MAYDAY!! MAYDAY!! Tax trouble!

[FAA]

First world problems! Give me some of those FWPs!

[tech58]

Hang in there FAA pulling for your cherry popping.
Multiple team members find max coin as the avenue to success.

[calwatch]

I think that if your sum total of gambling wins matches exactly the sum of W2-G's, that may cause suspicion. I personally use ATM receipts, take the money out before I go and put the money back in when I come back, win or lose (and hopefully not lose it all). The Wells Fargo deposit taking ATM at the Las Vegas airport is very handy for that purpose. As someone who lives in a high tax state, I itemize normally anyway so W2-G's do not bother me. Looking at my records I had about $500k coin in and came up with a 2% loss, slightly more than my theoretical loss should be based on the games I play, but $10k of W2-G's which needed to be reported.

[FAA]

Sounds like a wash last year, Cal. That’s a hell of of a feat to pull off. Really substantial coin in means lots of fun on the house.

[dinghy]

I think that if your sum total of gambling wins matches exactly the sum of W2-G's, that may cause suspicion.

Maybe, but I would think that's how it's done by the vast majority of gamblers.

[olds442jetaway]

Why it’s not fair and one just cannot just net out wins and losses just like the stock market is beyond me. Political greed!!! With stock gains, only the net amount becomes a part of adjusted gross income which is just as it should be. I think the chances of changing the law are just about 0. In Canada gambling winnings aren’t even taxable. Gambling income is not taxable in the UK either. The problem lies with the term income itself in the USA.

[pokerpokerpoker]

S***!

I've always been lax with my gambling record-keeping. I get a stack of W2Gs and claim losses against them. Legit losses, but not much to back them up.

Was there something on your return, besides gambling, that raised some eyebrows? How long after filing taxes did it take to get audited?

[tech58]

Nothing else besides gambling issue. I could have provided records to support losses claimed on Schedule A. But filing amended avoided 90% of the problem and I decided for $150 it was not worth fighting.
Record keeping for 2024 is a work in progress.

[olds442jetaway]

Things like self employed business deductions, home in office expense, large itemized deductions, big employee business expenses, and many other things can trigger an audit. Also a certain number are chosen at random every year. Also very large charity deductions too.

[TripleTriple]

Don't mess around with Jim, don't mess with Texas and DON'T mess with the IRS.