Casino Win Loss Statements IRS

Anyone who won more than $1199.99 in a US casino needs to pay taxes on their winnings. If you are Canadian, the taxes were deducted immediately by the casino before you received your winnings. This can be very frustrating. However, in most cases, the taxes you paid can be eliminated entirely or at least reduced by a significant amount. US taxpayers typically will not have taxes deducted immediately. They are supposed to include the income in their IRS forms and pay whatever taxes are due at that time. Always ask for a casino win loss statement from the casinos after year-end.

Casino Win Loss Statements for Claims

Anyone who plans to claim a refund on the taxes that were paid needs to file an IRS tax statement by April 15^th of the following year. They are allowed to deduct any losses they may have incurred while they were gambling against their winnings. They can reduce the amount of tax they need to pay.

This is where win loss statements are very important. After Jan 1^st, call your casino or go to the player’s club to find out how you can arrange to receive a win loss statement. Some will send it by regular mail in a few weeks, while others will have it online for you to download.

These statements can be very enlightening. For example, they could say you wagered over $50,000, won $49500 for a net loss of only $500. The $500 is the important number and the one that can be used to reduce the taxes you will pay on your winnings. But the scary thing is that you may not feel that you have gambled so much. You win a bit and lose a bit when you go to the casino. It is this churn that generates the huge numbers quoted above.

Re quest all of the win-loss statements from the casinos you play at and use these numbers to help decrease the total tax you are paying on your gambling winnings.

For more posts about claiming tax losses on gambling winnings, click here.

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