill out the W-2G sections and just include those scores in my total net income? are W-2G's basically for non pro filers to fill out/for pros to keep records?

hopefully this isn't too confusing, let me know if i can clarify anything. thanks

Pros don't net wins and losses. They are reported as separate figures both on the Schedule C Profit or Loss from Business. The wins go on as income; the losses go on as an expense. Your W2-G amount would be included in your income figure on your Schedule C. The H&R software probably doesn't accomodate this - does it let you assign a W2-G (or any W2) to a Schedule C? If not, you should just count it as part of your Schedule C income, and mail your return with a letter and copy of the W2-G, explaining that this income was counted by you on the Schedule C as a professional gambler.

i believe it does, under the "gambling w2g" section it asks you to copy what the actual w2g form you received says. so i should fill those out and then under gambling losses i add in the tourney buy ins+ live cash game losses?

The problem with using software like H&R Block's is that it can sometimes be hard to figure out what it's doing. Most people who get W-2Gs will be putting the Box 1 amount as "other income," but you want to include it as gross receipts on your Sch C business. Since Block wasn't exactly made with professional gamblers in mind, it might not let you do this, or it could let you do it but not be clear about it.

In any case, the right thing to do is include the W-2G income, along with your other winning sessions, in gross receipts, and record your losing sessions as other expenses.

Tourney buy-ins for tournaments that you get in the money are netted against your payout for that session's win amount. Tourney buy-ins for tournaments that you don't get in the money are added to your losses (along with your live cash game session losses).

ah damn i just submitted my return through turbotax. filed a schedule c but didn't add this 5k video poker win into my calculations. instead i just used the part of their software that lets you file your W-2G separately. could this cause me some problems? if so, what should i do?

If the return doesn't get rejected when you e-file, you can file an amended tax return (1040X), make the appropriate changes, then mail in your return.

It will not get rejected for this. Kev is right though you will need to file a 1040X or wait and expect a love note from Uncle Sam.

I agree it won't be rejected for this reason, but there could have been something else that trips up the e-file. I should have clarified that in my post above.

Real Basic Question that I think I asked last year.

where on scched C do the wins and losses go. I think last year I put wins in Section I line 1. and losses on line 48 page 2.

I also sent the IRS a printout of my spreadsheet so they could see everything. do you think that is all right?

Sounds good. Just remember to carry the losses from line 48 over to the front of the form, on line 27.

And the IRS doesn't care about your spreadsheet unless your return gets selected for examination. Next time you can skip it and save the $0.05 for printing.

one last question... when filing your passive income (stocks sales, dividends,etc) do you just include that figure in your schedule C or are you supposed to file the separate forms?

Need to file Schedules D and B. Investing in stocks is a different economic activity than your Schedule C business.

ty

Got in postoffice a 4:50. Thanks all.

Hi there,

2016 is my first year filing as a professional poker player (I've been playing full time as my sole source of income for most of the year). Most of my winnings are from cash games, but I did receive a W-2G for a tournament cash of $8,677. Since I'm filing as a professional, I assume I should just include the net result in my business income, correct? My concern is that if I don't put anything in the W-2G section, it'll raise a red flag. How do other professionals address this?

I'm looking for the answer to this exact question. BUMP

If you are a pro it goes on Sch C. If you are concerned about a matching issue input the W2-G to reflect the winnings and then do an entry in the other income section as a negative amount of the W2G

Just be quite clear in the disclosure. Say something like "Amount correctly reported on Sch C for professional gambling winnings"


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