Are My Gambling Winnings Taxable In Canada? – The Cornwall

Note: I was technically supposed to post this earlier this week, but noticed that no one was signed up for today (plus I was super busy earlier), so I'm posting a bit late, under a throwaway account! Fair warning: I'm VERY verbose, so this will be long!
Section One: Assets and Debt
As I mentioned above, I make $56k per year as an administrator in higher education. My husband (K) just got a raise to making $155k per year. He works as a lawyer, has been in the workforce for about 12 years. I won't get into too many details but he works for a small boutique firm, not Biglaw. He also sometimes gets a yearly bonus of around $10k-20k but it's not guaranteed or anything like that. K and I have totally combined finances, so the below numbers are for both of us. I have a humanities PhD but I decided to leave academia and find an alt-ac job. My current position has good work-life balance (I never work past 5 pm), but pays terribly and my university is very badly run. I'm hoping to leave higher education all together in the future and am currently enrolled in a certificate program to try to make a career transition to instructional design.
The big elephant in the room is that my husband, K, makes a lot more money than me. When we first met, he was paying off massive amounts of student loans and making much less, and I was debt free with a lot of savings, so we both spent about the same amount. Now he makes 3x what I make and we are both debt-free, so the difference is much more noticeable. We do argue about money sometimes (more in the past), but the reality is that I have a humanities PhD and will likely never out earn him, and he knew that when I married him, lol. Because of all the labor I do around the house and in our lives to support him as he works a much more intense job, I was very clear that I believed we should split our finances equally as soon as we got married. We don't have separate accounts and we generally check in with one another whenever we are planning to spend more than $100. This system works for us for now.
I also want to address the question about parental or family support. Although I technically paid all of my own bills since I got my Bachelor's degree, my parents supported me a lot by paying for my flights home to visit at Christmas or in the summer as Xmas presents/birthday presents. My parents also paid for my undergraduate degree (and K's parents paid for his undergraduate degree as well). They also gave us about $15k to pay for our wedding.
Finally, my parents recently gave me $20k as an "early inheritance." They told me they plan to do this every year (depending on the stock market). We put this money into a brokerage. I don't consider my parents rich, as they both worked hourly jobs in health care my entire life (as a nurse and respiratory therapist - both with only associate's degrees). We never owned a new car, when we went on vacation we stayed in hostels , and shopped almost exclusively at Goodwill. But they scrimped and saved and now they have over $1 million in a retirement account. So I want to acknowledge my financial privilege in that I came from this kind of background. K's parents are similar.
Retirement Balance: $186k (combination of 401k, 403b, 457, 2 Roth IRAs, and taxable brokerage account).
Equity: None, we rent.
Savings account balance: Approximately $45k.
Checking account balance: Right now, around 8k.
Credit card debt: Right now, around $3k. But we pay it off each month with our checking account balance.
Student loan debt: $0. We finally paid off my husband’s law school loans (around $130k), last year. I didn’t have any student loans from undergrad (parents paid) and my MA & PhD were fully funded.
Section Two: Income
Income Progression: I’ve been working in my current field for 3 years. I started off making about $53k and got tiny 2% “merit increases” twice. Then in July my payroll title was changed, which triggered a required raise of about $2k. (I am dramatically underpaid).
Before my current position, I was in academia. I worked as a visiting assistant professor for one year at my alma mater (made $50k for 9 months of work) and before that I was a graduate student for 7 years. I was paid $18k-21k in stipends each year and my tuition & benefits were covered. Luckily, I lived in a very low cost of living area and this was enough for me to live on without going into debt. I got my PhD in 2017. Before I was a graduate student, I taught English in Japan for three years and made around $36k per year. In high school and college, I had random jobs that provided grocery/spending money, but I was lucky enough to have parents that paid my tuition and my rent in college.
I’m currently trying to make a career change (as you will see in my diary) and enrolled in a certificate program which runs from Autumn 2020 to Spring 2021 in order to help with that.
Main Job Monthly Take Home: $7,634. This probably seems low relative to our joint income, but we max out our 401k (K) and 403b (me). I work for the state government, which means I’m also eligible for something called a Deferred Compensation Plan (457b). This is basically the same as a 401k but you can withdraw contributions and gains from the account at any age without penalty (of course, you still have to pay taxes). I also max this out, and the limit is the same as a 401k/403b - $19.5k. Also this number is before K’s raise is accounted for. It won’t increase until his end of February paycheck.
