I’ve won 90 taxable jackpots in nine months in a U.S. State where slot machine jackpots became automatically taxable at $1,200. Of those hand pays, three exceeded $10,000. On average, one in 30 of those 90 jackpots exceeded $10,000. This excludes the $40,000 cash option I got for winning a car at the end of those nine months.
The IRS isn’t leaving gambling reporting to chance. It has issued new final regulations clarifying and expanding the rules for payors of slot, bingo and keno winnings. Most notably, in response to an outcry from the gambling industry, higher ...
The IRS isn’t leaving gambling reporting to chance. It has issued new final regulations clarifying and expanding the rules for payors of slot, bingo and keno winnings. Most notably, in response to an outcry from the gambling industry, higher thresholds for reporting responsibilities were retained (IRS Reg. 1.6401-10, 12/29/16).
“Commentators overwhelmingly opposed the idea of reducing these reporting thresholds. Payors opposed lowering the thresholds because it would result in more reporting, which would increase compliance burdens for the industry,” said the IRS in the regulations. “In fact, many commentators suggested that rather than reducing the current thresholds, they should be increased to account for inflation. These final regulations do not change the existing reporting thresholds for bingo, keno, and slot machine play.”
For taxpayers, gambling winnings are treated as taxable income on federal income tax returns, but the tax may be offset by losses up to the amount of the winnings. For example, if you win $5,000 during the year and incur losses of $4,500 in the same year, you owe tax on only $500. The losses are reported on Schedule A, but aren’t subject to the usual 2%-of-AGI floor for miscellaneous deductions.
Slot Machine Handepay Tax Collector
- All of the tables were locked up when he went down there, so he decided to put $2,000 into a Lightning Cash Magic Pearl slot machine and see what he can do. Well, we landed something amazing!!!! YOu gotta check it out. It was a massive handpay jackpot for us! My BIGGEST HANDPAY EVER on Cleopatra 2!! MASSIVE Slot Jackpot Handpay!
- Hand pays also occur whenever the amount of the win is over the minimum taxable win amount for the jurisdiction that the machine is in. Hand paying allows a floor attendant to collect the patron's identification and tax ID numbers (such as the Social Security number in the United States), and other pertinent information, such as the winning combination. The patron is then provided with the applicable tax forms.
For businesses, information reporting is required for payments of $600 or more to a taxpayer during the year. While temporary regulations had boosted the reporting thresholds for winnings from bingo games and slot machines to $1,200 and $1,500 for keno games, proposals would have lowered these amounts back to $600.
The information is reported on Form W-2G, “Certain Gambling Winnings,” which must be filed by February 28 of the following year; March 31, if filed electronically.
Now the new regulations hold the line on the reporting thresholds for bingo, slots and keno games. The regs also retained the rules, with minor modifications, on identifying information that must be provided by gamblers. In addition, they adopted an “aggregate reporting” rule, with winnings for a single gambling session being allowed as an alternative to reporting each win that exceeds the required threshold. A single session is defined as the time between a gambler placing a wager on a certain game and completing the last wager on the game before the end of the same calendar day.
The IRS also agreed to allow gambling institutions to use “gaming days” instead of calendar days for reporting periods if its use is uniform. Gaming days are generally used for other accounting purposes.
Slot Machine Handpay Tax Bracket
2020 Huge Handpay Slot Winners
Finally, the new final regulations did not include proposed rules that applied to electronically tracked systems for slot machines. The proposed regulations required reporting for winnings at least $1,200 within a calendar day session. However, the casino industry successfully argued that the technology would not support this and that it would “chill customer use.” Count this as a win for the casinos.