Outside USA winnings for US citizens

[Brkintx]

I’m booked on a Carnival Elite cruise out of Sydnay, AUS next year, and it occurs to me that I’m not sure how ‘jackpot’ wins work in this situation.
On US based cruises, a slot win over $1999.99 requires a W-2G (without withholding). 
I typically play on machines with a bet level that makes this amount something that hits regularly (recycling the same money). 
Does anyone know how this works down under for US citizens? 

 

TIA 

 

(this seems more applicable in the casino category than the Aussie category) 

[mattie123]

It's actually anything over $1200 gets a W2G

Got one last year for $1275, just did my 2021 taxes

[Casino Comp Chick]

On 3/13/2022 at 6:49 PM, Brkintx said:

I’m booked on a Carnival Elite cruise out of Sydnay, AUS next year, and it occurs to me that I’m not sure how ‘jackpot’ wins work in this situation.
On US based cruises, a slot win over $1999.99 requires a W-2G (without withholding). 
I typically play on machines with a bet level that makes this amount something that hits regularly (recycling the same money). 
Does anyone know how this works down under for US citizens? 

 

TIA 

 

(this seems more applicable in the casino category than the Aussie category) 

Your bet level should not matter even though it should be 300x your bet.
The only time you can claim your winnings against your losses over the year is if you itemize your losses up to your winnings & you have to keep itemized lists of all play or use your win/loss statements.

All cruise ships report to the IRS winnings over $1200.00.

 

Edited March 17, 2022 by Casino Comp Chick

[Brkintx]

On 3/16/2022 at 6:17 PM, mattie123 said:

It's actually anything over $1200 gets a W2G

Got one last year for $1275, just did my 2021 taxes

 

Not being nitpicky, but a slot win of exactly $1200 does require a W2-G (as I'd said, anything over $1999.99). That's a different thing than 'over $1200' (albeit different by a penny).

 

 

On 3/17/2022 at 6:11 AM, Casino Comp Chick said:

Your bet level should not matter even though it should be 300x your bet.
The only time you can claim your winnings against your losses over the year is if you itemize your losses up to your winnings & you have to keep itemized lists of all play or use your win/loss statements.

All cruise ships report to the IRS winnings over $1200.00.

 

 

My bet level comment was to indicate that regularly spinning with a $20+ bet results in a lot of W2-G's (for the same money over and over). While the requirement changed a bit last year (where casinos are permitted to aggregate a single day's 'jackpots' into a single W2-G), Carnival still prints out dozens of W2G's on a single cruise (again, largely for the same money).

 

That said, I completely agree with you that offsetting winnings is NOT as simple as people make it out to be (deduct losses from winnings).

 

Case in point (for others who may not know): If you would otherwise take the standard deduction, and now have to itemize to offset those winnings, thereby losing the standard deduction.

As CCC said above, offsetting winnings with losses does require documentation, and the IRS has repeatedly said that while a Win-Loss statement is assistive in this process, it does not (by itself) meet the documentation requirements and the log or other records are required. (So keep a log or other documentation of your losses if you want to offset those wins.)

 

~~

 

All of that said... I'm still questioning how 'jackpots' are handled on cruises out of Australia (for US citizens). Is there a win threshold (like the $1200 in the USA) or is it like, say, the Atlantis in the Bahamas where the win is paid but there isn't tax paperwork, etc.?

[Casino Comp Chick]

47 minutes ago, Brkintx said:

 

Not being nitpicky, but a slot win of exactly $1200 does require a W2-G (as I'd said, anything over $1999.99). That's a different thing than 'over $1200' (albeit different by a penny).

 

 

 

My bet level comment was to indicate that regularly spinning with a $20+ bet results in a lot of W2-G's (for the same money over and over). While the requirement changed a bit last year (where casinos are permitted to aggregate a single day's 'jackpots' into a single W2-G), Carnival still prints out dozens of W2G's on a single cruise (again, largely for the same money).

 

That said, I completely agree with you that offsetting winnings is NOT as simple as people make it out to be (deduct losses from winnings).

 

Case in point (for others who may not know): If you would otherwise take the standard deduction, and now have to itemize to offset those winnings, thereby losing the standard deduction.

As CCC said above, offsetting winnings with losses does require documentation, and the IRS has repeatedly said that while a Win-Loss statement is assistive in this process, it does not (by itself) meet the documentation requirements and the log or other records are required. (So keep a log or other documentation of your losses if you want to offset those wins.)

 

~~

 

All of that said... I'm still questioning how 'jackpots' are handled on cruises out of Australia (for US citizens). Is there a win threshold (like the $1200 in the USA) or is it like, say, the Atlantis in the Bahamas where the win is paid but there isn't tax paperwork, etc.?

No worries, I should have said $1200.00 & up.
All $1200.00 jackpot wins on every cruise ship is reported to the US IRS. It does not matter if it’s US, Caribbean, Europe or Australia. 

Edited March 18, 2022 by Casino Comp Chick

[mattie123]

Strictly play slots, take no cash with me.  Make room charges with my sea card in the slot machine. My folio at the end of the cruise lists every single casino charge I had. I save those as the year progresses in the off chance I get a W2G on a later cruise to offset the win.  Celebrity, upon request, will provide you with gain/loss statements for each cruise you took in the preceding year.

[knagl]

11 hours ago, Brkintx said:

Not being nitpicky, but a slot win of exactly $1200 does require a W2-G (as I'd said, anything over $1999.99). That's a different thing than 'over $1200' (albeit different by a penny).

 

You've twice now said $1999.99, and mattie123 was trying to point out that the threshold is $1200, not $2000. Maybe you intended to type $1199.99?

 

Any single machine win of $1200 or more (regardless of wager) should generate a W-2G.

 

Any table game win of $600 or more is subject to receiving a W-2G if the win was a result of a payout of at least 300x the wager. This is unusual with table games, but could potentially happen with a bonus side bet that has a large jackpot associated with it, for example.

[Brkintx]

1 minute ago, knagl said:

 

You've twice now said $1999.99, and mattie123 was trying to point out that the threshold is $1200, not $2000. Maybe you intended to type $1199.99?

 

Any single machine win of $1200 or more (regardless of wager) should generate a W-2G.

 

Any table game win of $600 or more is subject to receiving a W-2G if the win was a result of a payout of at least 300x the wager. This is unusual with table games, but could potentially happen with a bonus side bet that has a large jackpot associated with it, for example.

Absolutely, and didn't even notice the error either time.  Mattie was correct, and my typo there is something I didn't notice. 

Absolutely meant and thought I typed $1199.99 both times.  ( good call out and my goodness I'm surprised I didn't notice that... )