- Casino Winnings Tax Australia Tax
- Gambling Winnings Tax Australia
- Casino Winnings Tax Australia 2020
- Casino Winnings Tax Australia 2019
If you've been a game show contestant, you only declare prizes you win if you regularly receive appearance fees or game-show winnings. If you sell or otherwise dispose of an asset that was a prize from a lottery you must declare any capital gains you make on your tax return. Do Australian Gamblers Pay Tax on Casino Winnings? The gambling activities of Aussie punters and gamblers are not taxed on winnings in Australia. It doesn't matter what form of gambling you are participating in if you are in Australia, and you report your income tax to the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) you will never pay tax.
Players dream of hitting a big jackpot when they play the slots. When that day comes for you, you'll have questions about the taxes you must pay on the winnings.
Hand Pay Jackpots
House edge craps field betting. When you hit the winning combination of symbols for a large jackpot, your slot machine locks up. Depending on the machine, the lights on top of the machine may come on and start flashing, music may play or bells ring. A slot attendant arrives promptly to see what you have won.
On jackpots smaller than $5,000, an attendant verifies that you hit the jackpot and then assists you in claiming your money at the cashier's cage. In the case of a large or progressive jackpot, the casino may have technicians come and check the machine to certify that it was functioning properly when the jackpot hit. If you hit one of the wide-area progressive machines such as MegaBucks, the slot company that operates the game comes out and verifies that machine before giving you a check.
When you hit a jackpot, you have the option of taking your winnings in cash or check. Usually, large amounts are paid by check. In the case of the MegaBucks or similar multi-million dollar jackpots, you receive a check for the partial amount, and then you have 90 days to decide if you want to be paid a lump sum or an annual annuity on the balance. If you select the lump sum option, you receive only a percentage of your actual winnings. For example, the full winnings of one multi-million slot jackpot is paid in 25 annual installments, or you can take a lump sum of 60 percent of the winnings.
IRS Withholding
All casino winnings are subject to federal taxes. However, the IRS only requires the casinos to report wins over $1,200 on slots and video poker machines or other games such as keno, lottery or horse racing. When you have a win equal to or greater than $1200, you are issued a W-2G form. This form lists your name, address and Social Security number. The casinos are not required to take out withholding tax on jackpots under $5,000 as long you supply your Social Security number. If you don't provide your Social Security number, the casinos withhold 28 percent on small jackpots.
You can request a specific amount of withholding tax to be taken out of any jackpot you win. Some players like to do this to avoid a big tax payment in April when they file their income tax returns. The additional withholding may not be necessary if you keep a log book. The law allows you to deduct gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings. You can only do this if you have documentation of your losses. Keeping a diary or log book is the way to do this.
Proper Identification
Casinos can refuse to pay you until you produce proper identification—a photo ID such as a driver's license, military ID or passport.
If you don't produce an ID, you are photographed and the casino holds your winnings until you come back with proper ID. For this reason, you should always carry a valid form of identification with you when you visit the casino.
When the casino checks your identification, it also checks your age to make sure you are legally old enough to play. The minimum age for gambling varies from state to state, but under-age gamblers are not be paid if they hit a jackpot. This is the law in all jurisdictions, and it has been upheld in court.
Plan Ahead
Before you start playing your favorite slot machine you should have a plan for the day you hit a jackpot. Players become excited when they hit the big one, and this may affect the decisions you make about your winnings. It is helpful if you know ahead of time how much withholding you want taken out or whether you want a check for all or some of the amount.
One of the main issues that gamblers have is that there are many countries in which gambling income is taxable. That means that, on top of having to deal with the house edge of an online casino or a land-based casino, players would need to spend extra money on the cash that they win to pay the government. That's on top of all the added expenses that come with gambling!
That doesn't mean that gambling is not worth it, thigh. There are ways in which you can avoid paying too much taxes on your gambling income. In this guide, we aim to give you a full breakdown of how to do it without crossing the line between what's legal and what's not.
Our aim so to provide you with tips on how to pay fewer taxes on your gambling income without putting you in peril of breaking the law.
Do keep in mind, however, that some of these methods are frowned upon. Make sure that you don't break any laws while looking to make the best of your time in the world's best online casinos and as you aim to keep all of the cash that you want to win.
Do You Need to Report Gambling Winnings?
It all depends on the local laws of your country and how things work in your national legal environment. There is no straight answer that we can give you to this question because every country has different laws.
In fact, these laws vary so much that the answer might depend on the type of gambling winnings that you make – be it on online casinos or land-based casinos.
With that said, it's much easier to avoid paying taxes in online casino winnings than it is to avoid doing so in land-based casinos.
Local casinos in your city probably struggled to obtain licenses (governments can be extremely picky when it comes to this). As such, they will make sure not to lose them by any means possible, and that also means that your winnings are likely going to be reported to the government.
Countries Legislations, Laws, and the Importance of Know-How
It is very important that you know the laws of your country or state regarding gambling legislation and how money needs to be declared if you want to avoid getting in trouble but if you also want to pay as little in taxes as possible.
It might be best for you to travel to another country and wager there if you want to avoid paying taxes altogether. In fact, if you're planning on becoming a high roller and you have the option to move to another country, the best thing you can do is go look for a place to live in Canada. Gambling winnings don't need to be reported there!
Avoiding Versus Evading – Know the Difference!
Before we dive into the tips of how to avoid paying as much taxes on your gambling winnings as you're probably paying right now, we would like to clarify that we see a huge difference between avoiding and evading. One of these terms is within what you can say is legal, but the other is not.
Avoiding taxes means finding ways to pay less, but keeping things within what's legal. However, evading is probably going to get you in trouble unless you're a high-profile figure.
