Joined: Mar '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 45 (F)
Posts: 2261
An interesting piece in the newspapers today.I think we all know that poker is a game of skill but it is the tax part of the story that interests me more. For the past few years UK gamblers have loved to gloat at not having to pay tax on poker/gambling winnings but could that could be changing? A study concluded that the UKpoker players in 2013 made £2billion in winnings and when that sort of money is talked about the government snout will soon be in the trough. The bookmaking lobby have done a good job in the past in keeping gambling restrictions quite lax in the UK but politicians love to butt their noses in when an industry does well. link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3010382/Will-po...
These things are always one sided. They want to tax winnings, but do not let losses be tax deductible. If you do one, you should do the other as well. The net result for the government should then be zero (actually less than zero, since losses are bigger than winnings due to rake).
Maybe I'm missing the point, but if you tax only the winnings, it's just theft, but that has never stopped them before...
For every dollar won, someone else has lost a dollar + rake. It would be fairer to just tax the income the site generates, but they do that already.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
Well marqis, isnt almost every tax a form, if not a definition of a theft. Especially when you tax the tax Who of them really cares. They just need one of these round sits and dont give a darn about the consequences of their "measures".
Joined: May '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 58 (M)
Posts: 1372
All journalistic speculation and from the Daily Mail, a "newspaper" that is well known for printing scare stories rather then reporting actual facts. I'd take it with a pinch of salt.
Joined: Feb '11
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 59 (M)
Posts: 5712
It is only a matter of time before this happens..... Whatever you may think of it. I suppose if you put yourself into the governments position, wouldn't you consider it as a justifiable way of increasing government income. All other income is taxed at various rates, so why not poker winnings. Just a thought!
Joined: Feb '13
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 2372
I don't pretend to understand it but someone on a poker forum explained why the uk cant tax poker winnings. It may even have been on this forum.
It was something to do with the uk system based on paying tax on profit, but writing off tax on losses. meaning ppl could claim back any poker losses through tax system.
And that it is too hard to rewrite the tax laws or something.
That is why governments now tax the poker sites revenue, rather than the players
Joined: Jun '13
Location: Canada
Age: 80 (M)
Posts: 3700
I cant talk about UK income tax law but here if you are making a living or you poker revenu is over your regular one than you could be clssified as a self employed. I am pretty sure that only your net winning is taxable like any other business. I suppose that your government could do the same.
Joined: Jan '13
Location: Philippines
Age: 57 (F)
Posts: 857
before they make input tax to a player its better to know about biggersites whos earning a lot of billions of dollar without paying tax.if we believe those pokerstars are paying tax then we follow then..
Joined: Mar '12
Location: United Kingdom
Age: 45 (F)
Posts: 2261
Hey Zeroster...I first saw this in the Times but the Mail had better information. Hey IQA....I think it may have been yout who talked about the tax laws and he is an accountant so should know what he is on about. I agree that if you are paying tax on winnings then losses should also be deductible.I think the current situation works OK though maybe professional players should be paying some level of tax in line with their income.
Joined: Mar '09
Location: Greece
Age: 47 (F)
Posts: 14136
I can see some points here, if that what ice queen says is valid. But on the other hand, how long it would take for them to vote a new law,or add a few changes to an existing one. They can do this over night and with no one having a clue about this .
