How much can you claim for gambling losses at tax time?

Question

If I spend $25 a week ($1200 a year) on scratch-offs and win $1 or $2 or a free ticket now and then, do I have to claim that small amount as income? I've never received a receipt for my $1 or $2 winnings. I have saved my losing scratch-off cards.

Answer 1

Seems in the States gambling losses are deductible.  see below.

''Gamblinghttp://www.wwwebtax.com/deductions_misce... losses to the extent of gambling winnings;'

Answer 2

Technically, all winnings must be claimed as income, but losses can be deducted against winnings.  Losses in gambling CANNOT be used to offset other taxable income (although perhaps if your profession is "gambler", then maybe you can).

So if you have winnings you need to offset (such as a tax form for you one big winning ticket), then you could use losses to reduce your tax burden on those (and all other) winnings.  But you have to keep very good records in case the IRS wants to know more...

Answer 3

Losing at gambling is tricky at best, mainly in how you go about proving the losses in the event of an audit. One way is to save all of the losing tickets. You MUST itemize deductions to make this kind of a claim. You need to consult a professional, a tax and financial adviser to get all of the details. One thing for sure, claiming gambling losses raises a BIG RED FLAG at IRS and you need the services of someone who KNOWS the tax laws. If you are so hard up for cash that you have to consider claiming losses on scratch tickets, maybe you should consider not buying any more scratch tickets...

Answer 4

I'm not entirely sure...but I think that if your winnings are less than around $1500 at any single time, you don't have to report it as income. You should check irs.gov to be sure, though. I've never claimed my losses...so I don't know.