Sorry, your statement "if you don't itemize and report less than the sum of your total W2-G's as income you're looking at a nasty letter from the IRS" does not make any sense to me.
Why would the IRS get mad if you report all your W2-G income and pay taxes on it?
Lakeshore Law Center
Jeffrey Wilens, Esq.
18340 Yorba Linda Blvd.
No. 107-610
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
714-854-7205
714-854-7206 (fax)
_____________________________________
This message is sent by a law firm and may contain information that is privileged or confidential. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete it. For additional information, please visit our website at www.lakeshorelaw.org
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 2:29 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] Stimulus check
Jeffery,
Gamblers are already aware of what you are saying here except that W2-G's create specialized reporting issues in that if you don't report at least the sum of your W2-G's as Other Income any loss offset looks suspect and if you don't itemize and report less than the sum of your total W2-G's as income you're looking at a nasty letter from the IRS and a likely assessment by your state. Yes there is now a way to create session results from multiple W2's but the IRS is still having a tough time believing them and States an even worse time believing them..
Facts are, casual gamblers do not report their wins and most do not win anyway. Also facts are professional gamblers are not playing to beat the game, they're playing to beat casino marketing.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2020, 2:20 PM Jeffrey Wilens jeff@lakeshorelaw.org [vpFREE] <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
You do realize a W2-G is a tax reporting document and is NOT intended for tax avoidance. You have to pay taxes on gambling winnings. It's just that they are only reported by the casino if the amount is $1200. By comparison, any income over $600 is reported on 1099 to non-gamblers. So, I really don't know what y0u are complaining about. Gamblers have advantages in avoiding taxes over non-gamblers.
It sounds like many here should consider themselves professional gamblers. Anyone who thinks they can make a decent living (what, $15 per hour?) playing 600 hands of VP per hour (like a robot) should probably consider that to be a trade.
Casual gamblers like me play at a much slower clip for entertainment value and I have never won $1200 or more in a single hand. Gambling losses are similar to a night at a concert with dinner and I would not write those off.
Lakeshore Law Center
Jeffrey Wilens, Esq.
18340 Yorba Linda Blvd.
No. 107-610
Yorba Linda, CA 92886
714-854-7205
714-854-7206 (fax)
_____________________________________
This message is sent by a law firm and may contain information that is privileged or confidential. If you received this transmission in error, please notify the sender by reply e-mail and delete it. For additional information, please visit our website at www.lakeshorelaw.org
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 2:02 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] Stimulus check
The doubling of the standard deduction has chilled my desire to gamble for more than quarters..
I've long wondered why the American Gaming Association https://www.americangaming.org/ has never turned its lobbyists loose on the law that requires a W2-G to be issued for wins of $1,200 or higher. It would make only a tiny dent in federal and state tax receipts, simplify casinos' bookkeeping, and connect the tax laws to common sense.
Someone else posted that taxes aren't fair; nowhere is that more true than here. There aren't many folks who actually have a gambling profit for a year unless they happen to hit a mammoth jackpot. I know that "income" broadly defined means any money received, but with other income generating activities, the recipient is allowed to deduct offsetting expenses/losses. Even for degenerate gamblers like us, the tax laws' definition of "taxable income" should have some relationship to "profit."
Or, if Congress can't be that reasonable, at least increase the W2-G threshhold to a much higher amount. It's been $1,200 for as long as I can remember. $1,200 in 1980 had the same purchasing power as $3,759 today. A $5,000 threshhold would suit this former $1 VP player but many people who have large actual net losses would need a higher threshhold to escape governmental abuse.
GMan.
On Wed, Apr 22, 2020 at 3:15 PM Marsha Cuddington mcuddington@hotmail.com [vpFREE] <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Deduction of losses against winnings still worked for me on the federal, but some states don't allow that. That's where I got burned. Returned to my home state of NC, which had always been "safe", only to find that they had changed the tax code. There are several states that way now, so I wonder if this nasty trend is growing! Indiana and Ohio had the same rules so maybe it's just following me…..
Thinking Nevada would be the last state to burn gamblers, so it's still on my list for places to retire 😉
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 22, 2020 12:26 AM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [vpFREE] Stimulus check
You can deduct the losings if you itemize -- I've been doing it for years -- up to the amount of your winnings -- but starting last year (2018) I was unable to itemize because the standard deduction was higher, and I therefore got hit with tax on my winnings, while my larger losses did me no good. Again in 2019. Likewise charitable deductions; we've downsized and have been clearing out gobs of accumulated goods donated to Goodwill and similar, but no deduction anymore.
But nobody ever said taxes were "fair" -- nobody :)
--------------
On Tuesday, April 21, 2020, 08:06:38 PM EDT, William Lobuzzetta LOBO1971L@netscape.net [vpFREE] <vpfree@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Its not fair to not deduct the losings and then total your income
-----Original Message-----
From: Marsha Cuddington mcuddington@hotmail.com [vpFREE] <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tue, Apr 21, 2020 8:02 pm
Subject: RE: [vpFREE] Stimulus check
Yes and (UGH), just had to pay a whopping tax bill due to those W2Gs. Closing the casinos protects me in more ways than one!
From: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com <vpFREE@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Tuesday, April 21, 2020 7:59 PM
To: vpFREE@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [vpFREE] Stimulus check
Anyone else not getting a stimulus check because W2-g income was too high?😡.
Sent from my iPhone
Posted by: Barry Glazer <b.glazer@att.net>
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