Hand Pay & Tax - UK Player

Hey There

Just got back from our latest trip to Vegas. Will post up a TR shortly.

Hit a hand pay whilst playing video poker and got tax taken from me at 30%.

With me been from the UK does anyone know firstly if it is possible to claim this money back and if its is then how do I go about doing it?

Cheers

Reds

 

you shouldnt have had to pay tax on any winnings

as your from the uk ( me too ) we dont pay gambling tax here and have an agreement with the usa that we dont pay tax there either , so id really look into finding out how to get it back

found this for you

Complicated. A non-citizen who is not a legal resident of the US will have 30% of the amount deducted from the winnings (called "withholding") for any winnings over $5000, unless the money was won at "blackjack [21], baccarat, craps, roulette, or big-6 wheel in the United States."
Exception:

Gambling income of residents (as defined by treaty) of the following foreign countries is not taxable by the United States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Russia, Slovak Re- public, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United King- dom.Gambling income of residents of Malta is taxed at 10%.

Then it gets even more complicated. The winner has to provide something called a Taxpayer Identification Number. Non-reseident aliens won;t have one. The casino has to go through a bunch of rigmarole to get a special number issued, so the casino can dispense with withholding for people of the treaty companies. The winner, if not a treat person, will have to get a number in order to get the withheld money back.


http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p515.pdf

 

I wanted to ask the same thing, hadn't got around to it yet. Thanks for the OP and Marktaylor.

Gambling income of residents (as defined by treaty) of the following foreign countries is not taxable by the United States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands (<- thats me ), Russia, Slovak Re- public, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Tunisia, Turkey, Ukraine, and the United King- dom.Gambling income of residents of Malta is taxed at 10%.

 

Thanks Mark

Gonna get on it now and see what happend.

I'll let you know how it goes.

Thanks for the info.

Reds

 

Which casino withheld the 30%? You were treated badly. A decent casino will complete the paperwork for you and give you the full winnings. You will then receive an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) from the IRS at your home address a few weeks later. Just present this for any future wins over $1200.

Seems like the casino just let you do the paperwork and claim back the 30%.

 

Yeah the more I look into it the more I get that impression.

I told them that I was from the UK and mentioned that I didnt think I should be paying any tax on it.

High Limit slots at the Luxor.

To be honest I always stay there but will be moving base after this last trip - enjoyed playing everywhere else so much more than there. Will post a TR up shortly about it.

Reds

 

I'm from Canada, so I imagine it is quite similar for Canadians?

What if you just didn't know or didn't care and the casino took 30%? Would you be obligated to do anything later?

 

Hi DonnyC, Canadians are NOT exempt from the 30% withholding Tax. The casino will withhold 30% and you will have file for a refund.

First step is getting an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)

Then file an 1040NR income tax Return form. You must show that you have lost as much as you want to recover.

Hope this helps

 

Sorry to be hi-jacking this thread a little.

Richard,

I have never got a hand pay yet...I guess I am doing something wrong. The most I won was $400 on a $0.40 spin with almost the whole screen being wild!

In the case of a hand pay, how do you show that you have lost more than you want to recover? What if you haven't lost more? Can you just leave it be and take the money less 30%?

 

As for the Canadian question (Richard)

Are you sure that the individual has to loose more than the 30% to get it back?

In Canada we don't pay tax on lotto winnings...so we should be exempt - we might still have to go through a process to get it back, but i don't think we are mandated to loose more than that 30% to begin with.

Wouldn't it be similar to us (Canadians) getting tax back for any state tax we pay in the USA.

 

Playing $.40 is rarely going to get into the area of a handpay. In your example above, your winning was at 1,000 times your bet. If you have been playing $4.00 a spin on that machine, your payout would have been $4,000 and a handpay. I play way too much slots and know that a win of 1,000 times your bet/wager is very rare.

Most of my handpays have maxed out more like 200-400 times my bet.

For example:
300 x $.40 wager = $120 win
300 x $6.00 wager = $1,800 win

 

canadians and tax

DonnyC the best info you can get is to use the search function here and put in Canadians and Tax.

There is whole lot of info there with many examples of people experiences.

 

Luxor also with held 30% from my wife.
Spot on with the ITIN, On another win The Mandalay Bay completed all forms for me and got me to sign, then they opened a cage account , lodged the win and told me come back in a few hours. Went back later that evening where they had the ITIN number for me and then paid the full amount. Great service.

Tried to claim back to 30% my wife paid for about 6 months but didnt receive any refund in the end. Completed the tax return showing a net loss but no luck