2 questions about tax preparation

[TheGambler]

1. how do you handle "future bets" when it comes time to declare your winnings? For example, I had several thousand dollars tied up in futures on Dec 31st so i'm not sure how i count that into my win/losses for the year.

2. i'm not one who keeps exact records of my wins and losses and i usually have relied on going back to the sportsbooks that i use and calculating my exact winnings from my account history. however, now that several of my big books have cut me off since I'm from the U.S., there is no way for me to get an exact dollar amount of wins and losses. I could probably get within a few thousand dollars but i like to be completely accurate with my taxes. how are others handling these situations? any advice would be appreciated.

[rolemand]

If it wasn't decided in 2006 it's neither a win nor a loss

[Korchnoi]

it's been suggested that making futures bets is a good way to push taxes forward if you have winnings. Say you're up 120K on the year and you can buy the field of NFC teams to win the superbowl for fair. Technically your profits come next year.

I don't know though. Any strategy techincally designed to avoid taxes can be considered tax evasion.

I don't think they could have got Capone if his income was 1.2MM and he only declared 1.1MM but you never know these days. It's prob better be safe than sorry.

[marke4]

While the tax codes do not specifically state how to handle "gambling winnings" all future bets should be considered "Win or Loss" the day they are settled. It is similar to trading futures on the open commodity exchange. It it not tax avasion to play futures to delay tax liability but tax planning. It only took me 6 years of college and about 50K in student loans to know this.