Other deductions - I have health insurance taken out (about $80 a month for me, K’s firm covers his premiums) and taxes. WA has no state taxes, so it’s only federal taxes. I used to have to pay $50 / month for a bus pass (K's was free), but I don’t pay any longer because I’m working from home during COVID.
Final note - the sum I mentioned in the headline includes a variable bonus my husband gets. My base pay is $56k and his is $155k (as of February 1). This year he also got a bonus of $20k, which is set up a bit strangely. About $4k of this was structured as a 3% matching contribution to his 401k and the rest was taxable income. In small law firms, it’s unusual to get any 401k match so this was nice.
Side Gig Monthly Take Home: None.
Any Other Monthly Income Here: We get some interest from our savings account… like $25 a month.
Section Three: Expenses
Rent: Rent comes to approximately $2,050 total for a one-bedroom apartment. Rent itself is $1886, then we have pet rent ($25 per month), bicycle parking ($15 a month) and water / sewage / gas, which is usually $120-150 (variable cost).
Renters insurance: $157.76, paid annually. $13 a month.
Retirement contribution: In addition to the 401k, 403b, and 457, which all come out before taxes, we max out our Roth IRAs. That means $500 each per month per person (for a yearly total of $6k each). As I noted up top, we match out our 401k and 403b (19,500 each) and our 457. My employee also offers a 7.5% match. K's employee offers a 3% match but it is included in his yearly bonus so it's not guaranteed (confusing).
Savings contribution: We put $500 per month into our emergency fund. We also put about $860 a month into our “sinking fund,” which covers large and small annual or sporadic purchases such as vacations, gifts, Amazon Prime renewal, car insurance and renters insurance, etc.
Investment contribution: $875 per month into a taxable brokerage at Vanguard.
In total, we save about 47% of our gross income. We can do this because we keep our housing cost low relative to our high income, we don’t have any debt remaining, we don’t have any kids or parents who need financial support, and we’re very privileged in a lot of ways. We are hoping to FIRE within 10 years.
Debt payments: None.
Donations: We budget $100 per month for donations, which includes one-time donations as well as some reoccurring donations. My husband does pro bono work as well. I would like to increase this by quite a bit, but I still have a hard time budgeting for donations because I spent 7 years living on approximately $20k a year. To go from that to making more than 10x that amount within 3-4 years is obviously something that I am very privileged for, but it is still hard for me emotionally to comprehend at times.
Electric: ~$50-100 (billed every other month)
Wifi/Cable/Landline: An extortionate $87.12 for slow internet that only works for Zoom calls about half the time. Do I really live in one of the tech cities of the future?
Cellphone: $170 (This includes both service and paying off two new iPhones. We could have paid them off up front, but it was actually cheaper by like $50 to go on a payment plan.)
Subscriptions: BritBox ($7.70), Spotify ($16.50), HBOMax ($16.50), We Hate Movies Patreon (my favorite podcast - $8.81). My parents pay for Netflix and my sister pays for Hulu, and we all share.
Gym membership: None. K and I both run and do yoga with YouTube videos. Before the pandemic, we went to yoga classes pretty frequently in person. I’d like to do some online synchronous yoga classes but find it hard to make time.
Pet expenses: Varies, but I budget $50 per month and also include an emergency fund for my cat’s vet bills in our sinking fund. She’s 11 years old and probably asthmatic, so I know her vet bills are going to increase over time.
Car payment / insurance: We own our car outright. Insurance billed yearly is $2,097, about $174 per month.
Regular therapy: $0
Paid hobbies: Nothing regular, sporadic language classes and art supplies.
Other expenses: Right now I’m doing a certificate to hopefully help with a career change. The total cost for tuition is about $5k and we already saved it up (included in our 'sinking fund') basically through spending less during the pandemic. I’ve paid two quarters so far, and the last quarter (due in March) will be a bit more - about $2.3k.
__________
Day 1
Morning: I wake up at 5:30 am. Ever since the pandemic, my sleep schedule has been shot. At first, I was so happy not to have to leave the house at 7:15 for my 45 minute bus commute and I slept in a lot. But the stress (and maybe getting old?) has made me an early riser, no matter how much I try to sleep in. I do value my early mornings with just me, my cat, and my coffee, though.
I start work at 8 am and begin by triaging my emails. I have a bunch of deadlines this week, so it’s busier than usual. My job tends to be very seasonal, and sometimes I have a ton of work and sometimes I have none and can work on other longer-term projects. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and place a Whole Foods delivery order for the following day at 10:30 am. We made a meal plan and put everything in the cart the day before ($117.36, including tip).
