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How to Deduct Gambling Losses on Your Taxes
How to Deduct Gambling Losses on Your Taxes
Okay well you lost lots of money this year to gambling and that is not a good thing. Better luck next year. You can get some of that money back on your tax return though! Here is what you do.I want to do this! What's This?
To begin with you are going to need to know how to itemize your deductions. This is what you do if you give to charity or donate clothes at the Thrift Store and get a receipt. The same goes with gambling losses. So hopefully you have been keeping up with your gains and losses at the casino. If you have not, then trying to do this is going to be a waste of your time. Your winnings will have to be more than your losses otherwise you will not get all of the money you lost back. If you have lost more than you actually won you will not get all the money you lost back. You will only get the amount of losses back that were equal to the amount that you lost. If you lost $7500.00 all year, and you won $3600.00 all year, then you will only get $3600.00 of your losses back. The last thing you will do to try and regain some of your losses is to fill out a W 1040 so that you can see what your income was for the year. This will also determine how much you get back because if you make too much then they will deduct two percent from the money that you can get back.
If you are not sure that you will be able to accurately deduct your gambling winnings and losses then it is okay to ask for help. A tax broker will know how to do these sorts of things for you. Do not let the fact that you are embarrassed about your losses keep you from trying to get at least some of your money back. It will just be a good lesson to keep in mind for next year.
Beware
You should not spend more throughout the year because you know that you can write it off on your taxes. This is not a sure thing; you will have to take into consideration all the factors that add up to getting some of your money back. Do not use itemizing deduction as an excuse to keep losing money. Know when to stop. Most gambling addicts will make these kind of excuses, that they will get all their money back eventually. If you start to make excuses then you are delving deeper into a gambling addiction you will not easily get out of. Make sure you are not sucked into that category.