Online Winnings

delanec8

Hey everybody,
Does anybody know if you can be taxed on your online winnings? Ive been cashing out a pretty substantial amount weekly for the last couple of months using wire transfer.

Ive been told that if i cash out 5K in one go the bank will have to look into it and ill begin to be taxed on my winnings but will this apply if i continue to cash out smaller amounts weekly and is there any particular way you can get around being taxed.

Suggestions such as moving to Gibraltar, while valid wont really help me.

dirkey_wynne

All I'll say is if you're cashing out 5K in one go you're a lucky fnckin sod! Good work.

bohsman

there have been debates on this here and elsewhere as I get it you cant be taxed because you would have to be given tax back on your losses but to keep the bank getting suspicious youre probably better off keeping it small

AmarilloFats

Ladbrokes have all servers in Jersey....I think your winnings are tax free therefore>>............... Not sure would be curious to find out...

Shortstack

Gambling winnings are not taxed in Ireland or the UK. That won,t stop the Revenue inspectors looking into you if they are suspicious though. Keep good records and you will be fine if they have a look at you for anything.

delanec8

Cheers for the info guys. The only real records i have of the winnings is a poker diary on the hendonmob website and an A4 pad at home. Will that keep the tax man happy?

L5

delanec8 wrote:

Cheers for the info guys. The only real records i have of the winnings is a poker diary on the hendonmob website and an A4 pad at home. Will that keep the tax man happy?

f*%k the taxman, its his business to prove you guilty. not yours to prove your innocence

Hitman Actual

L5 wrote:

f*%k the taxman, its his business to prove you guilty. not yours to prove your innocence

Not so sure about this, although I hope you're right. If a big sum of money suddenly appears in your bank account, I think it's up to you to prove where it came from (if the taxman does get suspicious). That's all fine and well with online winnings, but what about live cash/tournament wins. I don't remember ever getting a reciept off Luke leaving the Fitz... so who's to know that the money didn't come from those "plants" that you grow...

Waylander

L5 I hope you never have a Revenue Inspector in with that attitude, it will prove fairly costly to you. I believe if the revenue deem you to be a professional gambler they can serve you a notice of assesment on your winnings, but I am not sure how woorkable that is in practice. The records you are keeping should be sufficient for their purposes. You should also keep an account of what you are spending on entry to all tournaments if you are concerned about this, as these will be a legitimate write off expense against your winnings.

fintan

I imagine the reason the revenue would investigate on-line casino winnings is that they are a great way to launder money, lots of jursidictions cash moving about etc. In fact its probably better than a casino due to the fact players / management are all in lots of different countries.

Your winnings should be tax free, same way as your winnings on paddypower.com are.

if your bank give you grief for a 5k lodgement i would start looking into getting a new bank account

bohsman

the banks dont give you grief they just quietly pass on your details to the revenue, that is all banks the credit union etc

ionapaul

Keep the check receipt you will get (if you request a check) - much better than a A4 pad!
I have lodged cheques for $550 (a few weeks ago), $400 (a few days ago) and will lodge one for €1,000 in about two weeks, as I just (twenty minutes ago) came 4th in a Party Poker $30 Speed Tournie and won $1,120. Will let you all know if I get hauled off in chains or force to do the perp walk for the cameras

DeVore

Considering I wrote some of the systems that look for anomalies in a major bank here I can tell you that 5K is a trigger number for a "money laundering" red flag. Its mandated by the government. Last time I checked 2 movements of 4K wouldnt trigger it.

Its not the revenue who are interested in this, its the cops looking for drug dealers and money launderers. They really arent that interested in poker players

Unfortunately they cant tell the difference between the two from money transfers. You would need to be doing it regularly to attract attention.

On the revenue side, they dont care that the servers are in Jersey or wherever. If they deem you to be resident here you can get taxed here. Hence some of the big boys in Ireland spend a certain amount of time outside the state (I think Denis O'Brien got criticised for this recenty!)
Gambling isnt usually taxed but as someone said above, if its deemed your primary income source you may well could be.

I'd say you are fine and so long as you keep your money movements discrete then you should be fine.

DeV.