My friend is a Pro poker player
 

my friend has over $350,000 in cash on online bank accounts and safe boxes in bellagio. I told him he needs to invest it, but he is afraid the feds will tax him on it. He just lets it sit. Since he is a pro gambler i know he is allowed to deduct his losses from his winnings. is there anything else he could do to avoid/minimize taxes so he can pull the money out? i am thinking he could deduct hotel/gas/food expenses, however, i am no accountant. he pretty much travels between card rooms in vegas, LA ,and the bay area.

The Bellagio (or any legitimate casino) will issue him IRS Form 1099-MISC on any of his gambling winnings if that is where he won the money. If he won the money at some illegal tournaments, then paying tax is probably the least of his worries.

Your friend is retarded if he thinks he can 'hide' the money from the IRS.

ummm actually, bellagio does not do that, obviously you have never won large sums of money... he has a box wiht 90 grand full of cash there and they just hold it for him. all the tourneys he has won have been online at reputable sites or in real card rooms. in fact he is going to be on tv because he final tabled the hollywood celeb tourney.

I am not asking how to hide his money, i am asking how he can pull it out legitimately and minimize his taxes, so he can start investing it.

I'm surprised if they dont' issue a 1099 or withhold taxes on the spot. I won a whopping $3k on a slot and Harrah's deducted taxes AND issued a 1099 on the spot before I could cash out.

I would think if gambling is his profession he should be able to deduct travel expenses, etc. like any other business. And as you say, he can deduct losses up to the limit of winnings provided he can prove the losses (amazingly I'm such a packrat I had almost enough losing lotto tickets in a pile to offset my huge winnings :LOL: ).

As far a online casinos, it was my (perhaps erroneous) understanding that all online gambling is technically illegal in the U.S. whether the actual site is offshore of not.

Legally they have to, so either they are taking a risk for your friend, which I SERIOUSLY doubt or they did and he didnt tell you about it. That being said, just get a bunch of cashiers checks and lock em up in a safe deposit box. Use them as necessary.

First, regardless of who is holding the winnings, he should have declared the winnings as wages in the year earned (no mention of whether these winnings are current or not). Your friends mentality is the same as if your employer makes a direct deposit in your bank account and you never touch it so you shouldn't be taxed on it, doesn't work. This is tax evasion, I hope he hasn't been doing this long as interest penalties will be ugly.

As another poster has mentioned, most expenses can be deducted against his income. I would use caution though to only utilize expenses for which he actually can prove, as an audit could get very ugly. Additionally, with all these deductions he'll try to claim, he could very possibly end up with AMT.

Your friend should REALLY consider contacting a tax accountant with experience in this area. He has issues as mentioned above. Asking advise regarding a highly individualized field, to a sport car community, with signs of tax evasion is unwarranted here.

I have won large sums of money through poker and blackjack at casinos before and have never gotten a 1099 form for them. But I once won $2000 on a slot machine and I got one. I guess they only give it to you if you win it from a slot machine or any type of machine game.

He should continue to hide if he wants to not pay taxes. In the US the tax rate is so low that he should just fess up and be honest. There is two thing in life everyone has to do. 1. Everyone dies! 2) pay taxes. For those who don't pay taxes look to do some hard time in the clink. He will get caught one day. You can run but you can't always hide especially if he continues to keep on expanding his gambling habits!

[quote name='hapa' date='Mar 20 2007, 01:46 AM'] He should continue to hide if he wants to not pay taxes.

Just to correct you guys....

Hotels/casinos report money THEY paid you out (like if you won the jackpot in a slot machine)...

They DO NOT report money won at poker tables, where the money you win is NOT theirs.