Afternoon: I have my lunch break from noon to 1 pm. It doesn’t really matter when I take my lunch break, since I’m salaried, but the others in my office are hourly so in the before times we used to always close our office during the same time. I have a piece of leftover delivery pizza and some spinach risotto that I made a few days earlier. I also have half a brownie – the last one from a batch I made a few days ago (K gets the other half). He also has leftovers for lunch.
I should say at this point that both K and I are lucky enough to have been working almost entirely from home since early March. An area near Seattle was one of the first places to get hit by COVID-19, and my state and both of our employers have been taking it very seriously ever since. Working from home hasn’t always been easy since we live in a 600-square foot apartment. Also, there is a three-story townhouse being built directly next door to us and I can hear the pounding in my dreams at this point.
Around 2 pm, I go for a 2-mile run. I feel like some money diarists tend to toss off things like “oh, I went for an easy 7 mile run,” at the drop of a hat, so I want to be clear – running for 2 miles isn’t easy for me; it’s exhausting, annoying, sweaty, and generally gross. Also I am very slow. But it has kept me sane during quarantine.
Meanwhile, my husband goes to our local pet store to get an enzymatic cleaner (our cat peed in one of our suitcases… I think it’s probably a lost cause, but it was basically brand new, so worth a try) and special weight-loss cat food. Our cat is an 11-year-old rescue from the Humane Society and she is a chonky girl. We had to sign a waiver when we adopted her, saying that we understood that she was very overweight, lol. Our vet recommended a special diet food, rather than just restricting her intake as we have been doing, so we will give it a try ($78). My husband also stops buy our local wine store and picks up two bottles. We’ve been doing a dry January, so this will be our first drink for a while ($27.53).
I have a phone interview scheduled for 4 pm – just a preliminary interview with an internal recruiter. It’s the first ‘corporate’ job interview I’ve ever had, since I’ve been in academia my entire life. I’m trying to make a pivot into instructional design / training and development. I’m just excited to get an interview. It seems to go pretty well, but who knows. They tell me they will probably get back to me by the end of this week.
Evening: My husband whips up a random meal of fridge remnants – pesto pasta with sausage and a fridge salad with feta and bell peppers. It’s pretty tasty with a little Sauvignon Blanc. During dinner, we play a card game we call gin rummy, although it bears no resemblance to the actual game. After dinner, I make a chocolate cake with orange buttercream frosting and we watch Cobra Kai.
Daily total: $222.89
Day 2
Morning: Up early again, a piece of toast for breakfast (very exciting). We’re out of eggs until our Whole Foods order arrives. I’m working on creating some tedious but necessary spreadsheets this morning.
Noon: Our Whole Foods order arrives around noon. Excitement! They’ve given us a half-rotten bag of romaine lettuce and substituted pecans for hazelnuts. I should probably just double mask and go to Trader Joe’s myself (our regular spot, only a 5-minute walk from my apartment). I’m just getting anxious about these new variants.
I have leftover meatloaf and spinach risotto again for lunch. Lots of meetings and more organizing spreadsheets in the afternoon. Around 3 pm, I go for my daily ritual - a 20-minute walk around my neighborhood. It’s still raining slightly but I need to get out. Halfway through the walk, I get an email from my apartment manager telling me the apartment will no longer accept debit card payments, direct deposit, or credit card payments for paying rent. In other words, only checks or money orders (?!). Ugh. Our lease is up in 4 months and we will not be renewing our lease. Our last apartment manager was a gambling addict who may have been stealing people’s identities, but by God, he kept things working. Ever since they fired him, this place has been going downhill.
Evening: I check my bank statements to update my budget spreadsheet and realize that I have been billed the wrong amount of rent. They actually charged me less than they should have. I don’t trust my apartment manager not to start charging me a late fee or something for this, so I call them up. They are baffled by how to fix this, which you would think would be the one thing you would want to get right, if you’re renting out apartments.
K cooks dinner – steak with a Roquefort sauce and glazed brussels sprouts. It’s from a French cookbook we recently bought and it is delicious. I work on classwork for my certificate program while he cooks. After dinner, I do the dishes and buy the 13th season of RuPaul’s Drag Race. I watch the first episode – lots of shocking twists and turns! I’m planning to watch the rest of the episodes together with my younger sister, M ($22.01).
