does anyone save their losing tickets in a shoebox

Reply #15

DoubleDown — Wed, 13 Jun 2007 17:01:35 GMT

I save mine for tax time and it is painful to add them up.

Reply #14

pacattack05 — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 01:18:47 GMT

Just joking....LOL

What I really do is mail the losing tix back to the Lottery Office, and they promptly give a refund for them.

It's a win win situation....

Reply #13

mr twentyone — Tue, 12 Jun 2007 00:40:44 GMT

did that one time, and let me tell you,, dont ever add them up,, i was saving them in a bedroom drawer for about three years,,,then one day i said its storming out side,, let me add these up to see what iv spent,, so i grabbed a handfull and started adding away,,,,,,do you know what a $70:00 doller a time habit does to you and at twice a day,, sometimes three times a day,, i got up to $40,320,00, after that i stopped adding, my whole afternoon was thrown out of wack'' but im too deep in th... [ More ]

Reply #12

pacattack05 — Mon, 11 Jun 2007 01:24:03 GMT

I donate all my losing tix to the nice gentlemen who take away my garbage.

It's a dirty job, but some one's gotta do it...

Reply #11

Coin Toss — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 22:49:29 GMT

justxploring

Far better to keep a journal if you wind up needing one than to wish you had kept one.

In tax matters our legal system kind of reverses - the burden of proof falls on the accused - if the IRS says they don;t think you played all those tickets, you don't have a journal of daily play, it's up to you to produce one or somehow prove they were indeed all your tickets.

Reply #10

Yukio — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 20:18:13 GMT

A person could make artesanal works with lottery tickets and clue ...

Reply #9

justxploring — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:31:36 GMT

Babyneeds$ - I like your way of thinking!! I wish it were true, but Coin Toss is correct IMHO. Nobody will let you write-off a lottery ticket as a donation to charity.

Regarding keeping a ledger, Coin Toss, I've read that's important to do. The IRS knows that it's easy to gather a bunch of scratch-offs out of the trash. However, like Jarasan wrote on another subject, less than 2% of returns are actually audited. It's just that once you raise that red flag, you will be branded, so it might... [ More ]

Reply #8

Coin Toss — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 17:06:29 GMT

babyneeds$

If I don't win, how come I can't just write off my donations as charitable contributions?

Because those tickets had the potential of winning they're not a direct 'donation'.

Reply #7

babyneeds$ — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:34:35 GMT

In Georgia and Michigan the lottery funds go to education. If I don't win, how come I can't just write off my donations as charitable contributions? This is my 1st year playing, so I'm saving mine in a old suitcase, just in case the Tax Man says I can write them off in this manner.

I'm gonna hit big! So, I guess I better save as many as I can find! LOL

WHATEVER baby wants, baby gets

Reply #6

JAP69 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:07:10 GMT

I stack my losers on my desk.

When and if I get a hit I pull out the tickets that equal the dollar amount I won.

When the stack starts getting high like right now I knuckle down to find a hit.

I have about a 1 inch high stack now with various dollar amounts on each ticket.

If I total the dollar amount of losers now I might

Reply #5

BevsPicks2 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 14:04:09 GMT

Absolutely! For the tax period involved. If I have a win during the year then I can offset some of the income by the losing tickets as an itemized deduction. If I have no significant winnings by the year end then I throw them away. The tickets are only good for the year in which you have a win to offset the losses.

Reply #4

Raven62 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 13:56:36 GMT

Sounds like a job for a 32-gallon Rubbermaid Roughneck Trash Can.

Reply #3

Ms. Pat — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:53:00 GMT

yep in case I ever win big for tax purposes

Reply #2

Coin Toss — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:41:36 GMT

Yup, one year here, also- ever since I read that losing tickets by themself aren't enough proof for taxes if you get lucky enought to have winnings that you want to write off losings on. (I read it here, I think RJOh posted it).

So it's a shoebox for the tickets and a journal for how much was spent on them day by day.

Then if that's not the case and nothing hits the on the Dec 31st tickets, I shred them all and think, What a pizza party or trip to thre bookstore that could have been... [ More ]

Reply #1

justxploring — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:33:32 GMT

Yes - for a year. No, I don't have 50 or 60 tickets a week, but I do save them in a shoebox.

does anyone save their losing tickets in a shoebox

spongebob293 — Sun, 10 Jun 2007 04:21:52 GMT

50 -60 tickets a week adds up to alot of little pieces of paper that become garbage i save my losing tickets in a shoebox and recycle them every six months.