Will poker players have to pay Tax?

[Omm]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3010382/Will-poker-winnings-taxed-Level-skill-needed-win-means-Government-considering-levy.html

Is it better for the Goverment to continue with how they tax? Or is time running out for us?

[dwayne110]

Probably not, but gotta laugh at the second last paragraph... 2012 study based on each player playing a whole '60 hands each'.... come back and talk to me once they've played 50,000 hands ☺️

[doubleup]

The premise of the article is completely flawed.

In one of the legal judgements that settled that gambling winnings weren't taxable income, the judge specifically said that a card player playing every day and winning through skill was not carrying out a profession and not liable for tax.

The only way professional gambling winnings could be taxed would be through the creation of a new tax schedule that established taxable status (and only allowed gambling losses to be set against winnings).

I doubt that they would do this because of the admin costs involved, but with a proposed overhaul of HMRC tax payment systems in the offing, who knows?  However at least we would see a resurgence of people "getting it quietly" rather than spouting off all over the shop when they win a SnG.