IRS and Win/Loss Statements

[Tedlark]

billslim not to play devil's advocate here but don't you think that the IRS allready knows all of the information on an atm receipt? Even if you redacted some of the information on the atm receipt they would still have it.

[BillyJoe]

  Did you make any atm withdrawals when you played? If yes, keep the receipts showing the withdrawal amount and the date. Keep these in your journal. The journal needs only to have info such as: the date you went, where you gambled and the amount won/lost. Please no side notes in the journal about rating cocktail waitresses though billie joe.
Ted, I do not use ATM or Credit Lines in casinos - too dangerous. I use Travelers Cheques as my gaming cash. When they are gone, I am done for that trip. I have a paper trail of the Travelers Cheques that I cashed @ casinos. Not sure why the IRS would take that, though, since I could have just cashed them, put the money in my pocket, and not played. So I hope that the casino's Win/Loss Statements give them the 'best evidence' of my gaming activity.
 
As far as waitresses, no rating required - I know which ones like me..  

[BillyJoe]

Jean Scott and Marissa Chien have a book  called " Tax Help for Gamblers" which they cover audits in chapter 7.
Thanks,Jim.  I'll look into it if this goes any farther.

[JIMDUECE`SWILD]

  The IRS will also count lottery tickets as a lost. 

[BillyJoe]

  The IRS will also count lottery tickets as a lost.  
Thanks, Jim. As long as the IRS will recognize my wife's  VP results on our 'Filing joint' tax return, I have enough losses to cover my wins.

[Lucky Larry]

  The IRS will also count lottery tickets as a lost. 

Heard an interesting story this past casino trip about a regular who was audited. The regular owns his own professional business but used lottery tickets collected by a relative who owns a grocery store to overcome his wins.

I wouldn't recommend such an action. The criminal penalties if caught would probably curtail my VP play at the casino and I'm not sure if computer access is provided in a cell.    

[Tedlark]

  billyjoe what I would then suggest is that you deposit a certain amount of money into the casino cage before you head to play. Once you get to the casino you can then withdraw the funds from the casino cage and play. If you have any winnings that are under the reportable amount then you hang on to that money and take it home with you. When you get the wirhdrawl paperwork from the casino cage you could add these to your journal.
   I'm adding this: I know this will work when you are traveling to Las Vegas but I have never tried it at my local casinos.

[Quad Deuces]

@tedlark: Wouldn't the deposit be a ledger entry to the positive and a withdrawal just zero it out?  Sounds like you're recommending something pretty squirrelly.The IRS doesn't have information about ATM receipts.  They have information on information returns.  In this activity, that's W-2Gs and 1099s, maybe SARs, and they can examine CTRs but I don't believe they are routinely submitted.When you get audited, they want bank statements, etc.  They want you to bring them and will summons the accounts (the ones they know about) if you decline and they really want the information.They are not some all-seeing Sauron with the ability to ask the banking ether, "give me all the accounts in the country with this TIN associated with it."Win/Loss reports are not sent to the IRS.  W-2s and 1099s are.  I do not know if casinos would willingly provide win/loss information to the IRS upon request, but it probably varies by org.  I would like to think they'd say, if anything, "you have the information returns we are obliged to provide.  Now F.O."Any real-world experience with casinos and IRS interrogation/examination would be interesting to hear.  Mostly which casinos bend over and which ones at least resist.

[ko king]

Don't feel like the Lone Ranger I got the same thing for 2010, I use a VIP card for withdrawls at the casino so they show up on my bank statement, I also kept a journal that showed the date, location and how much I won or lost. As far as playing video poker goes 2010 was probably my worst year ever, I played at 2 different casinos and it was like night and day as far as my results go, I finished ahead a pretty decent amount at one casino and got my butt handed to me at the other. In 2011 and thus far in 2012 it's the exact opposite I'm ahead at one casino and getting tore up at the other.

[Quad Deuces]

But bank withdrawals have zero correlation to money won or lost.