1. Claiming Gambling Losses On Income Tax
2. Claiming Gambling Losses On Taxes 2019
3. Claiming Gambling Losses In Income Taxes
4. Claiming Gambling Losses On Tax Return
5. Claiming Gambling Losses In 2018
6. Claiming Back Gambling Losses

Gambling income, unsurprisingly, is subject to income tax. This post is an overview of federal and Michigan treatment of gambling income and losses.

However, federal law allows taxpayers to deduct their losses to the extent of any gambling winnings as an itemized deduction. For example, if a taxpayer won $5,000 in a casino for federal tax purposes they could deduct losses up to the full amount of winnings.

FEDERAL TAX TREATMENT OF GAMBLING INCOME & LOSSES

On your federal income tax return, you can take an itemized deduction for gambling losses, but only to the extent of gambling income (in other words you can’t claim an overall loss on gambling activity).

Claiming Gambling Losses On Income Tax

1. You Can Deduct Gambling Losses (If You Itemize) Although you must list all your winnings on your tax return, you don't necessarily have to pay tax on the full amount. You are allowed to list your annual gambling losses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on Schedule A of your tax return.
2. You must itemize your deductions to claim your gambling losses as a tax deduction. This means you can’t take the standard deduction for your filing status, which often amounts to more than a taxpayer’s itemized deductions. You’re allowed to deduct losses only up to the amount of the gambling income you claimed.
3. Claiming big gambling losses or not reporting gambling winnings. If you’re a recreational gambler you must report your winnings as “other income” on the front page of your 1040 form. If you’re a professional gambler you will need to report your winnings on Schedule C.

Example: John likes to play blackjack and had winnings of $40,000 in 2009. He also lost $90,000 in the same year. John has to report his $40,000 winnings as income, but he can only deduct $40,000 of his gambling losses because gambling losses are limited to gambling winnings. Excess gambling losses cannot be carried forward.

It should be noted that taxpayers must itemize to claim gambling losses.

Example: Joan won $4,000 in the lotto in 2009. She also lost $5,500 in other gambling activity during the year. If she does not itemize, she has to claim the $4,000 in income and cannot deduct the $5,500 in gambling losses—not a good result.

Even though the itemized deduction for gambling losses can offset gambling income, it is a below-the-line deduction (i.e., it is taken after computing AGI). AGI is used to calculate various phaseouts for credits and deductions. Therefore, gambling income may affect your phaseouts even though they are offset by gambling losses.

MICHIGAN TAX TREATMENT OF GAMBLING INCOME & LOSSES

Claiming Gambling Losses On Taxes 2019

In Michigan, gambling income is based on the amount of gambling winnings included in federal AGI (the bottom line of the first page of your Form 1040) without taking into account the itemized deduction for gambling losses. So, in the above examples, John has $40,000 in gambling income on his MI-1040 and pays $1,700 in tax and Joan has $4,000 in gambling income on her MI-1040 and pays $170 in tax even though both John and Joan had overall gambling losses.

To get around this unlucky result, the strategy is to use gambling losses to directly offset gambling income, rather than take gambling losses as an itemized deduction. There are two ways to do this:

* Special Rule for Slots and other Casual Gambling

* Becoming a professional gambler (harder than you think and will not be discussed here)

SPECIAL RULE FOR SLOTS AND OTHER CASUAL GAMBLING

Generally, gambling winnings and losses have to be determined on a wager-by-wager basis. For causal gambling (slots, poker, blackjack, horse racing, etc.) you can determine gambling winnings and losses on a net daily basis. By figuring gambling income on a daily basis (rather than wager-by-wager) gambling winnings are directly offset by gambling losses (and thus become excludable from Michigan income tax).

Example (wager-by-wager basis): Jimmy goes to the casino on Friday and buys $1,000 in tokens to play slots. He has $9,000 in winning spins and $6,000 in losing spins. He cashes out on Friday with $3,000. Jimmy wants to continue his winning streak on Saturday. He buys $4,000 in tokens. This time Jimmy has $1,000 in winning spins and $5,000 in losing spins. He leaves the casino with nothing.

