29 replies to this topic

[quixotic]

[tallguy]

currently doing my taxes. wasnt sure if my winnings are considered taxable income or not. decided to call canada revenue agency (1-800-959-8281). i explained i play on the internet and that poker is just a past time for me. also brought up the fact that lottery winnings do not have to be claimed as income. this person had to go and confer with others, assuming his supervisor, and came back to tell me that because i invest time to win this money it is considered work and therefore is taxable income which i would have to enter into line 130(other income).

[ff7bigfan]

Good article. It really is such a vague subject still, and one where there is a lack of knowledge, because like you said, they would have to look at your specific case to make a decision. I myself have called up technical interpretations, and not really got much more info than this.I look forward to reading your future articles.

[ff7bigfan]

tallguy, on Monday, March 15th, 2010, 5:52 PM, said:

currently doing my taxes. wasnt sure if my winnings are considered taxable income or not. decided to call canada revenue agency (1-800-959-8281). i explained i play on the internet and that poker is just a past time for me. also brought up the fact that lottery winnings do not have to be claimed as income. this person had to go and confer with others, assuming his supervisor, and came back to tell me that because i invest time to win this money it is considered work and therefore is taxable income which i would have to enter into line 130(other income).

I would take this advice with a grain of salt. The number you called up is general enquiries, and poker winnings are an area which do not necessarily have concrete set in stone rules to say yes they are, or no they are not, if you meet this specific bullet point. I would not expect your average person at general enquiries to know the correct answer for you as to whether or not it is taxable. I wouldn't expect a number of accountants to know. I'm a CA myself, and have had this discussion with many acquaintances and heard various answers. I would suggest visiting a CA that is knowledgeable about this, and discussing your situation first. If it is taxable, they can also give you an idea on what deductions would be appropriate to claim.

[gruven]

nritchi3, on Tuesday, March 7th, 2006, 1:28 AM, said:

The article was well written and informative. I just don't like to hear that the government can take a chunk of my winnings.

The article was informative, and very timely and relevant subject matter. However, if you have any inkling to write professionally, or semi-professionally, even for a crappy rag like the CPT mag, then I suggest you invest some time into some grammar and structure lessons. There are numerous grammatical errors in the text, and the sentence structure is all over the map. Of course, the responsibility for this isn't all yours: the editor and copy editor should have caught most of that. Of course, it IS kelly kellner, so the fact that it's poorly managed is no surprise. On the whole though, very informative. It would have been interesting to add a legal perspective on it, perhaps someone knowledgeable with Canadian gaming law such as Michael Lipton. But kudos on doing some good research and providing some insight...

[nutzbuster]

gruven, on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010, 5:02 AM, said:

The article was informative, and very timely and relevant subject matter. However, if you have any inkling to write professionally, or semi-professionally, even for a crappy rag like the CPT mag, then I suggest you invest some time into some grammar and structure lessons. There are numerous grammatical errors in the text, and the sentence structure is all over the map. Of course, the responsibility for this isn't all yours: the editor and copy editor should have caught most of that. Of course, it IS kelly kellner, so the fact that it's poorly managed is no surprise. On the whole though, very informative. It would have been interesting to add a legal perspective on it, perhaps someone knowledgeable with Canadian gaming law such as Michael Lipton. But kudos on doing some good research and providing some insight...

Check your Facebook dude...I posted some Kauai info.AH looooooooo HA!

[wheezer16]

I have a FT job and play poker recreationally (I am Canadian)...I have substantial winnings in the last 2 years...my CA told me that my winnings were not taxable so long as poker was not my primary source of income. I found this reassuring, FWIW.

[rcgs59]

chrozzo, on Monday, March 6th, 2006, 10:49 PM, said:

its too cold in Canada

My brother-in-law works with Revenue Canada he states, he often does audits and can get any info from poker sites such as pokerstars etc, he has done a few poker player audits. Sites that are based on British islands are easy to access and get info from them.good article of interest, but Chris has a point a legal consult would be nice to follow up with.

[ff7bigfan]

wheezer16, on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010, 3:57 PM, said:

I have a FT job and play poker recreationally (I am Canadian)...I have substantial winnings in the last 2 years...my CA told me that my winnings were not taxable so long as poker was not my primary source of income. I found this reassuring, FWIW.

This is where it becomes such a problem. How do you define primary source of income. When you say substantial, that may mean more than your ft job, and it depends on the eye of the interpreter whether this would be primary. Revenue Canada could certainly consider it a primary source if you elevated your lifestyle from it, or if certainly you made more doing it than your job. However I have heard of few definitive cases, and everything seems to be still on a case by case basis. One thing to be careful of, I have talked to several different accountants, and several have said "you have a full time job, so your not taxable", but having a full time job does not satisfy the test that poker is not your primary source of income. I mean surely a player making 50k from poker working at McD's should pay taxes on poker winnings, but some people assume a bit too much "I have a job therefore it shouldn't be taxable."Although I wouldn't want the casual player to be taxed on it, such as in the states, I would definitely love it if there were more clear cut rules in place regarding poker income from Revenue Canada.

[wheezer16]

ff7bigfan, on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010, 6:56 PM, said:

This is where it becomes such a problem. How do you define primary source of income. When you say substantial, that may mean more than your ft job, and it depends on the eye of the interpreter whether this would be primary. Revenue Canada could certainly consider it a primary source if you elevated your lifestyle from it, or if certainly you made more doing it than your job. However I have heard of few definitive cases, and everything seems to be still on a case by case basis. One thing to be careful of, I have talked to several different accountants, and several have said "you have a full time job, so your not taxable", but having a full time job does not satisfy the test that poker is not your primary source of income. I mean surely a player making 50k from poker working at McD's should pay taxes on poker winnings, but some people assume a bit too much "I have a job therefore it shouldn't be taxable."Although I wouldn't want the casual player to be taxed on it, such as in the states, I would definitely love it if there were more clear cut rules in place regarding poker income from Revenue Canada.

Ya, I agree that that it is not clearcut. For me, I still make more money with my FT job, and I could easily demonstrate to an auditor that I spend most of my time 'working' and am not 'in the business of gambling'.