You bet you have to pay. I won $1,200.00 on the dollar slots on the Glory in May 07. Guess what? I was asked for id and was given a form to submit with my taxes this year. I will of course report this as income, and will also offset it with losses. The government always wants it share of what you have. Denny
You can take ganbling losses up to the amount you have won. No more.
If you use your S&S card on the slots for example, the casino will give you a profit / loss printout like any land casino if you use their card. Generally, it will show you in the minus. Have had to do this too many times.
__________________
Bob
Valor 2008
Triumph 2006
Fantasy 2004
Pride 2002
Imperial Maj 2001
Carnivalle 1994
Couple forgotten
Losses at casinos can only off-set winnings if you itemize your taxes. They are a schedule "A" deduction. Winnings are reported as "Other Income" on the front of the Form 1040. U.S. Income Tax Law taxes world-wide income, thus all winnings are taxable.
Mike, you are right and wrong. You may bring into or take out of the country, including by mail, as much money as you wish. However, if it is more than $10,000, you will need to report it to customs and border protection.. Ask the CBP officer for the Currency Reporting Form (FinCen 105). The penalties for non-compliance can be severe. CBP does not collect duty or taxes on it.
But, if you win in the ship's casinos, they report it for you! Not reporting how much you take out or bring in has nothing to do with it and doesn't get you off the hook.
Marty
There are two different issues being discussed here. One involves Customs and Border Protection. When you take $10,000 or more into the country, you use the Currency Reporting Form. As smlaker stated CBP does not collect duties or taxes on this money. It is an information form only.
The second issue being discussed here involves the IRS and large winnings. When you win a large amount of money, the casino is required to issue you a Form W2-G. The casino may or may not issue the W2-G. In any case, you are still required to report those winnings on your individual Income Tax Return. Those winnings are reported as "Other Income" on the front of the Form 1040.
An example involving both agencies would be: You win $15,000 or more in a ship's casino. The casino is supposed to file the W2-G to the IRS on those winnings. If you are lucky and have at least $10,000 left of that money by the time you get off the ship, then you would be required to file the Currency Report Form to Customs declaring you are bringing this money ($10,000 or more) into the country. At tax time, you would then report your $15,000 winnings on your Income Tax Return.
I have won over $1200 on a quarter slot machine on a cruise ship and they did not give me a W2G tax form. There seems to be a different approach on different cruise lines and even ships.
I do know that even in Vegas they do report transactions of over $10,000 at the cashiers' cage. Not that I have ever been faced with this problem, but if you ever are faced with this I would make multiple trips under the $10,000 limit. The casinos are also supposed to keep track of all who do cash in over $10,000 in total at the cashiers cage. How they are supposed to do this, I don't have a clue.
Thanks to the poster who said that one ship gives only Americans those nasty W2G's! I will have to practice my French accent, if I ever am asked where I am from!!!!
__________________
With integrity nothing else matters; without it nothing else matters.
We just got off the Vision and I asked the girl at the cage about the reporting and she said that this ship does not require an IRS sign-up. I then asked her about other ships and she said that the only thing she can tell me is about this ship. She said you walk off with all that you won no matter how much or which machine.
It sounds like the ships may have different rules.
The odds of the game you won on have nothing to do with whether you owe taxes or not.
Quote:
Gambling winnings are fully taxable and must be reported on your tax return. You must file Form 1040 and include all of your winnings. Gambling income includes, but is not limited to, winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse races, and casinos.
As for whether or not the casino will report your winnings under a particular circumstance, that's a different questiion, and again has nothing to do with whether you owe taxes or not. The decision to report the win is of course your own.
If you read the whole the whole thing you would have seen the following:
Box 1. The payer must furnish a Form W-2G to you if you
receive:
1. $600 or more in gambling winnings and the payout is at
least 300 times the amount of the wager (except winnings
from bingo, keno, and slot machines);
2. $1,200 or more in gambling winnings from bingo or slot
machines;
3. $1,500 or more in proceeds (the amount of winnings
less the amount of the wager) from keno; or
4. Any gambling winnings subject to federal income tax
withholding.
If you live near a casino, it is easy to offset your gambling winnings with losses even if you never gamble again. Just go to the casino cashier, cash a check, go away for awhile and then come back and ask for a "loss slip" for $x amount. They have no way of knowing whether you really gambled the money or not. You can even do it without first cashing the check, since they have no way of knowing whether you came into the casino with cash, but the check adds a nice touch because it leaves a paper trail.
Do this a few times to collect enough loss slips to total your winnings and you're off the hook with Uncle Sam.
Hit Video Poker for a $2,000 jackpot last week on the MoS and NOTHING was reported to the IRS.
This whole IRS thing is no good. Almost all of us frequent gamblers hit a few semi big ones BUT lose overall.
Please clarify something - my DH likes to carry cash - sometimes quite a bit in his pockets - does this mean we will have to declare it when we
arrive back in the states? (This would NOT be money won at the casino -
just what he likes to travel with).
I am not sure what happens. I won $2700 in Bingo and was told I didn't have to report it and I won $1600 in a slot machine on a Transatlantic and told it wasn't reported. I was on the Regal Princess in Hawaii and sign posted that any win on slots over $600 would have taxes taken out by the casino before you collected. This may have been because we were in American waters.
I thought the casinos were closed when cruising the Hawaiian Islands.
I am not sure what happens. I won $2700 in Bingo and was told I didn't have to report it and I won $1600 in a slot machine on a Transatlantic and told it wasn't reported. I was on the Regal Princess in Hawaii and sign posted that any win on slots over $600 would have taxes taken out by the casino before you collected. This may have been because we were in American waters.
The reason it was reported on the Hawaii Cruise is because the ship went from an American port to an American port. Otherwse, if the ship goes from an American port to a different countries port, id will not be reported.
American tax law really sucks on this one. If you win overseas, or even work overseas, you have to report it as taxable income. There are several countries that do not require this and only require you to pay taxes on what you "earn" on their own soil. The United States has the misfortune of not being one of them. I find it to be reprehensibly greedy for the government to tax even meager winnings(up to around a couple thousand.........which is barely enough to cover the vacation you won it on). Such is the way of things I suppose.
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