Are You Tax Efficient With Your Gambling Habbits?

[EarnOnVictor]

Now I'm quite curious how other gamblers are managing this part of the story, if they manage it at all.

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

Gambling tax law has ever been a subject of controversy and even in the same country, it's often mistaken at times. However, what you've expressed above has said a lot about it, and different countries view gambling taxes differently, and hence they tax it differently. In my country Nigeria, no government cares about your tax losses or gains, they only have a 7% tax on the casinos/sportsbooks which is similar but far lower than what is happening in the UK.

I think this is fair enough as the house is the one that makes the consistent earnings, not the bettors.

[3kpk3]

Taxes for gambling? Am tired of paying taxes for so many things already which is why paying more taxes especially for gambling is a big 'NO' for me. Gambling is already a risky venture and taxes would just amplify the risk factor.

I truly pity the people who are forced to pay taxes for gambling in some countries.

[Kakmakr]

In my country we pay "Capital Gains" taxes on all the bitcoins that we converted into fiat... and for that, there are paper work that can trace that conversion. You only need to declare the origin of the money, if you get audited... and then things gets interresting.. because a lot of the smaller casinos do not keep records of your gambling activities.

They actually keep record of all withdrawals and all deposits, so it is easy to see what you profits were, when you minus the withdrawals from the deposits that you made within the tax period. (Most people do not make a profit.) 

[stadus]

Perhaps in other countries with strict taxation laws, especially regarding gambling, they have a well-defined system for compliance. However, in my case, I haven't heard of gamblers in our country being required to pay taxes on their winnings. Therefore, I don't pay taxes on my winnings. Though, in reality, I'm not really winning overall, so it feels like a double loss on my part – losing while paying taxes.

If they were to require it, I believe making casinos withholding tax agents would ensure that gamblers pay what is due to the government.

[dimonstration]

Now I'm quite curious how other gamblers are managing this part of the story, if they manage it at all.

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

A very intriguing topic hich I ponder a lot whenever I’m on profit side. Our country doesn’t strictly regulate tax on online casino. They are leaving it to the citizens for voluntarily pay and file taxes since our government doesn’t have enough man power to strictly regulate us all.

I don’t pay taxes myself on my gambling activities since it’s too painful to document all my expenses and pay for it on the office located on the city which is very far away on my house. Online payment here is not working so I decided to just skip since our government doesn’t care. But if I will be given a chance to live near the BIR office here then I will pay taxes if I’m on profit.  

[slapper]

 Being a gambler myself and not a US resident, I've always found the tax landscape quite interesting. I can see how the UK, Canada, and Australia, for instance, make life a tad simpler for their gamblers. No tedious forms or a calculator at hand to know if you owe the taxman after every blackjack round

Now, personally, I've never been enticed to declare my winnings or deduct my losses. Why? Because the onus is on the tax authority to track every hand of poker I play. Not my job, right? Until they bring clarity to their vague terms and processes, why should I voluntarily jump into a bureaucratic mess? However, if they tighten the noose, maybe I'll reconsider

[YOSHIE]

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

Never mind paying taxes, just gambling winnings, there is no intention to inform the public, let alone the tax authorities, Basically online gambling in my area is mostly illegal, but even though gambling is illegal we are still safe and we can go in to gamble, you could say it is illegal but legal, This means that online gambling secretly pays taxes to the authorities, but not from users, only from the online gambling industry.

We gamble without having to pay anything to the state/taxes, even if we win large amounts, users are free to take their winnings and it's up to them, wherever they take the gambling money, they are free without any collection.

[Saisher]

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

We do not have a provision that asks about our gambling wins and losses so people here do not have to include that I myself do not include it, not making a profit from gambling whatever I win I eventually lose it all and since its recreational for me recreational experience I believe should be tax, because I'm not really not gaining anything from my gambling activities.
The one that our government is taxing is gambling platforms online and offline, especially coming from winning the government gets a huge cut on these winnings.

[Gozie51]

Taxing here is for those who are gainfully employed and not just for side husslers because gambling is not recognised as source of income or livelihood. Those who are employed are those that are taxed because it is easier to deduct it from source, that is salary and more people that are taxed are those having account with government like business organizations but for gamblers who are not even sure to win, they don't report winnings likewise or would you be repayed back your losses? No body returns what you have lost since it is not recognised source of income.

