Watch Those W-2Gs

[Carcounter]

One of the reason I like to play single coin dollar Deuces Wild over max coin quarters is the most common big jackpot (read lucky) for me is a dollar quad deuce for $1,000. I hit more of these in a year than I hit max coin royals and there is no W-2G. I realize most players don't get it, but it works for me.

If you collect a lot of W-2Gs, you are going to push yourself into a higher tax bracket. If you live in a State that taxes gambling, it's worse. In the past, my wife and I always itemized our returns. We wrote off our gambling losses against our W-2Gs, so they never affected us. Last year we didn't itemize. I only had one W-2G for $2,000, so the damage was minimal.

The funny thing that happened recently was some New York politician accused Florida of stealing their residents. Our Governor said Florida wasn't stealing their residents, New York was driving them off. I can't understand what the Northeast states do with all that tax money. They are always broke and the residents don't seem to mind. Where does the money go? If that happened here in Florida, there would be a lynching.

The Northeast has some of the most corrupt politicians in the Country. We are ruled by people that throw money at the unions in exchange for political contributions. Check and see how much money is being spent on the LaGuardia airport renovations and ask yourself why? Congestion pricing is coming to NYC, supposedly to reduce congestion, but it's really just another tax

[FloridaPhil]

I happened to fly into LaGuardia summer before last. What a mess. I had to take two buses to get to the rental car counter. Thank God a nice person in the airport was going that way or I would still be there. I can't see how anyone can stand living there. I guess they feel they same way about Florida as our State bird is a mosquito.

[Carcounter]

When your business and your family are here, that's why you stay. It's a quick 2 hr flight to Florida, so we take numerous short trips in the winter.Usually fly out of AC since it's a smaller airport and no long security lines, traffic etc. I like Florida (and Arizona, but a longer flight and time difference complicate things) and can see myself getting a place for the winter when I retire. I know quite a few people that have homes in Florida and NY/NJ/CT. They stay one more day in Florida than they do here to avoid our state taxes.Somewhere on the west coast between Tampa and Ft Myers would be my choice.

[Waiting4RF]

Just wondering how do you prove you are in Florida more than northeast to Uncle Sam? I guess if you can work from home that may work.

[FloridaPhil]

Just wondering how do you prove you are in Florida more than northeast to Uncle Sam? I guess if you can work from home that may work.

You need to establish residency in Florida by applying for a homestead exemption. You will need a Florida driver's license, tags on your car and a Florida voter's registration. Even then, the Northeast States can audit you. You must be able to prove to their satisfaction that you spend more of your time in Florida. This can be done with credit card receipts, Etc.

About 900 people a day move to Florida. They are not coming here for the video poker.

My wife and I have lived here all our lives. Florida has changed a lot over that period of time. Most people think Florida is beaches, big hotels and theme parks. We live on the edge of the Ocala National Forest. Our house overlooks the Harris Chain of lakes with 50,000 acres of water. Orlando is 30 minutes away. We think it's paradise. Every area of the country has some issues. We have hurricanes and alligators. Neither are a big problem if you respect them.

[olds442jetaway]

And the great fishing will cut my casino time in half. My cars won’t look like skeletons from the road chemicals. I won’t have to hibernate four months of the year either

[olds442jetaway]

Edited to add.....I’m tired of the prople moving up north here for the freebies. Most will never pay a dime in income taxes. The casino hires many of them. I’m not going to legislate morality, but what do they do with their earned income credit windfall of 5 to 10 k? Get more tattoos, buy more cigarettes and booze, call out, and immediately split for vacations to Mexico or the Islands. If I didn’t see this first hand myself, I wouldn’t even believe it.

[FloridaPhil]

Florida is a microcosm of the rest of the country. Miami Dade County is full of liberals who want to tax the rich and make everything free. The problem is everyone ends up being classified as rich. The center of the State is conservative leaning. We had a progressive run for governor last time around. He wasn't elected. His name is Andrew Gillum. You'll hear from him again.

The "Medicare for Everyone" idea that is being talked about is a good example. If enacted, it will bankrupt the country already seriously in debt. By the time they take that tax out of your paycheck, there won't be anything left. Obamacare sounded good too until the bill came due. Someone has to pay for these things and that someone is you.

Florida is a non union State. We have no State income tax. Our State constitution does not allow deficient spending. We have a balanced budget. Our resident home property tax assessments are limited to no more than 3% annually. The sales tax in my county is 7%. The median list price of a home in Orlando is $151,000.

Florida is not perfect. We have rich, poor and everything in between. We have all the racial diversity you can imagine. When I ran my company in Miami, I had emplyees from all over the world. The comptroller for one of my clients was an African prince with 80 brothers and sisters. We have immigrants from India who speak with a southern drawl. If a little green man from mars walked in and applied for a job, I wouldn't have been surprised. Somehow we all live together without killing each other.

The summers in Florida are hot and humid. The winters are wonderful. Fortunately, we have air conditioners and swimming pools. The lakes and the ocean are full of fish. Our beaches are clean and free of hypodermic needles. There are 900,000 registered boats in Florida. We have a lot more churches than casinos. We don't have great video poker. I guess everyplace has some negatives.

[OTABILL]

We have snowbirds here in AZ, many from Canada. They have the opposite problem. Must stay less than 6 months in order to retain their medical insurance.

[wildman49]

Anyone ever get 1099 MISC forms? I been doing my taxes for 40 years and no problems. Then wife and I got a pile of w2g's but the raffle drawings I won money on I got 1099's.

I plan to write off both using losses. I have seen some saying 1099's are not the same as w2g. I got ONE entree into the raffle after having to put $200 thru the machines. They did not give me any entree's, I had to take losses to get them. Some are saying 1099's can't be wrote off. If I get an audit and they refuse the write off will just have to pay the tax, interest and or penalty.

Will be putting the taxes in snail mail Friday. Life goes on.