Saving losing tickets?

Reply #20

Classic47 — Wed, 20 May 2009 03:57:28 GMT

They shouldn't deduct winnings in the first place. Income tax is more than enough.

Reply #19

four4me — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:44:18 GMT

The lottery cut me a check for 6700 bucks it think. Boy was i hot about that they said because of my tax bracket they thought it was best they took the tax out right then and there. All i remember is it wasn't 7 grand. Then i only had from November the 15th to Dec 31 to come up with some losing tickets, cant remember all the details of how much more the feds and state got. I couldn't wait until after the first of the year to cash it because at the time i was living from paycheck to paycheck.... [ More ]

Reply #18

Classic47 — Tue, 19 May 2009 22:36:05 GMT

AMEN BROTHER!!!

It's bad enough the odds are against you, it's bad enough jackpot winners only get half of their winnings BEFORE taxes, and it's bad that the state gets their share of YOUR winnings, but to add in the extra tax is criminal! First they deduct your winnings by 25% and 4% more for state, THEN they tax you even more? How much of the 9000 dollars did you actually get to keep

Reply #17

four4me — Tue, 19 May 2009 17:57:18 GMT

KY Floyd we can always count on your wisdom in these matters.

Maybe it was because i didn't know any better after all it was 12 years ago when i won the money maybe back then i didn't save my tickets. The guy that does my taxes is pretty smart. He always managed to get me the most money back of any of the other tax prepairers i had. Regardless of anything what matters is one can only claim so much loss on a winning ticket i forget what percent. Maybe what he said was keep all your loosin... [ More ]

Reply #16

KY Floyd — Tue, 19 May 2009 05:43:17 GMT

I presume your tax man is simply the guy who does your taxes? If so I'd suggest finding somebody who knows what they're doing to replace him. Gambling losses anytime during the tax year are deductible against any gambling winnings anytime in that year, period. I'd never suggest that the law always treats everybody the same way, but do you really think that if two people both play $1 on pick 3 every day, and one wins $500 on January 1st and the other wins $500 on December 31st that the first guy... [ More ]

Reply #15

Litebets27 — Tue, 19 May 2009 01:45:32 GMT

I totally agree with your last statement, Four.

Reply #14

four4me — Sun, 17 May 2009 23:16:55 GMT

Lightbets i only said what i did because my tax man told me it. The rules may have changed since then i don't know.

He also told me to keep them in a safe place in the event i get audited.

When i won 9 grand in November back in 1997 he said only the tickets i purchased after my win would count to-wards some of the estimated taxes i owed and would get a refund on.

I was pretty riled up because the lottery taxed me up front, then the state and feds wanted some more money at the end of the... [ More ]

Reply #13

Classic47 — Sun, 17 May 2009 22:26:44 GMT

I guess I won't bother saving them then (unless I want to try for the second chance drawing, but I want to find out more about it before I play).

Reply #12

Litebets27 — Sun, 17 May 2009 21:40:24 GMT

You are reporting your gambling losses for the year. This includes those before, during and after. At least, that is what the IRS agent reported to me.

Reply #11

four4me — Sun, 17 May 2009 19:44:22 GMT

You can save all the tickets you want the only saved tickets that count are the ones you keep after you win a reportable amount over 600 bucks. Any tickets you purchased before the day you won are worthless for tax purposes.

Reply #10

Litebets27 — Sun, 17 May 2009 18:14:30 GMT

I've had the pleasure (sarcasm) of being audited several years ago. The fun part of it is, several years later the State is now dripping their hands into the pot. I was told that if you are lucky enough to get audited and you had claimed a W2G form during the year that you were audited and happened to be called in to show proof of everything that you have claimed, it's nice to have a bag of those tickets with you.

I haven't been asked to bring in proof, but 4 years later, the fact of the audi... [ More ]

Reply #9

Coin Toss — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:14:03 GMT

Classic47

As has been said here, you can deduct your losses up to your winnings.

In other words, you can't win $1200 and say, Well I blew $2400 playing the lotto. No matter how much you did lose, the claimed amount can't exceed the winnings.

The reason for keeping losing tickets is because there are actually some people that would win something reportbale, let's say, on December 30th, and go to their nearest lotto vendor and hang around asking people for losing tickets. So when they do... [ More ]

Reply #8

diamondpalace — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:56:45 GMT

It only makes good wallpaper...

Reply #7

BORGUSX — Sat, 16 May 2009 06:55:22 GMT

For me,it is a part of the learning process of filing a tax return and to be honest.

Reply #6

RJOh — Fri, 15 May 2009 21:59:15 GMT

I doubt if anyone who doesn't win enough to get a W-G form from the state ever voluntarily reports their lottery winnings on their tax returns.

Reply #5

DC81 — Fri, 15 May 2009 14:25:59 GMT

Why even report $50?? The IRS won't know anything unless it's a win of $600 or more.

Reply #4

RJOh — Fri, 15 May 2009 07:10:01 GMT

You probably won't get any thing unless you itemize all your losses and they exceed the standard allowance of $4500. I won $1500 one year and although I bought $3000 worth of lottery tickets that year my $1500 gambling lost with other losses didn't exceed the standard $4500 allowance so I ended up paying extra taxes for the $1500 increase to my taxable income.

Reply #3

SmoothJuice — Fri, 15 May 2009 06:03:07 GMT

Be careful which you buy. I bought a $20 Casino Royale Scratcher as a birthday present. It was a loser, err, not a winner and I told my friend to enter it for that $1,000,000 drawing. They didn't accept the $20 Casino game.

Reply #2

BORGUSX — Fri, 15 May 2009 04:37:53 GMT

So,what does that mean? If I spend $100 USD and won $50 USD,then I get a tax deduction of $50 USD? Or do you mean a tax credit

Reply #1

Jack-C — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:55:03 GMT

Gambling winnings are taxable, but you can deduct your losses up to the amount you won for the year. So, keeping your proof of how much you lost is a good idea. At the end of the tax year you can throw them away, if you don't have any big wins to offset.

Saving losing tickets?

Classic47 — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:50:31 GMT

I read somewhere that saving losing tickets could help reduce taxes for smaller, but large enough prizes to be taxed on. Is this true? Because I have been saving my losing tickets.

Also, in Michigan, there's a raffle where you can enter just by sending 10 dollars worth of losing tickets to win a million dollars! So, am I the only one who saves my losing tickets and could it be benificial in the long run