Tax Questions

joetreff · Post by **joetreff** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 3:34 pm

Apologies if this has been covered. A couple of questions: Will the $5000 winners be receiving 1099 forms for $3750? Or do we receive it for 5K and have to claim the entry fee ourselves?

Also can past winners or anyone with such experience tell me what can be claimed vs. the winnings? I have been told "any expenses it took to earn those monies can be claimed against it" also "If they are considered gambling winnings then I cannot claim expenses only gambling losses"

Finally does anyone think I can claim my $1250 Baseball losses vs my Football winnings?

I am proud to be asking these questions! Any help is greatly appreciated.

JerseyPaul · Post by **JerseyPaul** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:33 pm

I'm not an accountant but I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.... and this is the way I handle my fantasy winnings....

Fantasy Sports is not gambling (lol), you get a 1099-Misc, not a 1099-G

If you set up your Schedule C as "Fantasy Sports", then all fantasy sports expenses should be included, including football, baseball and knock hockey. Include travel, required meals, entry fees, information sources, etc for all your fantasy activities.

Last year Krause did not send out 1099's for 2004 (sent out moneys in January) so I expect a 2005 1099. I set up my Schedule C on an "accrual" basis and reprted the revenue last year so I could take my revenue in the same tax year as my expense. This year I will report the 2005 1099 amount and offset it with a "previously reported" line item thus zeroing my 2004 season winnings.

As long as you don't report a loss on your Schedule C, the IRS won't pay much attention, it's just noise compared to the rest of your return. DO NOT report a loss unless fantasy reports is really a profession for you. Even I can't really justify that, even though it's pretty close to being true.

Nag' · Post by **Nag'** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 5:50 pm

Good post, JP. I think that as long as you're showing profit (if applicable) on the Schedule C and not going crazy on claiming expenses, you should be just fine. If one has significant losses in a particular season, I would try carrying them over to the following year (not sure if & how that can be done), but I would NEVER try to claim losses from FF.

[ December 28, 2005, 11:50 PM: Message edited by: Nag' ]

Robert Zarzycki · Post by **Robert Zarzycki** » Wed Dec 28, 2005 7:13 pm

Thanks JerseyPaul. That was informative, and good way to guide us in an otherwise tricky situation. -z-

BillyWaz · Post by **BillyWaz** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 2:20 am

I believe you can only claim as much losses as winnings. In English, you can't claim $3,000 for losses unless you win $3,000.

Claiming more expenses than winnings will bring up a "red flag".

joetreff · Post by **joetreff** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 4:31 am

Jersey- when is the fantasy knock hockey deadline?

Thanks for the awesome info, if anyone can add to this please do, this is an important topic.

Ted's Cracked Head · Post by **Ted's Cracked Head** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:07 am

You can donate a portion of any earings to charity if that would help your tax situation.

A Great Cause

Go ahead Gordon, take your last shot at me for my last PLUG

Greg Ambrosius · Post by **Greg Ambrosius** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 5:34 am

Originally posted by felixflamingo:
Apologies if this has been covered. A couple of questions: Will the $5000 winners be receiving 1099 forms for $3750? Or do we receive it for 5K and have to claim the entry fee ourselves?

Also can past winners or anyone with such experience tell me what can be claimed vs. the winnings? I have been told "any expenses it took to earn those monies can be claimed against it" also "If they are considered gambling winnings then I cannot claim expenses only gambling losses"

Finally does anyone think I can claim my $1250 Baseball losses vs my Football winnings?

I am proud to be asking these questions! Any help is greatly appreciated. Just to clarify, you are receiving the whole winnings of $5,000. You and the tax man can work out the rest.

As Jersey Paul noted, last year all checks went out in January. This year I purposely got the league winnings out after the regular season and we're trying to get out the overall checks yet this week. If you requested us to hold the winnings until next week or didn't get your W-9 in yet, then the checks will be sent out in 2006. But we did our best to give you guys holiday cheers and let you worry about the tax man later.

Gordon Gekko · Post by **Gordon Gekko** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:02 am

Originally posted by Ted's Cracked Head:
Go ahead Gordon, take your last shot at me for my last PLUG this calendar year i corrected your quote. see above

in any event, it's holiday time and i will give you a free pass

Ted's Cracked Head · Post by **Ted's Cracked Head** » Thu Dec 29, 2005 9:40 am

Thanks Gordon, that is much more accurate.

I am trying to raise the extra $1250 for my charities that I lost in the NFFC when I decided to start Turner over Driver in the final week and finished in 10th instead of 5th overall.