General How do you document your losses for the IRS?

[June]

The IRS taxes your winnings as income. But, you can also deduct your losses if you itemize on your tax return. The IRS states that you must have tickets, receipts, statements, or other documentation that shows your winnings and losses. If you are losing on machines, how does one document that?

 

[SjOnFire]

Keep a journal of the dates and times that you went to the casino. If you withdraw money from the bank keep the receipt. In your journal keep track of the date, the casino you are playing at, the machine or table you are playing and the amount you win of lose. For more information on that look up the IRS Publication 529, it'll detail what you need to do. It's pretty easy actually.

 

[June]

I really didn't think that they would take a journal of losses/wins without some kind of backup. I never thought about keeping the total amounts withdrawn then logging how much you actually won or loss from that amount. I didn't think that the IRS would believe me.

 

[SjOnFire]

I would imagine if you have a very large loss then the IRS would want a lot of proof. If the loss isn't significant then the IRS will probably not look to deep into it. I've kept a journal this year and some receipts so that I could claim my losses this year. I can let you know what all I have to turn in.