Comments on: IRS Increases Withholding Requirements for Poker Tournaments

By: scottydu

scottydu — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 04:15:22 +0000

I just won the Easter Borgata $300 + $40 Buy-in tournament at Atlantic City for $9,200. They gave me all $9,200, but made me sign a tax form for $8,860 which I’ll have to pay back to the government in 2009. I talked to an accountant about it and they said I can keep the entire amount until 2009 and write off any losses to this whether in cash or tournament buy-ins.

By: threads13.com » Blog Archive » New tax on tournament winnings

threads13.com » Blog Archive » New tax on tournament winnings — Wed, 31 Oct 2007 17:03:56 +0000

[...] have read from Ed Miller’s website his take on this. There is an interesting discussion below his post that is definitely worth checking [...]

By: Greyzy

Greyzy — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 14:00:10 +0000

I am neither American, nor do I live in the states. Therefore I wonder if there is any info/discussion whether the IRS introduced the withholding tax because they fear the tax payer (a “GAMBLER!!!”) might be broke by the time his taxes are due?

BTW, in Germany the withholding of taxes on dividends and interest was introduced years ago. No surprise that by far the biggest share of all literature on the subject of taxes is in German…

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:23:19 +0000

Wow I think the blog titles above are kind of scary

But they are accurate. I suppose the one bright side to this development is that if the IRS is getting its piece, perhaps the other strong arm tactics will change.

By: JJS

JJS — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 21:06:25 +0000

Wow I think the blog titles above are kind of scary… “War on Poker”, “New Tax”…

Like I said above this just moves money around but doesn’t change the amount. Before this you could win $10K, use it to enter the WSOP main event, bust out, and come out even.

Now $2.5K gets withheld, so you need to take $2.5K out of your pocket to enter the main event. But if you bust out you get that $2.5K back next year, so it only costs $7.5K to enter the main event the next year.

So in the long run it comes out even. Isn’t that what poker players should think about, the long run?

In fact I see this as no different from the payroll deduction withholding that every employee pays with every paycheck.

Now if they tried to raise the tax RATE on us, higher than on other income – well that would be a real war on poker. Let’s hope it never comes to that.

BTW I like seeing the above remarks about the “interesting and intellegent conversation”. I thought all our conversations here were interesting and intelligent… ;)

By: Uncle Sam Sticks His Hand a Little Deeper | Holdem Review

Uncle Sam Sticks His Hand a Little Deeper | Holdem Review — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 19:24:25 +0000

[...] is a very interesting and intelligent conversation going on now at Ed Miller?s Blog. Go check it out and let me know what you think [...]

By: New tax on tournament winnings « threads13

New tax on tournament winnings « threads13 — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 14:55:37 +0000

[...] have read from Ed Miller’s website his take on this. There is an interesting discussion below his post that is definitely worth checking [...]

By: SayUncle » The War On Poker continues

SayUncle » The War On Poker continues — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 12:29:49 +0000

[...] Noted Poker Authority Ed Miller notes that the IRS has issued a bulletin stating that effective March 2008, tournament directors are to withhold taxes from tournament winnings. The impacts on poker tournaments (notably satellites) would be substantial. But, then, that is the point. To make it hard to play poker. [...]

By: GregB

GregB — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 03:22:19 +0000

Horseplayers have been taking the hit on $5000 payoffs for years…welcome to the party.

By: Ed Miller

Ed Miller — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 00:47:33 +0000

WordPress fixed the eight-closeparen = problem, but I had to undo the fix because it broke all the suit symbols on my old posts. So basically it’s my fault.

I see your point about the steady state thing after 2008.