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- Do You Pay Tax On Casino Winnings Uk
- Do I Have To Pay Tax On Gambling Winnings Uk
All countries and governments have their own online gambling tax policies and legislation so we need to look at this question from a global perspective. Firstly we’ll cover the situation in the UK and following that look at how things may differ in the rest of the world.
If you live in the UK, you can breathe a huge sigh of relief because the good news is, you don’t have to pay tax on gambling wins! However, this isn’t necessarily the case in other parts of the world such as the US where both cash and non-cash gambling winnings are considered taxable income.
- Taxes on winnings Yes, you need to pay taxes on gambling winnings in the USA. If not it would be tax evasion, and you will go prison without any internet access. The IRS is known to monitor these boards for such activity. You may offset your winnings with any losses, so go drop your winnings and you will be able to sleep at night.
- If you win in a country that taxes gambling profits then you will pay the tax at the point of supply, and so you don't need to declare it. If you want to bring winnings back into the UK (or any cash for that matter) you may be restricted on the amount of cash you can bring in, if travelling from outside the EU, to €10,00 Euros (or equivalent.
Do you have to pay tax on your gambling winnings?
UK Gambling Taxes
Key Points
- All winnings either online or offline are tax free!
- Any betting tax abolished in 2001 by Gordon Brown.
- Tax used to be on bookies but they passed to punters.
- Bookmakers must now pay 15% POI tax but not punters.
- POI tax on any games of chance increased from 15% to 21% but again not for punters.
In the UK any and all winnings from gambling – either online or at betting shops – are entirely tax free and do not need to be declared as part of any tax return.
This has been the case since the then Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown’s budget of 2001, when he abolished Betting Duty which had stood at 6.75%. That duty was removed in an attempt to persuade bookmakers not to move their operations overseas and therefore take jobs and revenue away from the UK economy.
All of that is not to say that there is no tax involved when it comes to gambling in the UK, however, and there is a ‘point of consumption’ tax related to the activity. This does not affect punters themselves, though, and will be dealt with separately further down this page.
Will the situation ever change? Generally speaking there is little chance that this situation will be reversed, either, as the UK tax system is simply not built in such a way that taxing gambling winnings would be viable. This is the case as it is fairly standard within the system that if tax is levied on the income or profit made through an activity, then there must also be an allowance made against losses through the same activity.
With gambling being an activity where overall more losses are made by punters than winnings, therefore, such a change in the tax legislation would cost the UK government revenue. As a result, it is quite simply not something which would be considered. Your betting, casino, slot machine, poker and bingo winnings are yours to keep tax free.
What About Professional Gamblers?
It may seem logical that the tax situation would be different for professional gamblers than it is for occasional punters. When it comes to pure winnings from betting, however, that quite simply is not the case. As we have discussed above these winnings are not taxable and this remains true even for a ‘professional gambler’. That is because HMRC do not recognise professional gambling as a taxable trade.
In fact, within their most up to date ‘Business Income Manual’, HMRC clearly define their position on professional gambling:
‘The fact that a taxpayer has a system by which they place their bets, or that they are sufficiently successful to earn a living by gambling does not make their activities a trade.’ BIM22017
Gambling winnings, therefore, remain free of tax regardless of whether they make up an individual’s main source of income. Where the situation can get a little more complicated, however, is in the case of income related to gambling but not actually direct winnings from gambling. Appearance fees paid to poker players for playing at certain tournaments, for instance, represent payment for a service provided to the tournament organisers and as such may be taxable.
Away from the UK, too, tax laws and legislation do differ and it would benefit a professional gambler outside of the UK to research the specific rules and regulations within their own country.
UK Point of Consumption Tax
As we mentioned earlier, Betting Duty for gamblers was abolished in 2001 and was at that time replaced by a 15% tax on gross profits for bookmakers and gambling providers. That tax was initially charged on a ‘point of supply’ basis, meaning that if the bookmaker or company were not based in the UK, then they were not liable. This situation has more recently changed, however.
From the latter part of 2014, the tax on bookmakers’ profits was changed to a ‘point of consumption’ tax by a combination of the Gambling (Licensing and Advertising) Act 2014 and by the introduction of ‘Remote Gaming Duty’. This means that regardless of where they themselves are based, providers must pay a 15% duty on any bets placed by UK customers.
In the 2018 budget chancellor George Osborne announced that the point of consumption tax would rise from 15% up to 21% for all games of chance but sports betting would remain at 15%, for now.
