I was asked to help sirklas via pm with his tax problem from his recent win and found this interesting information for any non Americans on this list. Your gambling winnings may not be taxable if your country has a tax treaty with the US. Here is a link to an IRS page which you should print and keep with you if you ever play in the USA. http://www.irs.gov/businesses/small/international/article/0,,id=106252,00.html I don't know sirklas has to pay tax in Germany, but I think if a US citizen wins money gambling in another country our government doesn't care where you got it, they still want their share!
More Tax Questions ptaylorcpa - Being a CPA, you know much about taxes and I'd appreciate your feedback. Situation: An American citizen winning the Blackjack Masters Tour Casino du Lac-Leamy in Canada. What tax(es) liability is this individual responsible for?
General rule of thumb I am not sure of the specifics for your situation, but I can give you the general rule of thumb for US citizens. Generally our government wants to get a share of any income you receive no matter where it is earned. However, if you pay any tax to another country, generally you are allowed to reduce your USA income tax by the amount of tax you paid the other country. I am not familiar with tax codes in Canada, but someone who has won money on this list at one of the Canadian casinos might be able to provide some help with how they handled their experience. As far as gambling winnings, I don't know of any restriction on offsetting losses against winnings regardless of where the winnings or losses occured. The best site to check is the official IRS website, www.irs.gov. They have a search feature which is pretty good. You will get a lot of hits for various pages and have to sort out your search, but occasionally if you try several different key words you will stumble upon a page that actually answers your question. If we don't get some other inputs from other members to your post and I get some time to search your specific question here in the next couple days I'll post what I find. Pat
Taxes on gambling in Canada. No ifs and no buts, the Canadian or Canadian Provincial government do not tax casino gambling winnings or lottery winnings. Canadian casinos do not withhold on anyone winning a tournament or at the table/slot regardless of nationality. The information on a US citizen winning a major amount in Canada is sometimes made public. I am sure that Uncle Sam is watching....
Tax withholding for Canadian Win ptaylorcpa and BJFAN4 - Thanks for the info. Planning on visiting Canada within the next 3 months.
