Tennessee United States
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October 15, 2004
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jun 6, 2007
A $6,000 refund? Why would anyone lend that amount of money to the government? Tax refunds aren't gifts like Christmas presents. They're loans that people who didn't claim enough give to the IRS. It's better to break even or owe a little and put your money in a CD or other interest bearing account. The IRS certainly doesn't pay you interest on the money they've kept for a year.
By the way, if a return changed from $6,000 to $4,000 from a $5,000 win, that would indicate a very high income bracket. Even if you & your wife made over $100,000 you'd be in the 25% bracket. ($5,000 x 25% = $1,250) and you've got 2 children. $5,000 more won't push anyone into an entirely different bracket. Here are the tax brackets for 2006
Schedule Y-1 — Married Filing Jointly or Qualifying Widow(er)
If taxable income is over--
But not over--
The tax is:
$0
$15,100
10% of the amount over $0
$15,100
$61,300
$1,510.00 plus 15% of the amount over 15,100
$61,300
$123,700
$8,440.00 plus 25% of the amount over 61,300
$123,700
$188,450
$24,040.00 plus 28% of the amount over 123,700
$188,450
$336,550
$42,170.00 plus 33% of the amount over 188,450
$336,550
no limit
$91,043.00 plus 35% of the amount over 336,550
i'll be the first to admit i'm no expert though with this stuff.it boggles me seems hard to understand at first.i'm single but with dependants.
Kentucky United States
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February 14, 2006
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jun 6, 2007
To add to this comment, the Indiana Lottery site FAQ answers this simply:
Q. Do I have to report what I won to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?
A. YES. All Lottery prizes should be reported to the IRS as income regardless of whether a W-2G is received.
A W-2G tax form will be provided to players for each prize that was won during the previous calendar year and that meets the following two criteria:
Prize is valued at $600.00 or more; and
Prize equals at least 300 times the wager
The $600.00 limit test is applied to individual prizes. Therefore, even though prizes won by a player during a year add up to more than $600.00, they will only receive a W-2G if any one of the prizes is $600.00 or more. For example, if a player wins prizes of $500.00, $500.00 and $2,000.00 in one year, the total prizes won for that year equals $3,000.00. However, the player will only receive a W-2G showing winnings of $2,000.00 since it is the only individual prize that is $600.00 or more.
For W-2G reporting purposes, the definition of a “prize” for players includes cash, trips or merchandise awarded to those holding winning lottery tickets. For prizes exceeding $5,000.00, IRS regulations require that the Lottery withhold federal taxes equal to 25% of the prize value before the prize is awarded. The Lottery forwards this money to the IRS on behalf of the winner. This tax withholding will appear on the W-2G. However the winner may still owe more or less, because the ultimate tax amount the player has to pay on prizes received will depend on the player’s personal tax situation
"Q. Do I have to report what I won to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)?
A. YES. All Lottery prizes should be reported to the IRS as income regardless of whether a W-2G is received."
Do you think that applies to a guy that goes into convient store, buys $20 worth of Tic-Tac-Toes, hands the clerk $10 in winners, asks for 10 Lucky 7s, wins $12, gets 12 Match the Crabby Patty, uses $1 winner to pay for his coffee, and walks out of the Store with a $20 cup of 2 hour old coffee?
Does he have to report his $23 in winnings as income?
Wandering Aimlessly United States
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November 5, 2005
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Quote: Originally posted by LOTTOMIKE on Jun 6, 2007
i have two kids and we are not married plus they give some kind of earned income credit.i ain't gonna argue if they want to give me a big refund,lol.
Sorry if you misunderstood me, Mike. I was just telling you that if you're getting back all that money after filing, you are probably not claiming enough to begin with...that's all. You've recently asked questions about managing credit on your blog and I was trying to be helpful.
BTW, you're the one who brought it up and said you paid $2,000 more for a $5,000 win which is 40%. I just said it didn't jive, especially if you qualify for EIC.