Gambling Taxes In The Rest Of The World
| Country | Taxes |
|---|---|
| Austria | No |
| Australia | No |
| Australia | No |
| Belgium | No |
| Bulgaria | No |
| Canada | No |
| Czech Republic | No |
| Denmark | No |
| Finland | No |
| France | 2% on poker cash pots, 7.5% on sports (+1.8% levy) and 7.5% on horse racing (+8% levy) |
| Germany | No |
| Greece | No except lottery at 10% |
| Hungary | No |
| Ireland | Bookies pay 1% on all bets – not winnings. |
| Italy | No |
| Kenya | No – bookies must pay 7.5% on their winnings. |
| Latvia | 25% |
| Luxembourg | No |
| Macau | 40% |
| Malta | No |
| Nigeria | 20% |
| Netherlands | No expect lottery at 29% above €454 |
| Portugal | No expect lottery at up to 35% |
| Romania | 1% up to 66,750 RON, additional 16% of surpassing margin up to 445,000, additional 25% of surpassing margin over 445,000 RON |
| Slovenia | No expect lottery at 50% if more than €4,000 |
| Spain | No but must declare winnings as income for taxation |
| Sweden | No |
| South Africa | No except 6% on horse racing. |
| UK | No |
| USA | 25% |
As the above table shows, where various types of gambling are legal there are a variety of different attitudes towards taxation on winnings from those forms of betting. If your country is not listed then it’s likely gambling is not strictly legal and there is therefore no taxation laws.
Do I Have To Pay Tax On Casino Winnings Uk Today
So we assume that you like to play some casino games online if you ended up oncasinohawks.com? If you’re rather new to the online casino world, then there might be one important question on your mind.
Do I need to pay taxes in the UK if I win in an online casino?
We can write a lot about this, but instead we’re going to be quick and give you the good news straight away. No, you don’t have to pay anything!
There is no tax on casino winnings for the UK residents as long as they are playing and winning in the online casinos that have a licence from the UK Gambling Commission.
Fortunately for all of us the betting tax that used to exists in the UK, was abolished many years ago, so right now no matter what you play: casino, bingo, poker and such you won’t have to payany taxes on your winnings!
Do You Have To Pay Tax On Gambling Winnings Uk
But how is it possible?
You probably can’t help but wonder how is it even remotely possible that the taxman doesn’t want your winning money? The answer is quite simple; the government still gets a lot of money fromthe gambling industry, but they tax the operators and not the players. So your favourite online casinos have to pay their tax, and not you. Isn’t that great? Apart from the taxation all onlinecasinos legally operating in the UK need to also pay hefty fees to obtain and renew their annual licences.
How do I know if the casino is legal and I don’t have to pay tax?
The easiest way to know if the casino is legitimate, can legally operate in the UK and your winnings from that casino will definitely not be taxed, is to head over to the UK Gambling Commissionwebsite and check their list of approved casinos. You will find plenty of them there, so don’t worry.
But if you don't have time to do this homework, and apart from knowing that the casino is legit you also want to know what you’re dealing with and what kind of bonuses and freebies you can getfrom a particular legitimate casino in the UK, then just read the casinohawks.com reviews!
We are here for you to give our guides and expertise on the best online casinos that can not only legally operate in the UK and guarantee you tax-free winning, but also comply with certainqualities.
Below you will find our checklist, which we go through when we analyse all online casinos before we can recommend them to our readers.
- Is it a licenced, legitimate and regulated provider that has a UK gambling licence?
- Does this casino have experience and proven track record?
- Are winnings from this casino tax-free for the UK players?
- Does the casino offer generous bonuses, special offers and promotions to the UK players?
- Are payments and withdrawals from the casino fast, safe and secure?
- Is there a reasonable security for users data?
- Does this casino offer professional and helpful customer service?
- Does an online casino have a decent choice of games and a good variety of different kinds of games in their portfolio?
- Do they use the best technology and provide smooth experience and gameplay from any device including mobilecasino?
This is not even the full list as we also look at the design, navigation and overall gameplay experience of every casino that we suggest to our readers to try. We also make sure to keep up withall the latest casino news, trends, special offers, promotions and bonuses, so you can take a full advantage and get your true money’s worth while having fun and playing at an online casino.
We also have some exclusive deals with certain casinos that offer special bonuses and welcome offersincluding free spins to the casinohawks.com readers. Remember, we look for the best casino offers, so you don’t have to do it yourself!
Below you will find the full least of great casinos that have been thoroughly checked by our experts and tick all the boxes, so you can just go and visit them by clicking on the links below andchoose the one that you prefer for the best online gaming experience.
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