On Mar 5, 8:21 pm, Sara Brown <SaraTGi...[at]aol.com> wrote:

- quote -

You should double check if the gambling winnings are taxable by the
state. In CA for example, CA lottery winnings are excluded from CA
income.

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On Mar 6, 9:20 am, kam...[at]panix.com (Arthur Kamlet) wrote:

- quote -

To clarify, if you bought a lotto ticket and didn't win anything, is
that a loss? In this example, all losses but not more than $3750 are
deductible on Schedule A.

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<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

"Sara Brown" <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:a7985a1c-c6db-4543-923f-f72130754555[at]a39g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

With all due respect to the DIYers here - THIS is the biggest problem I have
with at home tax software. The return may be absolutely accurate as done,
but because you have questions - and legitimate ones at that - you have no
where to turn. So you turn here and ask - this is what this forum is for.
The problem is that without seeing EVERYTHING that is on your return and
essentially redoing your entire return, the best any of us can do is offer
multiple guesses as to what happened. And none of the pros here are going
to actually do your return for free, so you'll have to settle for guesses.
And while some of these guesses may be right, you'll never know - not for
sure.

With that said, here are my observations/guesses -

On your Federal return, if you're in the 28% bracket that would account for
change - OR
maybe you lost out on a credit, OR
maybe more of your social security is taxable, OR
maybe you lost some itemized deductions due to an increase in the floor OR
addition phase outs due to higher income, OR
maybe you made a mistake in keying it in, OR
maybe there is a problem in the software.

On your state return, you don't say what state you're in and that will make
a difference as state tax rates and brackets vary widely.
BUT I'm not aware of any state that has an 18% tax bracket (Montana has a
top bracket of about 11% and that is as bad as I've ever heard of).

For the amount of money involved I'd suggest you go see a local tax pro and
have your return done. And please, P L E A S E, don't just ask them to
check your return for a reduced fee. This is tax season and this is how we
feed our families, pay our staff, keep our offices open and try to provide
for our retirement so we won't be a burden on society in our golden years.
It takes me TWICE as long to check a strangers work as it takes for me
actually DO a return. Most tax pros, like myself, have developed systems
and methodologies that allow us to work efficiently and quickly. Most of us
make it a point to manually check our software's calculations early on to
make sure the sofware is doing what it is supposed to do so we know we can
rely on it when we get busy. Asking us to "JUST CHECK" your work is not as
easy as you may think. We cannot rely on our systems and methodologies,
instead we have to manually check that every number is correct, we have to
manually add up all your W-2s gross income, check it against reductions for
things like retirement contributions, then see if the right number hit line
7. Multiply this times all the line items on your return and all the odd
little calculations that have to be done - like adjusting the taxable
portion of Social Security for increase income, or reducing the retirement
savings credit for increased income, or adjusting the floor or phase-out's
on itemized deductions and it doesn't take long to spend way more time to
check a strangers work than it takes to just do it right from scratch.

BTW - we do offer to check returns that were prepared elsewhere. We've had
a lot of people ask if we could do this, but no one has ever taken us up on
it. I wonder if it is because that fee is TWICE whatever the fee would be
to just do the return to start with?

Good luck,
Gene E. Utterback, EA, RFC, ABA

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

In article <fid1r41k0nnl5q8pdu93t50mmuuste0h6k[at]4ax.com> ,
DF2 <replyvia[at]newsgroup_please.com> wrote:
- quote -


Although the IRS procedures call for winnings, epecially winnings shown
on a form W-2G, to go on Form 1040 line 21, and losses, not exceeding
declared gaoins, to go onSchedule A as a miscellaneous loss Not subject
to the 2% reduction.
--
--


ArtKamlet at a o l dot c o m Columbus OH K2PZH

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

"Sara Brown" <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.com> wrote in message
news:a7985a1c-c6db-4543-923f-f72130754555[at]a39g2000yqc.googlegroups.com...
- quote -

that is a Federal marginal tax rate of 30% and a state marginal tax rate of
19%. As others have posted, your "tax rate" might be higher than you think
due to reductions in itemized deductions, exemptions, or credits. Your
state increase seems pretty high, though.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

In misc.taxes.moderated, Sara Brown wrote:

- quote -

Note that you get to deduct gambling losses up to your winnings. You
may be able to get info on losses from your slot cards, including
other casinos. Explain why you are asking.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

In article <a7985a1c-c6db-4543-923f-f72130754555[at]a39g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> ,
Sara Brown <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.com> wrote:
- quote -


The thing to do is print out the 1040 before and after the W-2G and
see what lines have changed.

For example, if you were geting EIC before this additional
"EIC investment income" you could lose it all. If you were within
$3750 of going over the threshold cliff for obtaining Savers
Credit, you could easliy lose say 200 that way. Other tax features
and benefits also apply to higher AGI phaseout.


If you were getting social security, another 3750 could increase
the amount of social security subject to tax.

Nothing beats line by line comparison.
--
--


ArtKamlet at a o l dot c o m Columbus OH K2PZH

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

In article
<a7985a1c-c6db-4543-923f-f72130754555[at]a39g2000yqc.googlegroups.com> ,
Sara Brown <SaraTGinMD[at]aol.com> wrote:

- quote -

I am guessing that you are in the 25% Federal tax bracket and so the IRS
took 25% of the $3750 ($937). If you itemized then the amount of
medical expenses that you could deduct got smaller etc.

A problem with tax software is that you don't get to see what is going
on.

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >

Hello all..I hope everyone is doing fine..I have a quick
question..Sorry if my details are vague but I`m hoping just my basic
question can stir up a rational reply...He`s my basic
situation..Between me and my spouse we had like 4 W-2s and I had 3
1099-Rs for various things dealing with my company being sold and
taking/moving stock/IRA funds..Anyway..I went on TaxAct.com and did my
taxes carefully following each step and when I was done with all the
above forms and other stuff I found I was due a $1250 refund from my
Federal taxes and I owed my state $250..OK..That`s fine and I can live
with that :-)

But here`s where it gets odd..I also had a $3750 slot machine win
at a casino last year for which I received a W-2G...I had no taxes
taken out the day I won the money..OK, So I go back on TaxAct to add
this one last item on to my return and once I added this $3750 W-2G
gambling win suddenly my Federal refund plummeted from $1250 to $130
and my state owed sky-rocketed from $250 to $950!...These amounts seem
quite excessive for simply adding $3750 to my income..Did this trigger
something else or may I have done something wrong?

--
<< ------------------------------------------------------- > << The foregoing was not intended or written to be used, > << nor can it used, for the purpose of avoiding penalties > << that may be imposed upon the taxpayer. > << > << The Charter and the Guidelines for submitting posts > << to this newsgroup as well as our anti-spamming policy > << are at www.asktax.org. > << Copyright (2007) - All rights reserved. > << ------------------------------------------------------- >