Stack47 writes:
Do you think that applies to a guy that goes into convient store, buys $20 worth of Tic-Tac-Toes, hands the clerk $10 in winners, asks for 10 Lucky 7s, wins $12, gets 12 Match the Crabby Patty, uses $1 winner to pay for his coffee, and walks out of the Store with a $20 cup of 2 hour old coffee?
Does he have to report his $23 in winnings as income
Why ask me? I was just quoting the Indiana Lottery site. This discussion is now too silly. You don't honestly think I report when I get $5 for 3 numbers, do you? $23 is a lot different from $5,000. Technically the $23 should be reported, but who in his right mind would do that?
Tennessee United States
Member #7,853
October 15, 2004
11,352 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jun 6, 2007
Sorry if you misunderstood me, Mike. I was just telling you that if you're getting back all that money after filing, you are probably not claiming enough to begin with...that's all. You've recently asked questions about managing credit on your blog and I was trying to be helpful.
BTW, you're the one who brought it up and said you paid $2,000 more for a $5,000 win which is 40%. I just said it didn't jive, especially if you qualify for EIC.
Stack47 writes:
Do you think that applies to a guy that goes into convient store, buys $20 worth of Tic-Tac-Toes, hands the clerk $10 in winners, asks for 10 Lucky 7s, wins $12, gets 12 Match the Crabby Patty, uses $1 winner to pay for his coffee, and walks out of the Store with a $20 cup of 2 hour old coffee?
Does he have to report his $23 in winnings as income
Why ask me? I was just quoting the Indiana Lottery site. This discussion is now too silly. You don't honestly think I report when I get $5 for 3 numbers, do you? $23 is a lot different from $5,000. Technically the $23 should be reported, but who in his right mind would do that?
i welcome your advice justxploring .i'm willing to learn if you know these things.you might could help save or gain a few bucks.......
Kentucky United States
Member #32,651
February 14, 2006
10,302 Posts
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Quote: Originally posted by justxploring on Jun 6, 2007
Sorry if you misunderstood me, Mike. I was just telling you that if you're getting back all that money after filing, you are probably not claiming enough to begin with...that's all. You've recently asked questions about managing credit on your blog and I was trying to be helpful.
BTW, you're the one who brought it up and said you paid $2,000 more for a $5,000 win which is 40%. I just said it didn't jive, especially if you qualify for EIC.
Stack47 writes:
Do you think that applies to a guy that goes into convient store, buys $20 worth of Tic-Tac-Toes, hands the clerk $10 in winners, asks for 10 Lucky 7s, wins $12, gets 12 Match the Crabby Patty, uses $1 winner to pay for his coffee, and walks out of the Store with a $20 cup of 2 hour old coffee?
Does he have to report his $23 in winnings as income
Why ask me? I was just quoting the Indiana Lottery site. This discussion is now too silly. You don't honestly think I report when I get $5 for 3 numbers, do you? $23 is a lot different from $5,000. Technically the $23 should be reported, but who in his right mind would do that?
Casinos rate players and give them comps based on their play and in few hours of play, thousands of dollars worth of casino chips can pass through their hands and they can walk out of the casino with the same amount of money they walked in with. I've heard people at the airport say they hit their favorite slot machine for $500 and then watch them get money out of the ATM so they can pay for their parking.
If it's true our tax laws require us to report any winnings even $23 as income, why aren't they inforcing that law?
If they did, legalized gambling would no longer exist.
