IRS drops proposal to lower tax threshold

Big win for consumers!

American Gaming Association says the IRS has abandoned plans to drop the tax reporting threshold for slot wins to $600. The threshold will remain at $1200.

Here's the release form the AGA...

https://www.americangaming.org/newsroom/press-releasess/irs-officially-drops-burdensome-gaming-proposals-marking-big-win-casino

That's good news, they should have raised it to $2500 but that would never happen.

Quote: Hunterhill

That's good news, they should have raised it to $2500 but that would never happen.

Agreed... my feeling is the casino should pay you in chips and let you bleed them out or some other form of payment that escapes paperwork. I have won 5k and 10k before and took "free play" which required no tax forms for the casino or me. I'm all for free play jackpots over 1199... somebody get on that please.

Quote: monet0412

I have won 5k and 10k before and took "free play" which required no tax forms for the casino or me.

Does this apply to machine handpay jackpots...request to get paid in free play, and no W2G is issued?

Quote: coachbelly

Does this apply to machine handpay jackpots...request to get paid in free play, and no W2G is issued?

My situation was for money won in drawings or other promotions but I would like to have an option is all I meant.

Quote: monet0412

My situation was for money won in drawings or other promotions but I would like to have an option is all I meant.

Yes...the option seems more fair. Just to be clear...when you won the 5K & 10K drawings/promotions, you had an option to be paid in free play, and no W2G was issued?

Free play drawings are pretty common, I was unaware that winnings over $1199 did not trigger W2Gs. Do you know if this is standard throughout the US?

Quote: coachbelly

Yes...the option seems more fair. Just to be clear...when you won the 5K & 10K drawings/promotions, you had an option to be paid in free play, and no W2G was issued?

Free play drawings are pretty common, I was unaware that winnings over $1199 did not trigger W2Gs. Do you know if this is standard throughout the US?

The times that I have had the option has only been in Vegas. Honestly I haven't traveled outside of Nevada to gamble for years. A little recently in AZ but not many hours at all. I could make more money leaving the City/State but my life situations require that I stay close to home base. The places that offered Cash or Free Play for winning in these drawings, spin the wheel, or other promotions always hyped up the "free play" option as Tax Free or No Paperwork for anyone involved. Most people still took the cash but since I play every month at these places anyways I just took the free play. The paperwork goes in file 13 for me no matter what but I think a player should have the option. I have won over 50k in poker tournaments before and took chips that I would slowly cash out. Since 2004 or so some poker tournaments make you sign paperwork regardless but I have seen some that don't as long as they pay in chips and not cash. I have been out of the loop in Poker in general for many years though so I am not a good reference in that area. As a matter of fact you will find better information from other players on this site compared to mine in all aspects.

I reckon there's no W2G for winning cash in a drawing type thing. Cash win is a form 1099. Although I'm not certain.

What casinos should do is if you hit a "would be taxable", say a $1 RF....instead of winning $4,000.....your next 4 spins are guaranteed to pay $1,005 each. Sorta like shockwave VP, except it just changes everything on the paytable to pay $1,005, including the "no hand/loser".

Then again that's probably never gonna happen.

I always thought casinos would react by changing the way slots worked. Machines could award instead of free games, an equivalent number of paid multiplied spins. However, the slots should already be this way, and have wondered how the free spins format actually came to be. Figured gaming, the states, and the IRS demanded a taxable equivalent for machines, but don't know the reasons. Money laundering, game protection, taxation. I have never heard an official reason how this came to be. I don't think people abandoning multiplied spins was that big of a deal. Many games award an amount which ensures having enough credit to play all the spins.

Will post this in the thread BobDancer posted asking for questions for the show.

It one good news to all of us. Retaining the threshold is good not only for casino but for millions of casino players. It is also good for the state and local governments.

Like someone said, the $1200 should be raised to $2500. The $1200 is a holdover from the 70's! In the 70's, winning $1200 was considered a very huge win. I think it is the equivalent of $5000 for us today. I can't believe the IRS wanted to lower the threshold in half! SMH. Thank God they were rejected.