Daily total: $22.01
Day 3
Morning: K has an 8 am dentist appointment, so he takes off early. He already paid for the work last month, so there’s no charge. I have a piece of toast for breakfast and get to work checking my emails. It’s 8:20 am and the construction crew building a townhouse next door is blasting mariachi music. I’m glad someone is having fun. At least the sun is coming out.
Someone at work has made a critical error, but it wasn’t me, thank God. I was the one who found out about it, but it’s still going to cause a big old headache for me. I’m ready to be done with this job. K and I go for a run so that I can exhaust myself enough to no longer be furious about said careless error.
Noon: I have leftover spinach risotto and meatloaf again – exciting. I’m busy at work but frankly, not a lot going on other than that. Still no word about fixing my rent payments. I’m not really willing to pursue this any further at this point.
Evening: I start making chili (Turkey Chili from the NY Times) and cornbread (from my new cookbook, Jubilee). K is doing some work on our investments when he announces that, somehow, a transfer was scheduled from our checking account to our savings account of $55k (?!) We obviously don’t have $55k in our checking account, so we start frantically trying to figure out what’s going on. Numerous phone calls later, we still don’t know if that was a hack, if my husband somehow mistakenly scheduled the transfer himself, or if the bank messed it up. Either way, it doesn’t seem like any harm was done since the bank with our checking account just declined the transaction. But it seems really strange and worrisome. We get to work changing the passwords on all of our accounts, just in case it was some kind of hack.
After dinner (and chocolate cake), I have a Zoom happy hour with a local friend. We occasionally see each other outside but it’s nice to have a longer chat from the comfort of our living rooms. We both love murder mysteries, so we signed up for a service where a company sends us letters with clues and we try to solve the mystery together. It’s a fun way to stay connected and look forward to something during the pandemic. The service costs about $15 per month, but I paid for it in lump sum for 3 months, so it’s not included in my budget above. I drink some wine and we vent about work (we work at the same place) before getting started on the puzzle.
Daily total: $0
Day 4
Morning: I sleep in a bit, which is nice. Get up around 7 am. My parents are both getting their 2nd vaccine today – they’re both in their 70s and I am so relieved. I send my mom a “congratulations on being vaccinated!” text and we chat for a bit. I have leftover cornbread with honey and butter for breakfast – soooo good.
Work is not particularly exciting today, but someone sends me a last-minute request for something that does not need to be so urgent. I feel annoyed. Still no word from the interviewers on Monday, and I’m beginning to suspect I wasn’t selected to move forward. Too bad. K pays for a Wordpress website for the year (it’s a work-related website, but sadly his work doesn’t reimburse him). It costs $92.48.
Noon: The mariachi music is particularly loud today. I stand out on my balcony in the sun for a while and watch the workers. It’s been interesting seeing a house go up next door in real time, especially since I’m at home all the time. The workers are balancing on the top of the third story wall without, as far as I can see, anything like a safety line. It seems unsafe, but I presume they know what they’re doing.
We booked a cabin for the upcoming weekend in the Hood Canal region of Washington to do some hiking and birdwatching. I want to be as safe as possible and not go to any grocery stores or risk spreading COVID in any way while I’m there, so I place another grocery order with Whole Foods just for some special treats for the weekend. The cabin has a small kitchen and a grill, so we’re planning to make a fancy steak salad on Saturday. I order chips and hummus, some fancy cheese and meats, Tate’s cookies (I’ve heard a lot of good things about these), a baguette, and the ingredients for the steak salad. I also order a few staples I forgot in our last order, like sweet potatoes, more coffee, and half and half. It comes to $87.41, including tip, but that does include like $30 worth of steak. For some reason, I can’t order a small amount of steak online, so I’m planning to freeze half of it for later. (I include this purchase in our vacation fund budget, rather than under our regular grocery budget).
Around 2 pm, K makes a quick trip to our local wine store to buy an Oregon pinot noir and some port to enjoy at the cabin ($59.45). This store has an outdoor walk-up counter where you can tell the owner what you’re looking for, and he brings you some options (the store is way too small to allow customers to enter during Covid). It’s fun to chat with another human being, even briefly.
