You may deduct gambling losses only if you itemize deductions. However, the amount of losses you deduct may not be more than the amount of gambling income reported on your return. Claim your gambling losses on Form 1040, Schedule A, as a miscellaneous itemized deduction that is not subject to the 2% limit. However, you are responsible to report the income even if no form was received. Gambling Losses are reported in the return as Itemized Deductions (if you qualify) and are limited to the amount of gambling winnings. Do not deduct the losses from the winnings. You must enter both the winnings and the losses separately. For starters, you can only deduct losses up to the amount of your winnings, so any excess loss can’t offset other highly taxed income. Conversely, you might show a taxable profit. Suppose you have annual gambling winnings of $10,000 for 2017 and losses of $2,500. Apr 14, 2015  The most important rule The biggest single thing to know is that you can only deduct gambling losses for the year to the extent of your gambling winnings. Just remember, the gambling losses you are allowed to deduct can't exceed the winnings you report as income on your tax return. For example, if you have $2,000 in winnings in 2018, but $4,000 in losses, your deduction is limited to $2,000. You can't write off the remaining $2,000, or carry it over to your 2019 return.

• Can Gambling Losses Offset Winnings
• Where Do You Put Gambling Losses On 1040

Hello and thanks for starting a thread in the Gambling Therapy forums

Here at Gambling Therapy we pride ourselves on being a caring and diverse online community who can help and support you with the difficulties you’re currently facing. We understand that this might be a tough time for you, particularly if you’re new to recovery, so come here as often as you need to and participate in the forums, access online groups and connect to the live advice helpline if you need one to one support. We’re in this together!

Here on the forum you can share your experiences in a safe, supportive and accepting environment. The beauty of writing it all down is that you can take your time and you will be creating a record of your progress that you can look back on if it ever feels like you’re not moving forward. So, share as much or as little as you like but do try to stick to keeping just one thread in this forum so people know where to find you if they want to be updated on your progress or share something with you.

And on that note..

I’m going to hand you over to our community because I’m sure they will have some words of wisdom for you :-)

Can Gambling Losses Offset Winnings

Take care

The Gambling Therapy Team

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Gambling winnings are taxed like regular income! How would the IRS know about thisif you didn’t tell them? Simple: If you win $1200 or more on a slot or video poker machine or bingo, or cash in $10,000 or more in chips at the cage in any given day, thenyou’ll have to show your ID and fill out a tax form.

The IRS does let you deduct gambling losses from gambling winnings, though. Youcan’t deduct more than your winnings, of course, the IRS isn’t that stupid.You can’t say you won $1,000 and lost $5,000, for a net loss of $4,000. If thatwas your actual experience, you could apply $1,000 of your losses towards your $1,000in winnings so you wouldn’t owe any tax on your winnings.

Let’s say you get lucky and have a big win. At that point you want to deduct yourlosses from your winnings to reduce your taxes. How do you find your losses? Here’swhere having a Player’s Card at the casino comes in handy. Since casinos track players’action when they have a card, the casino can give you a report of how much you lostwhen tax time comes around. Of course, it’s best if you also keep your own log ofyour play. Here’s a free Win/Loss Tracking Form (PDF)you can download.

Note that as of this writing, there is current activity in the United States Senate(bill S.972) “To Amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to prohibit any deductionfor gambling losses”. Obviously, this strikes us as rather unfair. If you won $3,000and lost $2,000, then your real winnings were only $1,000 and that’s what shouldbe taxed. But if certain legislators have their way, they’ll consider that yourincome from gambling is $3,000 and your losses don’t count.

Where Do You Put Gambling Losses On 1040

We are neither accountants nor lawyers so nothing in this article should be construedas a replacement for advice from a competent professional. For more info about theimpact of taxation on winnings we recommend the book The Gambler’s Guide to Taxes by Walter L. Lewis, CPA.