On a wager-by-wager basis, Jimmy has $10,000 in winning spins over the two days and reports this amount as income. Jimmy has $11,000 in losing spins over the two days and deducts his losses as an itemized deduction (limited to the $10,000 in gambling winning). However, on Jimmy’s Michigan tax return, he must report the $10,000 as income, but cannot take a deduction for gambling losses.

Same Example (daily basis): Jimmy’s daily gambling winnings and losses are netted. Jimmy has overall income of $2,000 on Friday (Cash Out: $3,000 & Cash In: $1,000) and an overall loss of $4,000 on Saturday (Cash Out: $0 & Cash In: $4,000). On a daily basis, Jimmy had $2,000 of gambling winnings on Friday and $4,000 of gambling losses on Saturday. On his federal return, he must report $2,000 of gambling winnings and gambling losses of $2,000 (again, the itemized deduction for gambling losses is limited to gambling winnings). On his Michigan return, he only reports the Friday daily winnings of $2,000.

It is CRITICAL that gambling winnings and losses be properly documented. The following information should be maintained in a log:

1. the date and type of specific wager or wagering activity

2. the name and address of the gambling establishment

3. the names of other persons present with the taxpayer at the gambling establishment

4. the amount won or lost

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Buzzkill Disclaimer: This post contains general tax information that may or may not apply in your specific tax situation. Please consult a tax professional before relying on any information contained in this post.

Since the MGM casino opened in August, gamblers have reportedly wagered more than $428 million on MGM Springfield’s slot machines that generated about $40 million in revenue for MGM and reportedly another $18.5 million in revenue from table games. This is in addition to the $2 billion or so per year wagered at the Plainridge Park Casino that generates $170 million in revenue. All of this revenue came out of the pockets of those eager to try their luck.

In Massachusetts, gross income is defined as federal gross income as defined in the Internal Revenue Code as of January 1, 2005 with certain modifications. Federal gross income is all income from whatever source derived unless specifically excluded. Federal gross income includes winnings from all types of gambling, including lottery, slot parlor and casino. However, federal law allows taxpayers to deduct their losses to the extent of any gambling winnings as an itemized deduction.

Claiming Gambling Losses In Income Taxes

For example, if a taxpayer won $5,000 in a casino for federal tax purposes they could deduct losses up to the full amount of winnings. For taxpayers who gamble frequently, it would not be unusual for losses to equal or exceed winnings. So for federal purposes after the deduction for losses, it was possible that very little income was reported on the federal tax return. The burden is on the taxpayer to prove any losses (see Rev proc 77-29, 1977-2 CB 538).

However, if the taxpayer was a Massachusetts resident, the full $5,000 would be included in Massachusetts income with no offsetting deduction. So if the taxpayer won $5,000 on a lucky visit to the casino but let it ride and actually lost all $5,000 of it, for federal tax purposes that taxpayer would have net federal income of zero. However, if the taxpayer lived in Massachusetts, the full $5,000 would be included in state income with no offsetting deduction so the taxpayer would pay state income tax on the full $5,000.

Claiming Gambling Losses On Tax Return

Fortunately, the law that expanded gaming in Massachusetts contained provisions that allow taxpayers to deduct casino losses to the extent of gambling winnings. However, the law only applies to losses incurred at a gaming establishment licensed in Massachusetts.

Therefore, in the example above, if the Massachusetts taxpayer won $5,000 at the tables at MGM in Springfield, Massachusetts, and then took a trip to Connecticut and lost the $5,000 at the Mohegan or Foxwood casino, no deduction would be allowed when computing Massachusetts income tax.

Claiming Gambling Losses In 2018

Categorized:Gambling, Taxes

Claiming Back Gambling Losses

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