Evening: After work, we spend a little time rebalancing our investing and retirement accounts. We decide to put more money into bonds and a little bit into REIT’s as a hedge against a potential crash or recession in the future. Then I start making dinner – Broken Eggs (Huevas Rotas) from the NY Times cooking site. You basically cook the potatoes in a skillet in water, spices, and olive oil, and then sauté them to crisp them up once the water evaporates. Then you add onion, lots of garlic, and finally some eggs. It is delicious. I eat it with leftover cornbread while watching RuPaul’s Drag Race season 13 with my sister – we watch the first two episodes. It’s full of twists and turns. A note about this – we have an elaborate procedure for watching shows together developed during quarantine whereby we start the show at the same with an earbud in one ear, while FaceTiming. I also have chocolate cake, of course.
Later, I get an email that I’ve signed up for HBO on Amazon Prime. I definitely have not. I text my mom, who shares my account, and she tells me she signed up by mistake. I cancel right away and luckily they won’t charge us for it.
Meanwhile, K is doing an online Japanese language class over Zoom. He’s been interested in learning ever since we went to Japan last January. I lived in Japan for 3 years so I was able to take us around to a lot of more obscure places and he really enjoyed the trip – it was a blast.
K starts a YouTube yoga class (from Do Yoga With Me – my favorite channel) and I join him for part of it before bed around 10 pm.
Daily total: $239.34
Day 5
Morning: I get up around 7 am and we go for a run first thing. I prefer running early in the morning because there are fewer people to avoid during COVID. We do a different route today – it’s longer (3 miles) but has fewer hills. It’s a slog, as always, but I feel good when I get back right around 8 am. I jump straight onto my computer to start checking work emails and my husband makes us avocado and egg toast for breakfast - it is absolutely delicious.
We talk about how our bathroom smells distinctly mildewy (yay for being a grown-up because I guess this is what we talk about now) and we buy two big buckets of DampRid on Amazon ($26.60). I’ve found this to be a necessity in Seattle. Mid-morning, I take a break from work and start packing for our trip to the cabin.
Noon: I have leftover potatoes and cornbread for lunch, and my husband has the leftover chili. We finish getting ready to leave and head out right after lunch, taking a half day. The only problem is that I have attend a meeting at 3:30 pm, so we head out hoping to get there in time. Our cabin is near Quilcene in the Hood Canal region of Washington, about a 2 hour drive or a 2 hour ferry ride + drive. We are initially planning to take the ferry both ways, but realize that we mistimed the ferry departure, so we drive the whole way instead. Luckily, there’s little traffic mid-day, and we arrive at our Airbnb around 3:00 pm.
The Airbnb is beautiful! It’s a small cabin handmade by the owner, whose house is next door. It’s very rural, with a beautiful view. It’s tiny, but has a little kitchen and a waterfall-style shower with river rocks on the floor. It’s a great place to get away for a short time. Luckily, it also has good reception and I’m able to sit in on my meeting with no problems. My husband also does a little work, and then at 5 pm we’re free!
In our planning, we decided to get takeout on Friday night, since the little kitchen isn’t designed for any serious cooking. We call ahead to a local restaurant to order burgers (one of only 2 restaurants in the whole town). It’s around 5:30 pm and the place is deserted. It’s a microbrewery, but they tell us they haven’t been making beer since COVID-19 hit. None of the workers are wearing masks when I walk in, but they put them on when they see I’m wearing one. I pick up our order - a few bottled beers and burgers and fries ($49.52 including tip).
Back at our Airbnb, we watch Big Trouble in Little China and enjoy our very messy, but delicious, burgers (it costs $4.39 to rent). The movie is very campy but fun. I love silly action movies, as you will see with my other viewing choices. We wrap up the night in a very exciting fashion, eating chocolate cake and watching old episodes of the original Star Trek.
Daily total: $80.51
Day 6
Morning & noon: When we wake up around 8 am, the weather is looking thankfully clear and even sunny! We were expecting rain, so we’re really glad. We decide to go hiking today, and we head out before even having breakfast, with snacks and lunches packed. Our first destination is a hike called Mt. Zion, but unfortunately, we run into enough snow 2 miles before the trailhead that we decide to turn back. We don’t have any traction for our Subaru and don’t want to risk getting stuck on a very narrow mountain road. Instead, we drive another hour or so to the Lena Lake trailhead, a very popular and less strenuous trail. It’s about 7.5 miles roundtrip with 1200 feet of elevation gain.
By this time, it’s around 11:30, but luckily there is still parking. It’s a great hike up, and we run into relatively few people. We always mask up whenever we pass anyone, as does about 50% of the people we meet. The others… not so much. Around a mile from the lake, we start to run into snow. It’s turned into a beautiful sunny day, and I’m loving seeing all this snow! It’s a bit slippery, but not too bad. We make it to the lake mid-day, and it’s super jammed – there’s only a small viewpoint accessible, so everyone is crowded in there. I feel a bit uneasy with all the unmasked people, but we manage to find a spot away from the crowd and sit down to eat our lunch of apples, chips, and energy bars. There are a ton of robber jays there (Canada Jays) which try to eat our chips. It is fun watching them, but I’m annoyed to see some kids feeding them – it’ll just make them that much more aggressive. Bad trail manners.
