Countries with less % of taxation on winnings

[MLBfan88]

Also bet365 don't allow players from Holland, right?
Less xtc and weed and more gambling hehehe

Yes about half of all bookies don't accept cusomers from Netherlands. Bet365 is one of them who don't accept us.

[LAbra2k]

Malta?

[BigdaddyQH]

Just remember that if you are a U.S. Citizen, the U.S. government can tax your winnings no matter where you won.

[yiyang]

Italy 0%

[ZAMAZA]

Which are the countries where you must pay les taxes for your yearly winnings? I live in spain and its 30%!!

That statement isn't correct.
Depending on the winnings you can pay from 0% to 50%.
Yo si vivo en España.

[Optional]

Reported Rates So Far

Spain 30% - thebaibol
Spain 0% to 50% - ZAMAZA

Russia 13% - craftbrewer

Canada 0% - newton0038, LLXC, xKMACKx

USA 20-30% - eaglesfan371

UK 0% - HeeeHAWWWW

Poland 12% - VladimirDM

Germany 5% - VladimirDM
Germany 0% - lonnie55

Ukraine 0% - VladimirDM

Chile 0% - robixon71

Morocco 0% - enzo

Netherlands 29% - MLBfan88

Italy 0% - yiyang

Australia 0% - Optional

New Zealand 0%

[tingasdt]

In Spain I corroborate from 0 to 47%.

Depending on personal circumstances, deductions and other income.

[ZAMAZA]

In Spain I corroborate from 0 to 47%.

Depending on personal circumstances, deductions and other income.

It also depends on the region in which you reside.
In any case the percentage is excessive...

[tingasdt]

It also depends on the region in which you reside.
In any case the percentage is excessive...

Desde luego, paisano

[thebaibol]

It also depends on the region in which you reside.
In any case the percentage is excessive...

exactly.in my case for 2018 was 30%

[thebaibol]

Spain 30% - thebaibol
Spain 0% to 50% - ZAMAZA

Russia 13% - craftbrewer

Canada 0% - newton0038, LLXC, xKMACKx

USA 20-30% - eaglesfan371

UK 0% - HeeeHAWWWW

Poland 12% - VladimirDM

Germany 5% - VladimirDM
Germany 0% - lonnie55

Ukraine 0% - VladimirDM

Chile 0% - robixon71

Morocco 0% - enzo

Netherlands 29% - MLBfan88

Italy 0% - yiyang

Australia 0% - Optional

New Zealand 0%

What about Sweden, any swedish around?
Norway I think it's 27% but only if you win over 100.000nok (10.500€)

[ZAMAZA]

Desde luego, paisano

¡Un saludo!

[caramba]

Sweden is 0% if the company has a license in Sweden, 30% if it doesn't. Most of the big ones, Pinnacle, Bookmaker etc don't have a license there. Even Betfair Sweden is limited in their offerings, they're currently not offering tennis because of Swedish regulation about athletes under 18.

[caramba]

Optional, thanks for putting together a list. If the info about Canada, 0% but not if you bet for a living, is correct, I think this info should be included.

[caramba]

Is the purpose of the thread to only address the tax situation or can we also discuss other betting related matters that could be of importance if someone is considering moving to a particular country and do betting for a living? For instance I believe Spain and Italy both have their own Betfair exchanges (so they bet only against people in their own country) which isn't good if you rely heavily on Betfair and need good liquidity there.

[xKMACKx]

Optional, thanks for putting together a list. If the info about Canada, 0% but not if you bet for a living, is correct, I think this info should be included.

It is.

If you score big from a Canadian casino, your winnings will be treated the same as other lotteries and usually remain tax-free.

However, over the past few years, CRA has begun to examine its policies for professional gamblers, classifying “winnings” as business income and therefore taxable like any other business income. At the same time, this also means professional gamblers can claim business expenses.

[lucykray]

Try African countries like Ghana 0% tax on Gambling...

[pythonic]

The 5% tax in Germany is a turnover tax on stakes payed by the operator, same for Poland I believe.
Shouldnt be confused with income tax like in the Netherlands.

[Optional]

Optional, thanks for putting together a list. If the info about Canada, 0% but not if you bet for a living, is correct, I think this info should be included.

