Taxes and tourneys

I'm not sure if this is possible or not and might be a dumb question but I won't know if I don't ask so here goes. I was curious if you can claim expenses on tournament winnings and if you can how much do you have to win before you can? And also what can you claim? Gas, entry fees? Thanks for replies?

[walleyejim1216]

Well heck yes u can!

Do you have any idea how much you have to win before you can start claiming?

[Nimstug]

I strongly suggest you talk to a tax professional face to face regarding any winnings vs. losses and deductibility.

[Chad]

The safe answer is you may claim expenses up to the amount of your earnings. I would not claim expenses over and above my winnings (show a loss) unless this is actually your business. In that case you would want help from an accountant.

If you are the average guy fishing tournaments for fun then you can claim expenses to off set your winnings.

[thump55]

Originally Posted by Chad

The safe answer is you may claim expenses up to the amount of your earnings. I would not claim expenses over and above my winnings (show a loss) unless this is actually your business. In that case you would want help from an accountant.

If you are the average guy fishing tournaments for fun then you can claim expenses to off set your winnings.

+1

You can claim, gas, entry, tackle, equipment, bait, lodging, launch fees, etc. Save your receipts so if you win one later in the year you can deduct all those costs up to the amount you won. Claiming a loss will raise a red flag for the IRS.

[stjoeguy]

Hobby loss rules are a can of worms. The winnings are fully taxable from dollar one, but the expenses are only deductible to the extent of income (can't deduct a loss) and the expenses are deductilbe as a miscellaneous itemized deduction to the extent they are greater than 2% of adjusted gross income. So the winnings will be taxable, but you may or may not get any tax benefit from the expenses.

[Hanson Outdoors]

I keep all my receipts for tourney entry fee, gas, hotel, license, etc that I can directly attribute to participation in a tournament or tournaments, just in case you get lucky and cash some checks.

With the FLW, I think if you won over $600 they'd send you a Form 1099 that was reported to the IRS as income. Pretty sure thats standard for misc income.

A few years ago I won a tournament as a co-angler and got a 1099 for $6,000 in income that I had to report. I reported it as Hobby Income so I could deduct expenses against it. I forgot if it was a percentage of your adjusted gross income or if it was a specific amount (example $1000) that you had to report expense above and beyond to be deductible. Going this route, you'll still be taxed on that $1,000 or whatever and hopefully reduce the rest through deductions.