<<Don wrote,
" Never a problem. Last year (tax year 2010), I has 70 of them. The total of
the W2Gs is listed under miscellaneous income. My accountant e-files".
But is it a matter that you've been lucky to not get caught?
So you just put it under miscellaneous income with no mention that it is
"certain gambling winnings"?
Seems risky, that is unless one doesn't mind tangling with the irs and
having to explain everything to them. I'm glad it's worked for you but I
don't know if I could stand to do it.>>
My best guess is that your accountant is simply repeating what his tax
software is telling him. A couple years ago I looked at the actual content
being e-filed and there was no data corresponding to individual W-2G amounts
or other information on those forms. Now it may have changed the last year
or two, but in the past all I've heard from other high-limit gamblers is
that as long as the amount on line 21 is greater than or equal to the total
of the W-2Gs the IRS won't question it. If it's less, you will likely get a
letter audit. My point is that while the tax software asks you to type in
all that data for each W-2G, it doesn't actually use it other than to total
the amounts as far as I can tell.
Cogno
