This entry was posted
on Sunday, July 26th, 2009 at 7:21 am and is filed under Lottery.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
5 Responses to “If you have won $0 in the lottery, can you decuct your losses?”
No, you can only deduct gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings. And even then you can only deduct them if you itemize, and there are also some strict recordkeeping rules.
Although your net is zero, you may still have some deduction that you are allowed.
Do you also have records of small “wins” like a ticket that gave you a free ticket, or even a few dollars? Then you claim the total of your wins on Line 21 of Form 1040, and you will be allowed a deduction up to the amount of your wins.
In order to benefit from the deduction, you must itemize your deductions on Schedule A.
You cannot deduct more in gambling losses than you report in gambling winnings. If you won money gambling (even if not in the lottery), then you can deduct your total losses up to the total of your winnings. If you won no money gambling, then you cannot deduct any gambling losses.
July 28th, 2009 at 9:48 pm
No. Gambling loss deductions are limited to the amount of your winnings. If you won $0 you get no deduction.
July 29th, 2009 at 5:33 pm
No, you can only deduct gambling losses up to the amount of your winnings. And even then you can only deduct them if you itemize, and there are also some strict recordkeeping rules.
July 30th, 2009 at 6:07 am
Although your net is zero, you may still have some deduction that you are allowed.
Do you also have records of small “wins” like a ticket that gave you a free ticket, or even a few dollars? Then you claim the total of your wins on Line 21 of Form 1040, and you will be allowed a deduction up to the amount of your wins.
In order to benefit from the deduction, you must itemize your deductions on Schedule A.
July 30th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
No. You can only deduct your losses up to your gambling winnings and you have to keep detailed records.
August 1st, 2009 at 7:14 pm
You cannot deduct more in gambling losses than you report in gambling winnings. If you won money gambling (even if not in the lottery), then you can deduct your total losses up to the total of your winnings. If you won no money gambling, then you cannot deduct any gambling losses.