In any case, the list of tips that we're going to provide you is going to help you avoid paying too much cash on taxes. None of these methods is anything too crazy and none should get you in trouble as long as you declare everything as close to what really happened as possible.
Ways to Avoid Paying Tax on Gambling Winnings
We have compiled a list of 6 tips to help you reduce the amount of money that you'll end up paying in taxes in the long run. Use them wisely and be sure not to break any of your country's laws if you want to stay within the margin of legality, though.
Always Report Your Losses – And Do So as Much as Possible
Perhaps the best way to avoid paying too much cash in gambling taxes, reporting your losses goes a long way into reducing the total amount of cash that you have to pay as a gambler. If you report all of the cash that you've lost, then it will be deducted from the amount of cash that will be legally taken away.
This is a method that works in the US, but it's also an accepted and legal way to reduce your taxable income in many other countries in the world.
Do keep in mind that, in most countries where you can report your gambling losses, that means that gambling income is taxable. You might not be able to report your gambling losses if gambling income isn't taxable. It goes both ways, but it depends on country laws.
Don't Gamble in the US
If you truly want to avoid paying too much taxes in gambling winnings, the best thing you can do is not to gamble in America. The United States is a country with some of the heaviest taxation laws on the planet, and it's even worse when it comes to gambling. You end up having to pay almost half of your winnings in taxes, which defeats the concept of getting excited after earning some cash.
The only advantage is that Americans are allowed to report their losses as part of the reduction process, but still – it can be very annoying to gamble in the US knowing that a lot of your money is going to end up being taxes; which leads us to our next point.
Look for Countries Where Gambling Winnings aren't Taxed – Especially as a High Roller
If you're a high roller and you can afford to live elsewhere, there's no better way to start your journey than moving to a country where you can freely spend your money and win cash by gambling without having to fear for the authorities taking your cash away.
A country like Canada is an excellent choice if you want to move away from your country and towards a first-world nation where you can freely spend your cash in casino games without having to pay any of your winnings to the government.
Keep Records of Everything and Show them to an Expert
Another great way to avoid getting in trouble and minimizing the total amount of cash that the government can take from your gambling income is to keep records of everything. Make sure you report as a loss everything that happens in your account or in your time as a gambler: fees, transactions, minor losses – report everything.
The only way to make sure that you won't forget what to report is to always keep track of all bets that you make. Keep something to write everything down and never miss out on any of the cash that you've spent – that way, you can report everything as a loss and you'll be able to save a lot of money in the long run.
Stick to Legality – You Won't Want to Get in Trouble
We cannot stress things enough: make sure to remain within the margin of what's legal. There's nothing more detrimental to your economic future than being tagged as a tax evader! Remember that there's a huge difference between avoiding and evading. Stick to what's legal and make sure not to do anything that could get you in trouble.
Again, knowing the laws of your country plays a huge part in keeping yourself out of any issues. Make sure that reporting gambling income is absolutely necessary before you do it and make sure to find ways to reduce the amount of cash to report to as little as possible.
Taxation laws can be very tough, but that doesn't mean that it's impossible to avoid paying a huge sum of cash in taxes – especially if you've earned yourself a large win in an online casino.
Talk to a Specialized Accountant
The easiest way to avoid paying too much in taxes, albeit one of the most expensive ways of doing so, is by talking to a specialized accountant who knows a thing or two about gambling income.
You'd be surprised, but there are accountants who make a living on helping people reduce the amount of cash that they have to pay on gambling winnings by declaring their income in different ways.
You do need to make sure that the person that you speak to is a specialist, though. You might come across some accountants that tell you not to worry and that your money is in good hands whilst in reality, they don't know what they're doing.
Besides, you also need to put into perspective whether it's worth paying an accountant or not. Some accountants charge a lot of money to help you do this, and if your winnings are minimal, you might as well not spend the extra cash.
An accountant should always take the blame if they tell you to do something that you shouldn't be doing. You need to keep records of your conversations between you and your accountant to make sure that you have legal grounds for defense if they do anything that they shouldn't be doing and something that could get you in trouble.
Bitcoin Gambling and the Art of Avoiding Taxes
The best bitcoin casinos in the world give the player a ton of advantages that makes bitcoin gambling much more profitable than regular casino gambling. Monetary transfers are done much quicker in bitcoin casinos, bonuses tend to be much more lucrative, and the tournaments that bitcoin sites host tend to be much more profitable than those found in regular online casinos.
Those aren't the only benefits of playing in a bitcoin casino, though. It's much more difficult to tax bitcoin. In fact, it's impossible to tax it unless you turn your bitcoins (or any other cryptocurrency) into dollars or currency that is being regulated by the banks of your country.
Of course, keeping the cash in the form of bitcoins and not reporting it to your country's authorities can technically get you in trouble, but since bitcoins are not easily tracked and it's not easy for the tax agencies to get their hands on bitcoin transfer information, you're likely going to walk away free.
As such, we strongly recommend you play in the best bitcoin casinos if you want to avoid paying too many taxes on your winnings. You might even be able to not pay anything at all if you know how to handle yourself well!
The Best High Roller Online Casinos
High rollers are the types of players that tend to make the largest profits in the iGaming world, partly because they can put the gambling odds as close as possible to their favor as the online casino industry allows.
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We know that playing in the best online casinos is part of what makes an iGaming experience one of the best out there, so we've made a list of the best high roller casinos to help you out.
Note that all of these casinos are also home to the best high roller bonuses in the world. You will be able to obtain sums of cash that surpass the thousands of euros worth of cash, or you can obtain free spin bonuses that will allow you to play the best games in the world completely for free.
Regardless of what you're looking for, these casinos guarantee you the best chances to make a profit in the iGaming world. Make the best of them!
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