Here comes another tax question – this time it’s regarding U.S. players as they travel:
When you hit a jackpot in another country like Australia how do you handle the taxes? Do you have to file taxes there or just in the USA?
Suzanne
The number of permutations of this question can be vast, so we’re opting to answer it at a high level – it depends.
Depending on which country you’re from, and which country you’re in, what will happen will vary. Part of this is because of the laws of the country you’re a resident of and the country you’re visiting. Part of it may be because of individual treaties some countries have agreed to to simplify some of this.
Even within the United States, some states have differing tax rules that may lead a player to have to file with that state if they get a jackpot while visiting a casino there.
Anecdotally, when Brian Christopher took his Australian cruises last fall, he did receive U.S. tax documents when he hit the jackpot threshold, which means the cruise line will report those wins to the IRS. So, in that scenario, it’ll likely follow the same process as any other cruise ship jackpots won on cruises that departed from the U.S. Whether that same scenario repeats for land-based casinos, we have no direct experience to share.
Ultimately, it’s something we recommend all players research for their own piece of mind before they take their trip and gamble. Because we know we have readers across the globe, traveling all over, we simply don’t have the ability to hit every permutation, but we do encourage players to do their homework so they aren’t caught off guard.
Given the number of questions we get on these sorts of topics, it’s something that it seems a lot of players do get surprised by, and so we also advise working with an accountant who can assist with these matters in the case you do get a jackpot and need to properly file taxes with it in mind.
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Hi, in Australian land based casinos (or gambling of any kind), winnings are 100% tax free.
Thanks Dylan!