Page 14 - Southern California Gaming Guide • February 2017

Casino Player Tax Tips
Aby Gail Anders
re you ready for tax time? If you haven’t begun preparation for your 2016 income tax ling, now would a good time to gather all your tax information. e IRS reminds taxpayers that a new law requires the IRS to hold refunds claiming the Earned
Income Tax Credit (EITC) and the Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) until Feb. 15th. e ling deadline to submit 2016 tax returns is Tuesday, April 18, 2017, rather than the traditional April 15th date. In 2017, April 15th falls on a Saturday, and this would usually
move the ling deadline to the following Monday, April 17th. However, Emancipation Day, a legal holiday in the District of Columbia, will be observed on that Monday, which pushes the nation’s ling deadline to Tuesday, April 18, 2017. Under the tax law, legal holidays in the District of Columbia a ect the ling deadline across the nation.
Hopefully, here in Southern California, you won lots of jackpots at the casino in 2016. If your jackpot was $1,200 or more, the casino reported it to the IRS.
And since all gambling winnings are taxable income, you have to include them on your tax return. Before you get anxious about how much tax you may have to pay on your casino winnings, read on. You may nd some help with the following casino player tax tips.
I am not a CPA or professional tax preparer, but I o er these tax tips for casino players based on my own tax experience and research. e information I present here has been bene cial to my own tax bottom line, and may be to yours.
I have found two key elements helpful in preparing taxes if you are a casino player. Keep a gambling log throughout the year. And, assuming you play with a players club card, get your win/loss statements from casinos in which you played. Let’s start with how casinos report your winnings.
W-2G Form
e IRS requires casinos to report on a W-2G form all players’ jackpots of $1,200 or more on slot machines or other casino games. e W-2G lists your name, address and Social Security Number (SSN) plus other information regarding your win. Casinos are required to send a copy of all W-2Gs to the IRS, and to give players a copy with their winnings clearly stated. e W-2G must be signed by the winner as proof that the correct SSN was submitted to the casino, and that they received their winnings.
When ling income taxes, individuals are required to list all gambling and jackpot winnings. Gambling winnings are taxable income. But here’s an important point: e IRS allows deductions of your losses up to the amount of your winnings. And, you can do this
only if you have documentation of your losses. Keeping a gambling log, therefore, is the best and only way.
The Gambling Log
As I play and win and lose each year, I keep the W-2Gs I receive from all casinos in one place along with any ATM receipts, or other receipts showing the funds I used to play. And I keep a gambling log
of all my wins and losses. For the past few years, I’ve won a little more than I lost. But because I had gambling losses to deduct from my winnings, I did not have to pay as much tax. My tax preparer always reminds me that I may deduct gambling losses only if I itemize deductions.
If you are ever audited by the IRS, (hopefully, never) and you have a log of your winnings and losses, you will have the basic records to show when, where, and how much you gambled and won or lost.
Your logbook has to be as accurate as possible to be credible.
To ensure your log’s accuracy, be certain to include the following:
either one, but I hear from other casino players that they are very convenient. Or you can keep your log in the low-tech hand method in a notebook. However you keep a log doesn’t matter, as long as you keep one.
I set up my log each year with eight column headers: Date Played, Time, Casino, Casino Address, Game Played, Winnings, Losses, Proof. And I update my log after each and every casino visit.
Casino Win/Loss Statements
Coupled with your annual gambling log, casino win/loss statements are essential tools for tax preparation. Win/loss statements, issued by casinos, are estimates of what a casino guest has lost and won during a calendar year based on players club tracking information. e statements can assist players with their tax lings, and must be requested from all of the casinos in which you played.
Be sure to get your win/loss statement from every casino in which you won a reported jackpot – or even just played. e statements are usually ready at the beginning of each year.
If you don’t already have an annual gambling log, start one for 2017. It may prove to be an invaluable tool and save you some taxing payments. Coupled with your casino win/loss statement, both can help to make sure you keep as much as possible of your jackpot winnings.
Good luck in 2017. As one of my casino friends says,“May you have many W2-Gs this year!”
Gail Anders writes for online magazines and blogs and lives in Laguna Beach and New York.
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SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA GAMING GUIDE
FEBRUARY 2017
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e casino name and address of where you played e date and timeframe of when you played
e type of game you wagered on (slots, blackjack, poker, etc.)
e amount(s) you won and/or lost for each session or game
Proof of your winnings or losses (W-2Gs, ATM receipts, etc.)
I keep my log on my laptop, in Microsoft Excel, but you can also keep a log on your phone. For the iPhone, you can keep a gambling log on the app Gamble Track. For Android system phones, there’s an app called Gambling Tracker. I have not used