Accountant?

[SG4]

Anyone have a good accountant in NY/NJ area who is well versed at dealing with gambling winnings? Feel free to PM me with details, thanks.

[garyscpa]

Anyone have a good accountant in NY/NJ area who is well versed at dealing with gambling winnings? Feel free to PM me with details, thanks.

The winnings are easy to deal with. It's writing off the losers where you are at risk.

[MikeH]

Here's the response, on another forum, from a tax guy in New Jersey I know, asking him if he was interested...

=====
Thanks for the offer <g>, but I agree with the response posted in the thread. It's all in dealing with the losers. Assuming for now that these winnings are from horse bets based on where the post was made, there isn't much that can be done except retain evidence of the losing bets. I've heard stories, perhaps apocryphal, perhaps not, of a gambler who picked up lots of discarded losing stubs to use against a big win and the IRS was able to disallow them by tracing the teller information on the tickets and proving that it was impossible to place bets simultaneously at different parts of the same track.
=====

You can only write off the losers as an "itemized deduction," unless you file a Schedule C and call yourself a professional gambler. Unless you have a home loan, for most people this doesn't really work, because the IRS gives you a minimum itemized deduction amount from $6,000 - $12,000, depending on your marital status. If you'd like to talk, call me. I'm on the West Coast. Most accountants should know how to deal with this. The best way to find one is from friends.

Mike Hartfield, CPA
Small Business CFO, Taxes, Accounting & Quickbooks Advisor
Office: 323/259-0587 • Cell: 818/433-5359
Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mike-hartfield/15/306/961

[sunshine]

Anyone have a good accountant in NY/NJ area who is well versed at dealing with gambling winnings? Feel free to PM me with details, thanks.

Avoid expensive accountants and move to UK where winnings from gambling are not taxable.

[therussmeister]

Avoid expensive accountants and move to UK where winnings from gambling are not taxable.
If you are a citizen of either the United States or Eritrea you still have to pay pay income taxes regardless of where you earned the income. In fact there are foreign born United States citizens (children of U.S. citizens) which have never set foot in this country that still have to pay taxes to the U.S.

[MonmouthParkJoe]

I was in public and private for eleven years before making this jump into the industry. I deal with my own personal W-2Gs on a yearly basis with my taxes, and it is true about being careful about "netting" the losers. Honestly depends on how much in winnings you have. It is low risk in my opinion if we are talking a couple thousand. With so many people using an ADW or a players card that tracks play, you can easily prove what you lost. I have seen plenty of people that walk around picking up tickets off the ground to net. The IRS has limited resources to really investigate these things. So, $10k-$20k wouldnt raise a flag, especially if this is something that you have done over the years. Once you get into the higher amounts, especially if it is your first time ever with a W-2G, that is when the risk is higher.

[MikeH]

+1 to MonmouthParkJoe.

[green80]

deducting your losses up to the amount you have won should not be a problem. When you try to deduct losses against other earned income is where the trouble starts.

[AndyC]

The winnings are easy to deal with. It's writing off the losers where you are at risk.


The winnings are easy to deal with but 99.9% of gamblers don't report the proper amount of winnings. They only report the winnings shown on a W-2G. Being able to deduct losing bets requires good record keeping and those records would include winnings from cashed tickets that didn't require a sign-up at the IRS window.

[AndyC]

deducting your losses up to the amount you have won should not be a problem. When you try to deduct losses against other earned income is where the trouble starts.

Hopefully your tax software would prevent you from deducting losses greater than your winnings.

[tanner12oz]

I claim.losses vs winnings every year..most ever has been around 8k I think. I get my statement from my adw, statements from local casinos..couple hundred here..couple hundred there quickly adds up

[EMD4ME]

Detest this topic. NY state and city charge me about 3% per w-2g. fed is nice. Let's you write off all winnings. City and state don't. Only a %. Costs me thousands per year. And when you have gainful employment, you can't file as a professional gambler.