Deducting lottery losses

Reply #21

inittowin — Sun, 17 Apr 2011 00:29:50 GMT

Hi James

This link should give you the answers that you need. http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc419.html

One line from the text is very true! It says:

It is important to keep an accurate diary or similar record of your gambling winnings and losses. To deduct your losses, you must be able to provide receipts, tickets, statements or other records that show the amount of both your winnings and losses.

I know of someone who had well over the amount of their winnings covered by losing ticke... [ More ]

Reply #20

James1 — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 16:51:42 GMT

Can anyone answer this.

Does one even need to save losing lotto tickets ?

Say if you get a $10K winner and the feds take 25% , do you get that 25% back if you write off $10K in losses ? Do you have to show them the losing tics as proof

Reply #19

Rowen — Sun, 10 Apr 2011 03:19:42 GMT

I think that case involve pick 4 and those prizes have to be reported. It is more tricky with pick 3. There are camera everywhere and they know how many winning tickers are sold and where. They may flag you when you try to claim in store to keep you from cashing in so you have to go to headquarters and fill out paperworks. It is a nice problem to have though.

Reply #18

B$Rizzle — Fri, 08 Apr 2011 01:11:45 GMT

Thats why I was questioning it. Technically they do not withhold taxes when a prize is less than $599. So if you win more than that on a single game/drawing, then technically it would be more than $599 (broken up in multiple wins of $500)....So Thats why I was wondering if it was actually legal or not. Im sure it would not be a big deal if you won $500 a couple times and cashed them in.But if you won $500 x 20 + times on the same drawing it may raise some eyebrows.

I know some states off... [ More ]

Reply #17

James1 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 18:28:53 GMT

I think some guy got busted when he hit Cash 3 50x straight one night. He went around town cashing them with an accomplice but got cought and faced legal actions. I read the story on here somewhere.

Reply #16

myeyes2020 — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 13:22:19 GMT

YES it 's legal it may take you a while to get the tickets cashed but if you winning like that the task is well worth it

Reply #15

B$Rizzle — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 12:46:39 GMT

I think about that alot actually...Say on Cash 3 we put down $1.00 straight and play the same # 20x for example. That would net $10,000 and if you hit up different stores to cash them in ($500 each store), there would be no taxes. Is that legal

Reply #14

Win$500Quick — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 03:19:40 GMT

You can only write off gambling losses if you are claiming a win. You also can't exceed the total amount of the win you are claiming. I am sure over the past year I probably played more than the $6,300 I claimed. That is why we all need to hit the cash 3 str8 for $50 so we can get our money from the store a little at a time without paying taxes.

Reply #13

B$Rizzle — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:57:58 GMT

Right, but I think James was asking if he could write of losses that he didn't have to go to the district office to claim. I dont think james got any W2G forms and he was wondering if he could still write off the losses.

I thought you were saying you wrote off all of your losses against wins, less than $599 which added up to $6,300. If that was the case I was going to ask how you did it

Reply #12

Win$500Quick — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 22:33:20 GMT

All my W2G forms added up to $6,300. One of the wins was for $800 because I played 1100 box. Remember anything over $599 you have to go to the district office. They don't withhold anything for prizes less than $5000 but you still get the W2G form.

Reply #11

B$Rizzle — Wed, 06 Apr 2011 18:35:33 GMT

Win$500 - but you got W2G forms since you had to file claims right? Or are you referring to wins that were less than $1,000 (not claimed at lottery office) which added up to $6,300

Reply #10

Mzp0k3rfac3 — Sun, 03 Apr 2011 14:04:11 GMT

Congrats ~ .. i hope i can get a win to deduct. my lotto purchases or something. i just recently started to save my tickets

Reply #9

Win$500Quick — Sat, 02 Apr 2011 18:30:27 GMT

Yes you can. I had $6,300 in winningsI had to claim on my taxes and I deducted $6,300.

Reply #8

B$Rizzle — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 13:17:21 GMT

LOL thats what I tell myself everytime I buy a lotto ticket =-) Makes me feel like I did a good dead for the day

Anyways, James I usually do my taxes on TurboTax. There is a section for gambling winning where I enter in a W2G form. On that form is where I can put any winnings $1,000 plus. There is also a line on there which says losses to deduct the amount up to the winning amount ...

If you dont have a W2G form, I'm not sure how you can write off losses if there is no winning am... [ More ]

Reply #7

James1 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:21:22 GMT

I figure since the money goes towards education in Florida then its the same as me having made a $5K+ donation towards that, which is deductable.

Reply #6

James1 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:19:54 GMT

Yeah I was hoping to do this. But dont think its possible.

Reply #5

Jon D — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:16:27 GMT

I'm sure a lawyer or accountant will be along any minute now, and you probably already know this:

You can't deduct any more than your winnings, so if you are at a net loss, there is nothing to report. But in the case that you did have any wins over $600 then the lottery would report them for you, so you would then have to prove that it is not net profit/income.

From IRS:

You may deduct gambling losses only if you itemize deductions. However, the amount of losses you deduct may not be mo... [ More ]

Reply #4

brothadan — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 02:04:35 GMT

hmm if you can no winners to be taxed...what are you deducting it from?? your income from your job

Reply #3

luisM — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:15:58 GMT

Yeah, I don't see why not. Again, I've never done it and I'm not exactly sure how it works, but I don't see why not?

losing Lotto , losing powerball , losing fantasy 5 tickets also count. not just scratch.

Reply #2

James1 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:12:13 GMT

Yeah I have lots of losing tickets lying around. Im hoping to write these off against income

Reply #1

luisM — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 01:07:49 GMT

I've never done it. But to answer your question from what I've read, yes.

Your losses must out weigh the winnings, did u save your losing tickets

Deducting lottery losses

James1 — Tue, 29 Mar 2011 00:08:20 GMT

Can you deduct say $5,000 of lottery losses even if you have never had a winner large enough to require reporting