Can I Write My Lottery Losing Tickets Off If I Have Saved Them During The Year?

Reply #19

Stack47 — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:42:47 GMT

And being that the millions of wins fall into the category of $1 to $600, the Lottery staff gets to turn their head the other way (courtesy of Uncle Sam) and not deal with all of that paper work. This is just my take on it.

Losing tickets are proof of gambling losses and the IRS would have to count every one of them. Can you imagine if millions of lottery players handed IRS agents shoe boxes full of losing tickets?

BTW, welcome to LP

Reply #18

rdgrnr — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:38:29 GMT

Not EVERY state.

Nope, not all 57 of 'em.

Reply #17

rdgrnr — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:35:28 GMT

Dadgum straight

Reply #16

TheRightPrice — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 17:19:55 GMT

Yes Joyce, you can.

But you have to win first.

THEN you can DEDUCT the cost of losing tickets against the taxes of your win.

Good Luck!!

If you don't win at all, then yes it is a total loss.

Reply #15

joyceepoo — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 15:36:40 GMT

LOL...not I am not professional yet. I started playing the lottery on Jan. 2 of this year. Started buying scratch offs after Christmas but stopped when I won $200 on the first day of playing Cash 4. But you make a good point here. When the cashier handed me the $200, I noted that those who win $600 or less do not have to pay taxes on it. But those who win $700 do have to pay taxes. I asked the same questions you did. This is what I came up with: the reason we don't have to pay taxes on the amoun... [ More ]

Reply #14

kapla — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:31:48 GMT

I thought I read somewhere here in LP that he had at least 1 kid in each state

Reply #13

garyo1954 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:04:17 GMT

With 16 dependent deductions for hound dogs those lottery tickets would be a drop in the bucket.

Reply #12

rdgrnr — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 04:51:20 GMT

I'll sell you mine for half price.

You never know, maybe I overlooked a winner, I'm drunk most of the time.

Could make for a fun-filled family weekend.

Reply #11

mcginnin56 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 03:50:06 GMT

Of course no one is required to pay or report taxes for wins of under $600. The grey area comes into play when you want to start deducting all your losses.

If Martha Milkmaid spent $1500 on some scratchers but won only $500, she may claim the $1000 as a loss, but she must report the $500 as income.

If Lucky Luke spent $500 and won $1500 on some scratchers, he must report the $1500, but if he wants to itemize he can claim the entire $500 as a loss on schedule A , since he is allowed to clai... [ More ]

Reply #10

joyceepoo — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:47:07 GMT

Are you kidding me? Now who in the world would want to buy losing tickets? That's silly.

Reply #9

James1 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:27:20 GMT

You can take your losing tickets and sell them for cash on craigslist

Reply #8

Stack47 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:13:25 GMT

So if you didn't fill out any papers..I wouldn't worry about it.

But for those wanting to pay even more in taxes, http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=108277,00.html

Reply #7

Littleoldlady — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 01:06:47 GMT

If they generated you a tax form..might be 1099 or something like that then you have to file. They don't do it unless you win over a certain amount all at one time. Say for instance you hit the P4 for 5,000.00 then you would have to file. the papers that you fill out to get the money are used to generate your taxes owed document. So if you didn't fill out any papers..I wouldn't worry about it.

Reply #6

Stack47 — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:54:03 GMT

You need to have a running log of ALL of your gambling activity for the year, and report ALL your wins.

If joyceepoo is a professional gambler, they should already know that. But for the average player that gets a W2-G for winning over $600, they can deduct up to that amount by going long form using schedule A.

If the IRS enforce their rules Gambling winnings are always taxable income every player cashing a Free Ticket or more would be required to file IRS Form 1040 regardless of income a... [ More ]

Reply #5

grwurston — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:18:04 GMT

I would like to add that you can go to the IRS website and look up gambling loses for more details.

Reply #4

joyceepoo — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 00:14:53 GMT

Thank you very much. This was very helpful. I played my first play 4 game on Jan. 2 and won 200 bucks when I played 0012. Then again last week, I played 9211 boxed and won another $200. I have since stopped played scratch offs. I like playing cash 4 a lot better...not to mention the odds. I hope that Feb will be as prosperous. I am extremely cautious and refuse to play a lot of money. I try to keep it low as possible but I have missed out on $5000 twice this month...almost cried...but I was stro... [ More ]

Reply #3

mcginnin56 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:46:55 GMT

I forgot to mention you can deduct your losses, but not EXCEED your winnings on schedule A as miscellaneous deductions.

Hopefully this was helpful, but as always consult your personal tax advisor for the final say.

Reply #2

mcginnin56 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:55:50 GMT

It depends...you are allowed to deduct lottery losses against the WINNINGS if you itemize your report winnings on line 21 of form 1040 and schedule A, as other miscellaneous deductions. (not subject to 2% AGI limitations).

You need to have a running log of ALL of your gambling activity for the year, and report ALL your wins. The IRS isn't going to believe that you didn't have even one other win for $2. You must report all wins, even small ones.

And losing lottery tickets aren't considered... [ More ]

Reply #1

sully16 — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:55:33 GMT

In most states, you cannot write them off unless you have a big win, and if you can itemize.

Can I Write My Lottery Losing Tickets Off If I Have Saved Them During The Year?

joyceepoo — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 16:11:38 GMT

I live in Florida. If this can be done, would someone please tell me which form I need to use and how to go about using it? Thanks.