Sun, 03/20/2011 – 18:57 – PokerPages Staff

Professional poker players in the United States can now fully deduct business expenses from their taxes legitimately, even if they have recorded an overall loss.

An article published in the Las Vegas Review Journal earlier this month has confirmed that any individual costs, such as traveling to a casino, can be written off as expenses.

Poker tax expert Ann Margaret Johnston spoke about the ruling in an interview earlier this week.

“This recent ruling is a victory for poker players for a change. This makes it where we can finally treat the expenses by pros as actual write offs even though they may not have income.”

Johnston admitted that there had been confusion in the past regarding the issue.

“No one had any clue what to do in the past. I have always taken those expenses for my clients, feeling I could defend it.”

The change in ruling was prompted by a case involving Robert Mayo that occurred a decade ago.

The Review Journal explains the details of the case which has all but legitimized gambling as a profession.

“As part of his tax return that year, Mayo listed expenses of $10,968, which included automobile expenses for travel to the racetracks and fees for handicapping information.”

“The court ruled those expenses were not a wagering loss, but business expenses that contributed to a net operating loss for the year.”

The ruling, which passed in January, only applies to poker players and gamblers who are deemed to have derived the majority of their income from gambling.