On our way back down, we get stuck behind a group of 5 unmasked adults, who refuse to cede the narrow trail to faster hikers. I’m a slow hiker myself, so, to be clear, I’m not angry at slower walkers being on the trail but have some self-awareness and let people pass! especially if you’re going to go hiking in a big group during a pandemic! We finally get back down and head back to our Airbnb.
Evening: Back home, we explore some of the trails our Airbnb host has set up around his extensive property, and then relax on the deck. The sun is breaking through the clouds and it feels wonderful to sit out in nature and feel the sun on my back. We open up a bottle of wine and have a few pre-dinner snacks (more chips and hummus). For this night, we brought ingredients to make a steak salad. Our Airbnb host has kindly set up a charcoal grill for us, so we grilled the steak and toast some bread on the side.
We eat dinner while watching the truly terrible Jean Claude Van Damme movie Bloodsport and finish up the very last of my chocolate cake. It’s amazing that anyone ever let Van Damme act… or should I say ‘act.’ I also have a Tate’s chocolate chip cookie or two, accompanied by a little port. My husband and I are truly very old people at heart, so we finish up the night watching a few episodes of Columbo.
Daily total: $0
Day 7
Morning: Unfortunately, K had insomnia last night, so he sleeps in pretty late. I drink coffee in bed and enjoy looking at the view out our big windows. Once he’s up, we get packed up and write a thank you note for our host. It was a great stay.
One of my big hobbies is birding and K enjoys wildlife photography, so we go out to look for some lifers! (The first time you see a new species of bird). Did I mention we are very old people in (relatively) young bodies? We first go to Dosewallips State Park and see some bald eagles, great blue herons, lots of various ducks, and a flock of Canada Geese, which, strangely, includes a domesticated gray goose. He’s much larger than the Canada Geese and seems to be watching over them. It’s kind of cute. Unfortunately, a lot of the birds are too far from shore to be seen clearly.
Our next stop is Point No Point (I love all the sad & disappointed names that early Westerner explorers gave places in the Washington/Oregon coast), a popular birding spot. We see a ton of birds here, and I can understand why it’s so well-known - Red-Breasted Mergansers, Western Grebes, Common Goldeneyes, Pacific Loons, and a few others I can’t identify yet. Most excitingly though, we see a whole pile of otters! They’re lounging around together on a rock just offshore and a ton of people are watching. We watch as they all slip off the rock and go hunting in the shore. It’s my first otter sighting in the wild, and it’s so cool! We also see some seals and possibly a sea lion. It’s a great spot for wildlife. We eat some snacks (hummus, chips, some sliced meat & cheese) before we head out.
I really want to come back to this area another time and explore further, but K has decided that we need to get back home in time for the Big Game. We take the 3:00 pm ferry back to Seattle ($16.40) and get home around 3:45 pm. I veg out at home while my husband watches football. He’s a Patriots fan but he still loves Tom Brady (??) so he’s happy to see Florida win. I don’t understand sports team loyalties at all, but whatever, I’m glad he’s happy. We order from a new Indian place called Spice Box and get vindaloo, roganjosh, and vegetables pakora – so tasty ($53.96). Happily, there’s enough left over for lunch the next day, since I have no plans for what we will eat yet!
I’m really dreading work the next day, as I know that it will be obnoxious. I want to get out of my job so badly, but it doesn’t look like I’m going on to the next interview stage for the job I interviewed no back on Monday. I’m feeling kind of down about it. I try to stay positive and promise that I’ll apply for at least 2-3 new jobs next week. I bake up some frozen cookie dough I had in the freezer and feel sorry for myself. We end the night by watching another episode of Columbo.
Daily total: 70.36
Food + Drink: $395.23
Fun / Entertainment: $26.40
Home + Health: $26.60
Clothes + Beauty: $0
Transport: $16.40
Other: $170.48
Grand Total: $635.11
I think this week was pretty normal for us. Obviously we spent a bit more than usual due to the weekend cabin trip, but nothing outrageous. Our largest consumer spending category is definitely food and drink – we live in a very busy area of Seattle with tons of restaurants and bars so believe it or not, we actually used to spend even more on eating out. We still try to support our local places by getting takeout or delivery during the pandemic and even occasionally getting a few drinks outside. I spent more than usual on groceries due to stocking up for the weekend away.

