Tax Claims for 2005 Tournaments

[RoadToad]

Lowerider,
Great info! In your opinion does gambling fall under any of the critera of having fun and trying to make money? Once heard that losses in that can be a write off. I know i'm getting off the subject a little but i would love to hear a professional opinion. Thanks.

You can write off gambling losses, but only if they are equal to or less than the amount of winnings you declare. So if you spent $5000 gambling, and only won back $3000, you can only write off $3000.

Here's where the IRS spells it out on their web site:

http://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc419.html

[MsgMills]

If i'm not mistaken, you could claim this money under the Hobby income section, and claim the cost of the expenses up to the amount of the Hobby income...But check with whomever dose your taxes, or call the IRS. They should also have a Publication that pertains to Hobby income and expenses...

The reason I'm telling you this is, because I prepare Taxes for individuals as a Hobby and I have Hobby income, but also have Hobby expenses to offset the income... Contact me if I can help you out any further.

[MsgMills]

Also, it doesn't matter who prepares your taxes to the IRS...You signed the Tax Returns saying the numbers entered are true and Accurate to the best of "YOUR" knowledge. So the IRS holds no one responsible but "YOU". If you had a Company like H& R Block fill out your Taxes for you, then you can only say they filled them out with the info I supplied them with, nothing more, nothing less...

Believe it or not, but I have been Audited about 3 times in my life...I make it a habit of "NOT" reporting 100% of my deductions when I file...Why you ask, because if and when I'm Audited, I then claim 100% of all deductions allowed to the maximum allowed by law that I have to claim... 2 out of the 3 times I was Audited resulted in me receiving another refund, plus interest dating back to that year in question...True Story.... The 1 time I didn't get a refund back after the Audit, was due to a typo error when I prepared my taxes in the first place. Only resulted in giving back part of the Original Refund I received for that Tax Year...

Hope this helps out some for you....