[Eureka_07]

In the PH afaik, there is a law though afaik that requires gambling winnings from a certain amount to be taxed (I'm not familiar with how much), but I don't think the government actively looking for tax traders of gambling winnings. I've never filed one in my entire life to be fair (don't report me  ), but I don't think I've ever won anything big enough that I need to pay tax for it, at least from what I know. I never really looked up the minimum amount needed for tax reports anyway.

Maybe if I win a big jackpot then I'd move my way to file my taxes for it, but for small amounts? Not worth the personal effort (unless they actively require it ofc).

From the tax code, it is stated that anything above 10,000 pesos of winnings are subjective to being taxable. I am not sure of it, but that was what I read recently. You could verify it to BIR's website. This tax code though is not very clear and specific though, so until now, the topic of whether you should file it or not is still a debate.
They also say that you won't be able to tax deductible your losses if you are not a professional gambler, how unfair if that is true.

[so98nn]

In India it is mandatory to show the income from gambling sites. We consider it as Virtual assets and other income under one of the section of Taxation. However it is another case whether we show that income or not. For business personnel it is very easy to adjust the various income slots and lesson the income from gambling sites or at least show it that way. The tax can be lowered that way. However when it comes to an individual full tax slots need to be paid. If we are playing and earning in the form Bitcoin then anything sold off in terms of bitcoin would be considered as 30% tax slot. It’s way better to just hold the winnings and keep them safe in wallet.

[Coin_trader]

Now I'm quite curious how other gamblers are managing this part of the story, if they manage it at all.

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

Tax code in my country which is the Philippines is pretty vague when it comes to gambling winnings, although it says that if my winnings are around 200 USD below are taxed at 10% while anything above would be taxed at 20% pretty big to be honest and this is the first time that I've known of this because I don't think the Revenue Service in my country hasn't been on my ass yet for taxes regarding gambling winnings, I only play poker though so it's possible casinos and lottery wins are a different thing.

I believe you use this article https://www.legalonlinecasinos.ph/laws/faqs/ as reference to your statement since there’s a similarity on the tax part. I suggest that you should drop source link if you will post like that since the thought is not yours.

Also this percentage for tax is applicable for lottery winnings and tax varies on the type of gambling games which the profit get.

But yeah, Gambling tax in our country is not regulated. Only those gambling that operated by PAGCOR licensed gambling provider are being audit for tax.

[Slow death]

In my country the lottery winners that won over $200 they are already automatically deducted with 20% tax on it meaning you wont received your full winnings because it was already deducted 20% in that shop and they are the one who will remit it to the tax department.

The lottery part was always interesting, every country has some type of "national" lottery and usually that framework is automatically (and heavily) taxed. If someone wins a million on the lottery, they don't even get a chance to get the whole amount onto their bank account, the tax is automatically deducted before they even get the winnings.

In my country, lottery games only pay tax at the time of purchasing the lottery ticket, for example if a lottery company puts the price of a lottery ticket as $1.50 per ticket, then it is because that company has already told you that 16% will be deducted. tax on each ticket that each person buys, while the winner does not pay any tax, if he wins 1 million dollars, it will be 1 million dollars that he will have in his bank account. In the case of physical casinos in my country, when people win money in the physical casino they are charged tax, this 17% tax amount is removed every time the person makes a bet and not when they win money and want to withdraw from the casino

In the case of online casinos it is the same thing, but this only applies to online casinos in my country that use fiat from my country to make deposits, play and make withdrawals, tax is also deducted on each bet. In the case of crypto casinos, we do not pay taxes because in my country there are no laws on cryptocurrency taxes yet. Cryptocurrencies are accepted in my country but the government has not yet thought about charging taxes

That's why we don't pay tax for people who play in crypto casinos. At least for now this is a good thing, especially because the taxes we pay the government takes and spends unnecessarily to enrich themselves and everyone in their family. I see that it should be fair that the rich who have big companies also pay the same amount of taxes that a poor person pays, but in my country, the shitty government we have, keeps giving exemptions and reducing the amount of taxes for the rich and big companies. something wrong

[darkangel11]

I'm very efficient, being in the UK.
Even if it was required to report gains from gambling, I'd keep it a secret since it's all in cryptocurrency, at least until I ever decide to trade it, but it can take years and I don't even know if I'll be a citizen of the country I'm at now when that happens. Don't overdo it with taxes, that's one of the important things I've learned in life. You have to understand what you have to pay and what you can skip and thread carefully on the line that separates the two

[3kpk3]

At least for now this is a good thing, especially because the taxes we pay the government takes and spends unnecessarily to enrich themselves and everyone in their family. I see that it should be fair that the rich who have big companies also pay the same amount of taxes that a poor person pays, but in my country, the shitty government we have, keeps giving exemptions and reducing the amount of taxes for the rich and big companies. something wrong

It's the same almost everywhere. Taxes don't really affect the rich or poor and we all know why. The ones who are badly affected are the middle-class. None of this will ever change if you ask me.