Okay so in canada from what I understand gambling wins are not taxable?
So if I win the lottery or go to a casino and win some money I don't get taxed.
but in the us gambling wins are taxable?
lets say i go to a casino and get some chips and win? Do I have to get chips with an id card and other identification? how in the world would the government know i was gambling and won?
does paper work have to be filled out at the casino verifying who i am and then the casino sends in to the government how much i won?
very confused on how this all works

Hi.
Just want to start and say I've already looked in the stickied crypto wiki and did not find my answer(https://www.reddit.com/PersonalFinanceCanada/wiki/cryptocurrencyandtaxes?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf).
This is my situation/question in a nutshell.
Let's assume I bought 5 BTC when they were $10,000 CAD for simplicity's sake. This cost me $50,000.
I moved this BTC to a crypto gambling site.
I gambled with them on this site. I bet 1BTC, lost the bet. I did this three more times and am now left with 1BTC.
I gamble this last 1BTC and turn it into 20BTC out of sheer luck. I move these 20BTC off of the gambling site. Let's assume you then sold them and the price had moved to $11,000 in that time.
Gambling winnings, so long as they're not your primary source of income, are not taxable in Canada.
How does it work when crypto is what you're gambling?
I see a few weird situations, but none of them make total sense:
You bought 5BTC at $10,000 each for $50,000 total. You sold 20 at $11,000 each for $220,000 total.

