taxes?

I have had no trouble depositing and withdrawing from poker websites so I don't think it belongs under there.

As far as I am aware, in the US it is illegal to gamble online. It is legal in the US to gamble in person if you are 21 years of age or older. I am under 21 years of age and have received enough money in the past year I Iclare it as online winnings, I am underage so I can not say I won it live (not that I could anyway I've usually been paid by check).

I have noticed that often times when you watch WSOP or something they occasionally mention a players online winnings when they clearly live in the US. These guys win hundreds of thousands yearly, how do they deal with taxes? What should I be doing?

i thought it was 18+ for online

I'm no accountant, but common sense would tell you why would you want to claim or pay taxes on something that is clearly against the law for you to DO!!!! but I'm sure that will be one of the main points when online gambling becomes legal

Unless your winning are over $10.000.00 in one check then I wouldn't worry about. Banks only report deposit of checks or cash over $10.000.00

Selling drugs is illegal too in the U.S., but if you're gonna do it, the IRS expects you to pay taxes on it.

It's 18+ just about everyone in the world. In the US as far as I am aware it is illegal. If I'm audited, while I have not received a check for over 10k, there will certainly be some unexplained checks. I have also heard from some that online gambling is not illegal, it is just illegal for banks to handle funds from it.

Online gambling is only illegal in some states i.e. Washington. Most other states for online gambling you have to be 18+. As for taxes, as long as you don't with draw large amounts at a time and keep your winnings on your poker account you should be alright not reporting.

heh kind of defeats the purpose if you keep all your winnings in your poker account?

Info on taxes on your winnings: http://www.onlinepokerfaq.com/guide/index.html

I searched for gambling age of 21 as it relates to online poker and the best I could find was this from PS:

http://www.pokerstars.com/about/responsible-gaming/faq/

This. There is a reason why a lot of high profile criminals were brought down on tax evasion charges when all else failed in getting a conviction.

If you're earning substantial amounts of money playing online poker (I'd say around $10k plus / year) it's in your best interest to file.

Gambling online isn't illegal in U.S., just in certain states.

As for paying taxes on selling drugs I don't think I would do that. Except in the case on medicinal marijuana where it is legal at the state level and not national.

Unless you are a pro you will most likely pay out the ass for taxes because it's considered gambling taxes.

You may have to pay a lot, but its still the law, and you can go to jail for tax evasion, or at least have to pay steep fines.

What ever happened with the Michael Mizrachi Didn't he get for-closed on or something in Florida for getting bad tax advice?

Yep. Lots of stories about his terrible accountant before the WSOP causing him to be audited.

Then he ran like god in the $40k and the Main Event, so looks like he'll have the funds to pay his debts to the IRS. Wonder how much he'll be able to keep after taxes and back taxes though.

From what I've read it is not illegal to play online poker in the US. The only laws pertain to banks dealing directly with the online poker sites.

I have had friends who have made a lot of money in online poker and they have declared the money on their tax return every year without a problem.

As for your age, I really can't answer that question as you're kind of in a corner on that one. Sorry.

You have to pay taxes on all winnings. If you keep track of all monies spent meaning loses as well you can write them off against any winnings. Most of the time if your winnings move into higher tax bracket is when you should be concerned the most. The poker sites are not going to report your winnings to the IRS.

I guess I'm a rebel without a clue then. If I ever get as rich or famous as the grinder I may consider it. But for my thousand or two a year, forget about it.

This is actually a fairly good rule of thumb. Usually as long as it's recreational, and it's not your primary source of income, you should be fine.

Start hitting around $10k/year, then there may be a few questions.

**I'm not an attorney/accountant**

The real question is:

Did you stay at Holiday Inn Express last night???

I don't think so. You should report everything. Even if you have a losing year, the IRS can go back like 5 years. What if in 5 years you start reporting and then get audited and they realize you didn't report your small losses and gains. Hard to spend that big cash you reported if you are in jail for evasion.