You can improve on it if you like

[caramba]

No, I don't wanna be held accountable if it's incorrect information Just thought it's relevant information. But this can work fine as a general guideline, and then if people wanna look up a country in particular closer they can do so on their own.

[caramba]

However, over the past few years, CRA has begun to examine its policies for professional gamblers, classifying “winnings” as business income and therefore taxable like any other business income. At the same time, this also means professional gamblers can claim business expenses.

That's a sensible approach. If more countries had sensible taxation on gambling, it would be better for everyone. Are losses deductable? Let's say you are way up with book a, but down with book b, would you have to pay tax on book a winnings or pay tax on the result of book a minus book b?

[thebaibol]

Sweden is 0% if the company has a license in Sweden, 30% if it doesn't. Most of the big ones, Pinnacle, Bookmaker etc don't have a license there. Even Betfair Sweden is limited in their offerings, they're currently not offering tennis because of Swedish regulation about athletes under 18.

wow sucks big time

[thebaibol]

Is the purpose of the thread to only address the tax situation or can we also discuss other betting related matters that could be of importance if someone is considering moving to a particular country and do betting for a living? For instance I believe Spain and Italy both have their own Betfair exchanges (so they bet only against people in their own country) which isn't good if you rely heavily on Betfair and need good liquidity there.

discussing is welcome. Its true what you said about Spain having their own exchanges. They're really poor, few and not liquid markets

[caramba]

Malta?

This is what I said about Malta in a similar thread: https://www.sportsbookreview.com/for...s-betting.html

Malta and gambling taxes was complicated when I looked into it. One of those "you'll probably get away with it but if tax authorities weren't so lazy you could end up having to pay tax on your winnings" situations. But if not tax free it will at least be low taxes.

[caramba]

wow sucks big time

<br>
It sure does. There's some confusion about tax when it becomes to bookies that don't have a license in Sweden. Some say it's 30%, some say it's 0%, no-one knows for sure. Law changed Jan 1 this year. Pinnacle doesn't accept Swedish customers, they applied for a license early in the year and still don't have one so there's strong belief in the betting community that they don't want to operate in Sweden because of strict regulation.

[HeeeHAWWWW]

That's a sensible approach. If more countries had sensible taxation on gambling, it would be better for everyone. Are losses deductable? Let's say you are way up with book a, but down with book b, would you have to pay tax on book a winnings or pay tax on the result of book a minus book b?

If it really was like business income, you'd pay on net yearly profit I guess.


Would be a giggle if I could buy a new PC and take a deduction for it.

[lonnie55]

However, over the past few years, CRA has begun to examine its policies for professional gamblers, classifying “winnings” as business income and therefore taxable like any other business income. At the same time, this also means professional gamblers can claim business expenses.

So how is professional gambling classified? Are there any specifications codified in the Canadian law?

[Optional]

So how is professional gambling classified? Are there any specifications codified in the Canadian law?

I "think" in countries with law systems inherited from UK the guideline is if your gambling activity is your primary source of income.

[Krashman]

Canadian gambling income is not taxable unless a BUSINESS is gambling.

If you as an individual are gambling and win it is not taxable. Period.

It does not matter if it is your primary source of income or not.

It is classed as 'windfall income' and not taxed.

[lonnie55]

Canadian gambling income is not taxable unless a BUSINESS is gambling.

If you as an individual are gambling and win it is not taxable. Period.

It does not matter if it is your primary source of income or not.

It is classed as 'windfall income' and not taxed.

Thanks

[lonnie55]

My guess is there is not one country in the world where professional sports betting is a recognized profession.

[Krashman]

This is from Revenue Canada website.

If you read it closely you can see where people get the notion that gambling full time may be taxable, but then also read closely the court rulings quoted which in all instances except one it was ruled against Revenue Canada and the income was found to be not taxable. The only case that was taxable was a sober pool player wagering against drunks a bar.

Bear in mind this is the Canadian government citing these court rulings:


Gambling profits
1.11 Profits derived from bookmaking or from the operation of any gambling establishment (carried on legally or otherwise) constitute income from a business. It is clear from various decisions of the courts that earnings from illegal operations or illicit businesses, such as illegal gambling and fraudulent business schemes, are not exempt from tax. See for example, the decisions in The Queen v. Poynton, [1972] CTC 411, 72 DTC 6329 (Ont. C.A.) and MNR v. Eldridge, [1964] CTC 545, 64 DTC 5338 (Ex. Ct.).