One thing I did read was that the casinos convinced the IRS that they can't keep track of winnings vs losses at the tables, but I really don't know much about those rules. I didn't say the IRS expects us to report everything. However, the smallest amount of income, if reported, will be taxed unless someone doesn't make the minimum for filing that year. That's what I've been saying all along, but nobody is listening. The IRS can't possibly spend the money & manpower to track people who win small amounts of money. That's just common sense. Adultery is against the law. In some states you can get 10 years for infidelity and in Michigan the punishment is life in prison. But do you know anyone who cheated on his wife and went to prison? (maybe he's doing hard time, but not behind bars! LOL)
One thing I did read was that the casinos convinced the IRS that they can't keep track of winnings vs losses at the tables, but I really don't know much about those rules. I didn't say the IRS expects us to report everything. However, the smallest amount of income, if reported, will be taxed unless someone doesn't make the minimum for filing that year. That's what I've been saying all along, but nobody is listening. The IRS can't possibly spend the money & manpower to track people who win small amounts of money. That's just common sense. Adultery is against the law. In some states you can get 10 years for infidelity and in Michigan the punishment is life in prison. But do you know anyone who cheated on his wife and went to prison? (maybe he's doing hard time, but not behind bars! LOL)
"One thing I did read was that the casinos convinced the IRS that they can't keep track of winnings vs losses at the tables, but I really don't know much about those rules."
The floorman keep track of how much a player's buy-in is, their average bet, and how much they walk with but they don't track how many times they win or lose. If you want to drive a floorman crazy, pull some chips off the table and put them in your pocket when he comes over to look.
Casino gambling and for the most part scratch-offs are a series of wins and loses; the money is sort of recycled. When people get a W2-G and have to report that amount as income, the tax code also allows them to deduct up to that amount in gambling losses. I have no idea of what amount that would be when they would have to prove their losses, but with casino gambling, our proof is the difference between what we started with and what we ended with. What happens in between should be irrelative. Somebody making $25,000 a year might raise the red flag if they claimed gambling losses of $100,000 if they won that amount in December.
"But do you know anyone who cheated on his wife and went to prison?"
Nope but I read about a woman that went to prison after she caught her husband cheating.
Brazil
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April 24, 2007
384 Posts
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Probably, if possible I would return the ticket for the original owner.
If there was some reward or bonus, maybe helpfully I could manage to get my own winning combination. Even if there wasn't a reward, I think that I could try to win by my self.
Kentucky United States
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Quote: Originally posted by Yukio on Jun 7, 2007
Probably, if possible I would return the ticket for the original owner.
If there was some reward or bonus, maybe helpfully I could manage to get my own winning combination. Even if there wasn't a reward, I think that I could try to win by my self.
"Probably, if possible I would return the ticket for the original owner."
Most people would do that too, but how could they find out who the owner is if the ticket isn't signed and nobody is claiming they lost a ticket?
NY United States
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October 16, 2005
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Quote: Originally posted by Stack47 on Jun 7, 2007
Casinos rate players and give them comps based on their play and in few hours of play, thousands of dollars worth of casino chips can pass through their hands and they can walk out of the casino with the same amount of money they walked in with. I've heard people at the airport say they hit their favorite slot machine for $500 and then watch them get money out of the ATM so they can pay for their parking.
If it's true our tax laws require us to report any winnings even $23 as income, why aren't they inforcing that law?
If they did, legalized gambling would no longer exist.
The IRS doesn't try to enforce the tax code that rigorously because it would be wildly impractical. The IRS wants every dime, but they have to balance that with the cost of collecting taxes, and how much paperwork people are forced to do. A few people will be exceptions, but for the most part individual gamblers can be expected to be on the losing side of the equation. As a whole group gamblers are always on the losing side, so the only money the IRS loses when every single win isn't reported is the money that wasn't reported and exceeds what is deductible. Virtually everyone who wins a few hundred bucks or less has losses that completely offset their winnings, so reporting every win would just mean that there would be more W-2g's to look at and the deductions would be a bit bigger. OTOH, if somebody wins $1000 or more there's a good chance that they will be on the winning side for that year. In the long run they may end up on the losing side, but you can only offset a win with losses for the same year.