Crypto gambling sites provide one of the very, very few ways for the middle class to avoid paying taxes.

[iv4n]

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

Well, my country is pretty relaxed for now, and I am not sure if there are some regulations about gambling winnings, except for the national lottery and those scratching cards that we can buy everywhere, but I am not touching them.

The US has some interesting laws, but I wonder how many Americans actually follow these rules... I doubt I will report myself and my gambling winnings just like that!

[qwertyup23]

[....]
If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

I hardly make a big bank from gambling on a yearly basis so it doesn't make sense to even add that to the income tax returns. I think authorities should only go after casinos since they rarely end up in a loss. It's probably more costly for them to go after most casual gamblers that don't even keep a record of their wins and losses.

I agree with your statement.

The profit/loss that I have incurred during my whole gambling spree is relatively insignificant that I would had to pay some sort of tax for it to be demandable by the government. Sure, I have won $5-$20 at most and lost way more than what I have betted as a whole. The tax issue in gambling is something that I have overlooked, let alone that I neglected.

Maybe I was ignorant of that time or perhaps the enforceability of our laws is not strictly applied to the point that everything has to be reflected on our tax declarations.

[Findingnemo]

In my country, I need to report gambling winning as part of my income and about 10% has to be paid as tax but I don't remember the exact figure since I haven't gambled on fiat-based casinos for very long where the winnings will be credited after deducting the tax amounts.
I report the gambling income in the form of capital gains cause that is the highest slab and I am not in much profit so I won't be paying much difference in the fiat value but for a high roller, they need to report depending on their country policies and find loopholes such as exceptions to avoid paying huge lump as tax.

[South Park]

I'm researching the topic on how many users actually report their winnings or losses to the tax authority, and from the current research there's a major discrepancy in the processes from country to country;

#1. Residents of the UK, Canada, and Australia don’t need to pay anything at all, as these governments view this money as the result of good fortune and do not view gambling as a profession. These earnings do not need to be reported, and nothing is owed on them.  
#2. Malta is also pretty simple. Gambling winnings are only taxed if the player is a professional gambler, though this term is not strictly defined, but if you're earning above the "grace amount" of 12950 EUR, you can apply for it.
#3. The US taxes all gambling winnings as income. In fact, there’s even a special form for documenting your gambling wings: Form W-2G. This money is counted towards your yearly income and will be taxed at whatever bracket you fall into at both the state and federal levels. You must keep track of the type of gambling, the amount of the gambling winnings, and the general ratio of the winnings to the wager, as these will all be needed for filing. Conversely, any gambling losses that occur on a real money online casino platform can be tax deductible in an amount up to your total yearly winnings. Losses and winnings must be filed separately and not as a net amount.

Source: EsportsHeadlines.com


Now I'm quite curious how other gamblers are managing this part of the story, if they manage it at all.

So, question to you, did you ever consider paying taxes on your gambling winnings, or deduct the taxes with the losses you've created? If not, what is the reasoning behind it?

Since I do not have any gambling winnings then this point is moot, however at least where I live if I happened to get some profits out of gambling I will need to report that income and pay taxes, however this varies from region to region, so if I happened to win a big amount of money or I developed a strategy that allowed me to win more often than not then I would move to one of those regions so I do not have to pay a single dime to the government in a legal way.

[dezoel]

I don't gamble a lot and the reason for that is that gambling is not really legal in my region, you cannot find a land-based casino here, and online gambling platforms are also banned mostly, though there are some local gambling apps where people can make deposits using their digital accounts and gamble that is at a very small level and it isn't equal to big scale gambling that is done on cryptocurrency platforms all around the world.

However, there are some people who gamble with large amounts on these small gambling platforms and they might even manage to win some money every month through that but I really don't think that they actually declare their gambling wins to the tax department only to pay a hefty amount in taxes.