1.12 An individual’s gambling activities may result in taxable business income or a business loss. This will be the case if the gambling activities constitute a source of income (that is, carrying on the business of gambling). Determining the commerciality of gambling can be challenging. Games of pure chance, like lotteries, lack the badges of trade to which the traditional tests of business activity can be applied. Traditional tests to determine the existence of a business include an evaluation of a taxpayer’s profit-making purpose (that is, pursuit of profit) and the commerciality of a taxpayer’s activity. However, gambling is always undertaken in pursuit of profit. This was addressed in Balanko v. M.N.R. , [1981] CTC 2977, 81 DTC 887, where the court stated that gambling with a view to profit is an intention, “shared by all who gamble, and the presence of the intention to win or make money in gambling, which is there in all who gamble, does not lead to a conclusion that all who gamble, or even all those who gamble frequently, are carrying on a business.”

1.13 Usually the frequency and systematic nature of an activity would be indicative of a business. In addition to the definition of business in subsection 248(1) of the Act, the traditional common law definition of business is “anything which occupies the time and attention and labour of a man for the purpose of profit”, see Smith v. Anderson, (1880) 15 Ch. D. 247. More recently, the Tax Court of Canada went on to state that:

Such a definition would usually be unexceptionable when one is talking about a commercial activity. If applied literally and mechanically it would include the activities of a person who consistently and regularly placed bets on horses, or played the lotteries or the gaming tables. It would mean that the gambling activities in every case that I have cited would be a business, yet we know that this is not so. Gambling - even regular, frequent and systematic gambling - is something that by its nature is not generally regarded as a commercial activity except under very exceptional circumstances. Leblanc v. The Queen , 2006 TCC 680, 2007 DTC 307.

1.14 There are some exceptional cases, which are noted in Leblanc, where gambling activities have been held to be taxable. However, these cases relate to taxpayers who applied inside information, knowledge and skill to their activities. For example, in Luprypa v. The Queen , [1997] 3 CTC 2363, 97 DTC 1416, a pool player who in cold sobriety would challenge inebriated pool players to a game of pool was held to be taxable on his winnings.

1.15 The issue of whether a taxpayer’s activities are such that he or she can be considered to be carrying on a gambling business is a question of fact that can be determined only by an examination of all of the circumstances and the taxpayer’s entire course of conduct. Although no single factor may be conclusive, the following criteria should be considered in making the determination:

the degree of organization that is present in the pursuit of this activity by the taxpayer,
the existence of special knowledge or inside information that enables the taxpayer to reduce the element of chance,
the taxpayer’s intention to gamble for pleasure as compared with any intention to gamble for profit as a means of gaining a livelihood, and
the extent of the taxpayer’s gambling activities, including the number and frequency of bets.

https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/tax/technical-information/income-tax/income-tax-folios-index/series-3-property-investments-savings-plans/series-3-property-investments-savings-plans-folio-9-miscellaneous-payments-receipts/income-tax-folio-s3-f9-c1-lottery-winnings-miscellaneous-receipts-income-losses-crime.html

[lonnie55]

Interesting read, thanks. Especially the part about that pool player

If anyone else knows laws, court rulings, tax rulings etc. from his country please feel free to share.

[yiyang]

Italy 0% TAX

All winnings coming from bookmakers with italian AAMS license are TAX FREE (even if it represents the primary source of income) but everytime you bet, you can’t win more than €10’000 per match.

Also in Italy is illegal to bet on bookmakers without that license (Pinnacle, Sbobet,..) and the offenders can risk arrest up to 3 months and a fine up to €516 (n. 401 del 1989). Even if this law is still present, everyone i know still uses unlicensed sites without problems.

From 2017, all winnings over €500 coming from Scratch Cards are taxed at 12% while the lottery at 8%.

@caramba yep, we have our own Betfair exchange market and the liquidity is very poor.

[flobot]

Interesting read, thanks. Especially the part about that pool player

If anyone else knows laws, court rulings, tax rulings etc. from his country please feel free to share.

Hi Lonnie, regarding taxes, have you ever consulted an accountant or attorney to make sure you aren't going to be contacted by tax regularities some day and can do with your bet winnings whatever you want? I withdraw 4 digits every other week to my bank account but I stay a little afraid regarding the question if everythings fine with it.