Casino taxes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Casino taxes - Essay Example Casino taxes The basic casino gaming tax laws which are to be followed by all states including Nevada and New Jersey are the following: Winnings from all types of gambling are taxable and should be declared as income on the tax return, while the losses from gambling are to be deducted as an itemized deduction for the spare time players, restricted to the amount of winnings declared. Players who are professional gamblers must hold a file as self-employed business using Schedule C. Schedule C is an Internal Revenue Service form used to file profits and losses by a company (What is Schedule C, 2011). The worth of comps received is considered as gaming winnings and are included in the total winnings. Though, the person is allowed to deduct the losses to counterbalance the income from the comps. The winnings and losses are reported only in the year of occurrence. Excessive losses are not to be carried forward or backward to balance winnings in other years. Married couples who file a joint return shou ld combine their winnings losses, and account only one figure for both. According to the instructions issued by IRS, lumping is unacceptable. Lumping is either reporting only one final win figure and no losses, or reporting nothing if the net value from gambling is a negative. A person must report total of the winning sessions individually from the total of the losing sessions. The Internal Revenue Service requires an accurate record to be maintained to substantiate ones wins and losses. The records must contain at least the following information: the date and type of person’s particular wager; the name of the gaming organization or establishment with its location and address; the names of the other people, if any, present with the player; the amount the person won or lost. A report containing wagering tickets or receipts; W-2Gs; credit card records such as cash advances; cancelled checks; receipts provided by the gambling establishment and bank withdrawals is also require by the IRS to substantiate a person’s diary. A person does not submit these records with return but will be needed if the person is to be audited. As casinos and card rooms are subjected to the money-laundering rules therefore they must report cumulative cash transactions of ten thousand dollars or more in one day to the IRS. They can also make out such reports for amounts as low as two thousand dollars if they are doubtful and apprehensive. Once a casino has a person’s SSN and ID on record, they may issue these Cash Transaction Reports (CTRs) without his/her knowledge. Though the basic rules of casino gaming taxes are almost the same for every state but there are some differences as well. The revenues generated from the taxes in Nevada are used by the local governments and state general fund. In New Jersey the casino revenues provide financial assistance to the disabled and elderly. (State Tax Systems: recreational gambling, 2010) Casino gaming taxes in Nevada: A licens e fee is imposed at both local and state level. The range of County license fees is from $10 to $50 per month, whereas, the range of State monthly license fees is from 3% to 6.25% of the gross revenues. Range of Annual state license fees is from $100 to $6,000 for each year depending on size of the organization. Annually, an additional $80 fee is imposed on every slot machine for an unrestricted state license. Quarterly fee ranges from $45 to $225 plus 90 per machine for a restricted state licence fee (Rafool, 2004). Annually, $ 250 tax is imposed each slot machine. Casino entertainment tax equals to 10% of amounts