FWIW, when I was in high school I once made a deposit of an even $100 in my savings account, but it was accidentally listed as $100.01. Banks have to do their best to make sure everything balances, so they had to fix the problem. That required them to send me a letter asking me to stop by with my passbook. The stamp cost 7 cents, and the envelope and paper probably made it an even 10 cents, and this was back when letters were cranked out one at a time on a typewriter, so they probably paid $1 in salary and overhead to the secretary that typed the letter. When I went in again, somebody spent several minutes processing a withdrawal of 1 penny to make things balance. I figure it cost the bank about $2 to fix a 1 cent mistake. That's about what would happen if the IRS tried to catch everyone who wins a modest amount. They'd spend $10 to collect $5. They want to collect every buck they can, and they'll take a loss in order to set an example now and then, but they know that in the long run they come out ahead by ignoring the chump change.
Kentucky United States
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February 14, 2006
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Quote: Originally posted by KY Floyd on Jun 7, 2007
The IRS doesn't try to enforce the tax code that rigorously because it would be wildly impractical. The IRS wants every dime, but they have to balance that with the cost of collecting taxes, and how much paperwork people are forced to do. A few people will be exceptions, but for the most part individual gamblers can be expected to be on the losing side of the equation. As a whole group gamblers are always on the losing side, so the only money the IRS loses when every single win isn't reported is the money that wasn't reported and exceeds what is deductible. Virtually everyone who wins a few hundred bucks or less has losses that completely offset their winnings, so reporting every win would just mean that there would be more W-2g's to look at and the deductions would be a bit bigger. OTOH, if somebody wins $1000 or more there's a good chance that they will be on the winning side for that year. In the long run they may end up on the losing side, but you can only offset a win with losses for the same year.
FWIW, when I was in high school I once made a deposit of an even $100 in my savings account, but it was accidentally listed as $100.01. Banks have to do their best to make sure everything balances, so they had to fix the problem. That required them to send me a letter asking me to stop by with my passbook. The stamp cost 7 cents, and the envelope and paper probably made it an even 10 cents, and this was back when letters were cranked out one at a time on a typewriter, so they probably paid $1 in salary and overhead to the secretary that typed the letter. When I went in again, somebody spent several minutes processing a withdrawal of 1 penny to make things balance. I figure it cost the bank about $2 to fix a 1 cent mistake. That's about what would happen if the IRS tried to catch everyone who wins a modest amount. They'd spend $10 to collect $5. They want to collect every buck they can, and they'll take a loss in order to set an example now and then, but they know that in the long run they come out ahead by ignoring the chump change.
"Virtually everyone who wins a few hundred bucks or less has losses that completely offset their winnings, so reporting every win would just mean that there would be more W-2g's to look at and the deductions would be a bit bigger."
The $599 limit is for a one bet wager that paid over that amount. The IRS is not interested in tracking accumulative wins because they know there are accumulative losses too. The way it's set up now you can deduct up to the amount on the W-2G. If all wins under $599 had to be reported, then all losses could be deducted and the IRS doesn't want to spend their time going through shoe boxes of losing lottery tickets.
Those lavish casinos in Vegas weren't financed by the winners.
"OTOH, if somebody wins $1000 or more there's a good chance that they will be on the winning side for that year. In the long run they may end up on the losing side, but you can only offset a win with losses for the same year."
Their next door neighbor could win $100 ten times and report nothing whether they were on the plus or minus side for the year.
I play golf with a guy that plays the lottery and he is always telling me about playing numbers he sees numerous times. One day last summer he was talking about seeing 9090 and I happened to look down at the score card and the last four digits in the golf course's phone number was a combination of 9090. After I added up his score (90 of course), he said we were playing that number on the way home and we both played a $1 straight and $2 box on it. At 7:30 that night, he calls me and says it came out boxed. I was in front of him in the lottery line so I didn't hear him bet. I had boxed it for $.50 four times but he had boxed it for $1 two times. A Pick-4 double-double box pays $800 for $1 bet so he got two W-2Gs but because a $.50 box pays $400, I didn't get a W-2G.
Some people lose huge amounts playing $5 slot machines but because of the payoff structure when they do win something, they get W-2Gs. At the end of the year they find out they have to report $60 or 70 thousand in winnings after losing their butts.
The people that make sure a one wager win is under $599 aren't beating the system by not reporting their winnings, but know how the tax system is structured.