Casinos and the IRS

[Dyepaintball12]

Originally Posted by Richard Munchkin

The casino sends W2Gs to the IRS, they send CTRs and STRs to the Justice Department.

You can bet that if the FEDs ask for any paperwork from a casino they will turn it over in a hot second. I have heard of cases where people who were audited found the IRS to have all their win/loss statements from casinos they were playing. But this is mainly for people that the IRS or the Justice Department are looking to go after for some reason or another. I have never heard of this happening to a some random gambler they decided to go after on a fishing expedition.

Well I would think a win/loss would be just as unacceptable if the IRS has it as it is if you send it to them as proof of your gambling. Win/losses can be wildly inaccurate.

The only thing that I would think would hold up is CTRs because you are physically agreeing that you are cashing in so many chips.

[pit15]

Originally Posted by Dyepaintball12

Well I would think a win/loss would be just as unacceptable if the IRS has it as it is if you send it to them as proof of your gambling. Win/losses can be wildly inaccurate.

The only thing that I would think would hold up is CTRs because you are physically agreeing that you are cashing in so many chips.

Not to mention the win/loss statements only include play for that player's card, and it's regardless of who actually played under that card.

[Richard Munchkin]

Originally Posted by Dyepaintball12

Well I would think a win/loss would be just as unacceptable if the IRS has it as it is if you send it to them as proof of your gambling. Win/losses can be wildly inaccurate.

The only thing that I would think would hold up is CTRs because you are physically agreeing that you are cashing in so many chips.

As Mechanic pointed out it is imperative to keep a gambling journal. I'm told that if there are discrepancies between your win/loss statement and your journal, the journal carries more weight.

Something else that is important to point out - you have to be able to justify your standard of living. If you spend 100k per year on your mortgage, cars, insurance, etc etc, you can't then claim that you made zero dollars.

[Machinist]

Originally Posted by Richard Munchkin

As Mechanic pointed out it is imperative to keep a gambling journal. I'm told that if there are discrepancies between your win/loss statement and your journal, the journal carries more weight.

Something else that is important to point out - you have to be able to justify your standard of living. If you spend 100k per year on your mortgage, cars, insurance, etc etc, you can't then claim that you made zero dollars.

X2

Machinist

[Dyepaintball12]

This doesn't add up to me. Anyone could write anything they wanted in their journal... Why does this have ANY weight at all?

The IRS runs on the honor system?

[paddywhack]

Originally Posted by Dyepaintball12

This doesn't add up to me. Anyone could write anything they wanted in their journal... Why does this have ANY weight at all?

The IRS runs on the honor system?

I believe in this instance that's all you've got to go on.

[Automatic Monkey]

Originally Posted by Dyepaintball12

This doesn't add up to me. Anyone could write anything they wanted in their journal... Why does this have ANY weight at all?

The IRS runs on the honor system?

Because any documentation is better than no documentation. You tell the IRS "I keep my records in this journal of my activities. Do you have a journal of my activities?" and of course the answer is "No," so you have the preponderance of evidence. The IRS has ways of inspecting papers and journals to see if they are legit. For example, if you pick up lottery and OTB tickets off the floor and submit them as proof of loss, they will look at them under Wood's light to see if there are footprints on them.

If you want to keep a fake journal, write it exactly like you would a real journal- write in it every day, using whatever pen you have around, walk around with it in your pocket, etc. Only the numbers are fake. For practice, keep a real journal along with the fake one, treat each one exactly the same except for the numbers you write in them. One fun trick is to just reverse wins and losses, so the numbers in the fake journal will have the same kind of randomness of reality; random numbers created by humans look different than those created by randomness.

(Hypothetical information only: do not commit a crime.)

[paddywhack]

Originally Posted by Automatic Monkey

If you want to keep a fake journal, write it exactly like you would a real journal- write in it every day, using whatever pen you have around, walk around with it in your pocket, etc. Only the numbers are fake. For practice, keep a real journal along with the fake one, treat each one exactly the same except for the numbers you write in them. One fun trick is to just reverse wins and losses, so the numbers in the fake journal will have the same kind of randomness of reality; random numbers created by humans look different than those created by randomness.

(Hypothetical information only: do not commit a crime.)

Sounds well thought out for a hypothetical situation