Can you claim gambling losses on your taxes
Gambling always has and will come with many risks involved, and you should always be prepared to lose money when you decide to gamble. The question here is: “Can you claim gambling losses on your taxes?”
The answer is yes – but only on certain conditions. You can only claim gambling losses when you report all the money you have won through gambling as your taxable income, and it can only be done to the extent of your winnings.
Also, the deduction of tax is only possible if you deduce it in an item-wise manner. If you don’t deduce it in this manner and want the standard deduction, you can’t claim your gambling losses.
Keeping track of all winnings & losses
To claim your losses, you must keep track of all the winnings & losses of your gambling even if you play in offshore online casinos such as Sbobet. This also includes all kinds of gambling like: lotteries, raffles, all types of casino games, and all kinds of sports betting.
Whether you indulge in more than one gambling, you must keep track of all the games’ winnings & losses.
You must keep track of the tickets & receipts, as they have the date and tell you the type of gambling you were involved in. You must also have the names & addresses of the places you gamble at. You should have a record of the money you won & lost and the people you gambled with. All this information is required, and you must have it.
You must also have canceled checks or credit records. When you have all these records, then you can claim your gambling losses.
Losses shouldn’t exceed winnings.
The downside to this is that your losses cannot exceed your winnings. If your losses exceed your winnings, you’ll get the claim for only the extent of winning and not more than that.
If you have won 500$ but have lost 700$, the deduction will only be for 500$, and the 200$ that remains will not be deducted.
Reporting gambling losses
When you have to report your gambling losses, you must itemize the deductions of the income tax. This is done when the losses and other items surpass the standard deductions. If you choose to claim the standard deduction, you still have to pay tax on the winnings, and you won’t be able to deduct your losses.
Only gambling losses
It is not permitted to report the profit or less by deducing the winnings’ gambling losses. Even if you haven’t won much, you still have to report the amount you have won. This should be kept in mind as it’s important when you pay tax. Gclub and many other online casinos can help you with reporting of your winnings & losses.
Bottom Line
You can’t simply claim your losses. You must first owe tax on the amount you have won, and then only you can claim the losses. The only benefit the loss deduction brings is that you don’t have to pay tax on your winnings. There’s no big picture except this.