pro poker players and tax

[sofa----king]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

[TightEnd]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

simple answer, no

[sofa----king]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

simple answer, no

ok fair enough good luck to them i think thats fine m8,but if they do it as a job,it is a sport,and sports people have to pay tax,i dont want poker players to pay tax but do you think they should?

[The Dundonian]

not yet! the Gutshot court case might change this.......open to debate....

[TightEnd]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

simple answer, no

ok fair enough good luck to them i think thats fine m8,but if they do it as a job,it is a sport,and sports people have to pay tax,i dont want poker players to pay tax but do you think they should?

only if they can offset losing buy in's against their tax bill..thats why the treasury won't do it, adminsitrative complexity

this is why gambling winnings are tax exempt...they used to tax bets at source but abolished it

[sofa----king]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

simple answer, no

ok fair enough good luck to them i think thats fine m8,but if they do it as a job,it is a sport,and sports people have to pay tax,i dont want poker players to pay tax but do you think they should?

only if they can offset losing buy in's against their tax bill..thats why the treasury won't do it, adminsitrative complexity

this is why gambling winnings are tax exempt...they used to tax bets at source but abolished it

ok ok im so thick do laddies pay tax then ?example .

[The Dundonian]

Game of skill are taxed, games of chance are exempt.

[sofa----king]

Game of skill are taxed, games of chance are exempt.

wow
roullette ?
blackjack ?
horse racing ?
i suppose a lot of things like this are very close to skill and chance ?ive allways wondered thnx for any ideas ..

[byronkincaid]

Game of skill are taxed, games of chance are exempt.

That's not true, if a couple of golfers or chess players have a bet then the winner is not taxed.

What about sponsored players? If someone is getting say $100K tourney entries for wearing a shirt, being nice to some online qualifiers and doing some promotional stuff is he taxed on it?

[Rooky9]

Game of skill are taxed, games of chance are exempt.

That's not true, if a couple of golfers or chess players have a bet then the winner is not taxed.

What about sponsored players? If someone is getting say $100K tourney entries for wearing a shirt, being nice to some online qualifiers and doing some promotional stuff is he taxed on it?

Interesting point. In a case like that I see no reason why they shouldn't, what actually happens is probably very different. I dont see why somebody who chooses to gamble for a living should pay tax, free healthcare, defence etc etc- like tightend says I wouldnt fancy being the one who has to decide how!

[byronkincaid]

How many pro's actually make a liveable wage purely out of poker? IIRC Julian in his blog says if he wasn't sponsored he would have made only a small amount this year and he ran super hot for a long while, every week on 425 tikay used to say another 5 figure week for Julian. His small amount might well be a fortune to you or I of course.

But seriously a few hundred people? Is it worth the time and effort to make new laws?

[JoeBeevers]

I wrote this a while ago...

http://www.thehendonmob.com/Articles/poker_and_the_taxman.html

most of it still applies...

[sofa----king]

I wrote this a while ago...

http://www.thehendonmob.com/Articles/poker_and_the_taxman.html

most of it still applies...

thanks joe that makes it a bit clearer......

[vegaslover]

do pros have to pay tax on their poker winnings ? if they do it for a living are they taxed on it ? just wondered,i do mean in this country, not other countries.

simple answer, no

ok fair enough good luck to them i think thats fine m8,but if they do it as a job,it is a sport,and sports people have to pay tax,i dont want poker players to pay tax but do you think they should?

only if they can offset losing buy in's against their tax bill..thats why the treasury won't do it, adminsitrative complexity

this is why gambling winnings are tax exempt...they used to tax bets at source but abolished it

ok ok im so thick do laddies pay tax then ?example .

Yep laddies do pay tax, as do any other uk registered bookie. Previously betting was taxed up front, at a rate of 10%, this was reduced to 9% before finally being abolished.
Negotiations around this abolishment was that the gaming companies would pay a 'tax' on their profits to cover this betting duty.
Volumes gambled have since trebled, creating vast increases in profits for the companies, and additional taxation revenue for the Government.
It has also made it more attractive for gamblers, with no upfront betting duty to pay. Has also made certain bets more attractive i.e short priced ones, as the profit margins, once betting duty has been applied, was very small.

At present poker players/gamblers etc do not pay taxation. Mainly because there are too many losers in the gambling arena, and the Government would lose money, in the taxable deductions that would be allowed.

This MAY change for poker players, once the outcome of the Gutshot court case is known.

[Rooky9]

At present poker players/gamblers etc do not pay taxation. Mainly because there are too many losers in the gambling arena, and the Government would lose money, in the taxable deductions that would be allowed.

The government wouldnt lose money - if they allowed relief from losses they would only allow the relief down to 0 where no tax would be payable.