UK licence query

[vinylweatherman]

If they tax the winnings on gambling, then surely you should be able to offset the losses against your tax too. I believe that is the only reason why the Government in the UK hasn't taxed gambling winnings as yet.

What losses?

 

[spintee]

Quote Originally Posted by interlog
If they tax the winnings on gambling, then surely you should be able to offset the losses against your tax too. I believe that is the only reason why the Government in the UK hasn't taxed gambling winnings as yet.

What losses?

May be not for you my friend, a lot of us have not got the cash for a 500 rebuy to top the chart

But I be laughing if I got tax back on what I lost,

I mentioned this the other month when somebody had won and hey was taxed on winnings, So why not be able to claim back whats lost?

 

[interlog]

I mentioned this the other month when somebody had won and hey was taxed on winnings, So why not be able to claim back whats lost?

That is the point though. What do you tax over? Say you play a £0.50 spin and you win £200. Do you get taxed over the £200 or over £9.50 because you already played £190 prior to that spin in order to get the £200 win which effectively is a £9.50/£10 win?

 

[spintee]

That is the point though. What do you tax over? Say you play a £0.50 spin and you win £200. Do you get taxed over the £200 or over £9.50 because you already played £190 prior to that spin in order to get the £200 win which effectively is a £9.50/£10 win?

Net proft / Loss, Uk will not bring in tax for this, They have not got the brains to do it, Other wise it would be a laundering heaven, All they interested in is big company's and what they can bring in cash wise, There not botherd about players, Imagine a few million U.K players saying they put 20k in machines a year and wanted the tax back lol, They would soon come to relise hat why on eart is no one saying they made a profit, Well belive me I can certainly say gambling has bought me no profit

 

[vinylweatherman]

Net proft / Loss, Uk will not bring in tax for this, They have not got the brains to do it, Other wise it would be a laundering heaven, All they interested in is big company's and what they can bring in cash wise, There not botherd about players, Imagine a few million U.K players saying they put 20k in machines a year and wanted the tax back lol, They would soon come to relise hat why on eart is no one saying they made a profit, Well belive me I can certainly say gambling has bought me no profit

I agree, it's crazy, but the Americans don't think so. The US system just levies a tax on any single win above a certain amount, and in order to get it back, it's up to the player to keep a meticulous log of their gambling in order to show that they still have a net loss. Also, the US system only allows losses to be offset against gambling wins, not general taxation.

Now, if it was the case that gambling losses could be offset against all taxes, not just on wins, then all income tax could become voluntary for everyone, not just the very rich, and I know how this could be achieved given that taxation is levied to artificial boundaries, rather than the lifetime of a particular taxable event. One way would be matched betting, a form of arbitrage. One would place large bets on events that take place the following tax year, thus removing money from this tax year that might otherwise create a net win that would be taxed. With matched betting, you would get most of your money back no matter the outcome of the event, minus any losses due to the house edge of the bookies' odds. Of course, it's well known that by shopping around it's often possible to find two different bookies who's odds would net a small profit on such a bet, rather than a small loss, which is the basis of arbitrage for profit.

Apart from all this, our HMRC just wouldn't be able to cope with the volume of tax declarations and claims, they can barely cope now!

 

[winbig]

I agree, it's crazy, but the Americans don't think so. The US system just levies a tax on any single win above a certain amount, and in order to get it back, it's up to the player to keep a meticulous log of their gambling in order to show that they still have a net loss.

At the end of the year, casinos can and do provide us Americans with a win/loss statement, that's usually available via the player section of their website(s), once you log in with your players card #...

Here's a good FAQ/Q&A:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

I know that you are allowed to deduct gambling losses up to a certain amount on your tax returns...what is that limit?

Zero. You can not deduct a net loss at all. However if you have some W2G forms (generally given on wins of $1200 or more in slots, video poker, and keno) then you can deduct other losses against these wins. You should keep documentation for any losses you claim. You may be thinking of deducting losses on stocks. There you can deduct up to $3000 a year, and can carry over amounts larger than that to the next year. I’m still carrying over losses from the tech crash in 2000.

 

[vinylweatherman]

At the end of the year, casinos can and do provide us Americans with a win/loss statement, that's usually available via the player section of their website(s), once you log in with your players card #...

Here's a good FAQ/Q&A:

You do not have permission to view link Log in or register now.

The catch is that you can't deduct a net loss, so the government can never lose, only win or break even. Hardly a fair system of taxation. In the UK, it's the casino operators that have to pay tax on what they win from players, and this is usually a net win for the government unless the casino has been hit hard by high rollers or is badly managed. Players are free to play without having the worry of involving HMRC and having to send in tax returns. If the UK did try the US system, it would damage the casino and betting business because UK citizens don't routinely send in returns, tax is deducted at source under various systems, and at a rate that most people would pay anyway. It's only those who do not fit the norm, such as very low earners and very rich, that have to make a return to either claim back tax that was automatically deducted, or pay the right higher amount because they are rich enough to be liable. Gambling isn't taxed at all as far as players are concerned, so no matter what their net win or loss, HMRC don't get involved. The one exception is when someone declares themselves as a "professional gambler", or HMRC decides that they are, which might happen for example if someone plays poker as a professional, and is good at it and can make a living from the proceeds.