1. Your 5BTC realised $5,000 total capital gains. Your other 15 BTC you won when they were worth $10,000. Since they gained value of $1,000 each since you attained them, even though the crypto winnings themselves aren't taxable, you realised $15,000 taxable. All in all you pay tax on a $20,000 gain and the rest is yours.
   
2. You lost 4BTC. You now have a theoretical loss of $40,000. You win 19BTC. You sell similarly to above. You pay tax on $19,000 for the $1,000 value increase since you won the coins. You... claim a loss of $39,000 for the rest? You claim a gain of $1,000 instead of the $39,000 loss?
   
3. Gambling winning and loss exemption doesn't count for crypto. You straight up have a gain of $170,000 and need to claim it.
   

Other possibilities?
I'm so confused about this situation.
Help? :)

We all love to read stories about big wins and imagine ourselves in the shoes of those winners. But, have you ever thought about what happens at that very moment after successfully beating the slot machine? Usually, the slot machine locks up and, in most cases, you hear the music and see the flashing lights on top of the machine. But one of the first questions every player asks is whether they have to pay taxes on casino winnings? Well, you’re about to find out!

Taxes on Slot Machine Winnings in USA

In the USA, when a lucky player hits a jackpot, there’s the option of receiving the winnings in cash or check. In case it’s a large sum, it’s usually paid by check. However, the IRS only obliges the casinos to report winnings that are larger than $1,200.
Of course, all winners are obliged to show a proper identification— a valid ID or passport. When the casino checks for your identification they also look at your age to make sure you are officially and legally old enough to play. As the minimum legal age for gambling varies from state to state, be sure to check it out before you decide to play.

Do I Have to Report All Winnings?

All gambling winnings received from slot machines are subject to federal taxes, and both cash and non-cash winnings (like a car or a vacation) are fully taxable. Apart from slot machines, the same applies to winnings from lottery, bingo, keno, poker or other games of chance. So, if the amount won on a slot machine is higher than $1200, the casino is required to report it. In other words, all your gambling winnings have to be reported on your tax return as "other income" on Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 8.

Slot Machine Winnings in W-2G Form

In case it happens to you and you snag that big win (which we hope one day you will), it’s useful to know that casino or other payer must give you a W-2G Form, listing your name, address and Social Security number. So, if the winnings are reported through a W-2G Form, federal taxes will be withheld at a rate of 25%.
If, however, you didn’t provide your Social Security number (or your Tax Identification Number), in that case the withholding will be 28%. Either way, a copy of your Form W-2G should be issued, showing the amount you won alongside the amount of tax withheld. One copy needs to go to the IRS, as well.
Aside from slot winnings, Form W-2G is issued to winners of the following types of gambling activities like:

• bingo (for players who win $1,200 or more),
• keno (for at least $1,500 worth wins)
• poker tournament players (for the $5,000 win or more).
• a horse track (if the winnings are 300x your bet)

However, not all gambling winnings are subject to IRS Form W2-G. For instance, W2-G forms are not required for winnings from table games like blackjack, baccarat, and roulette, whatever the amount. You’d still have to report your winnings to the IRS, it’s just you won’t need to do it through W-2G Form.

Are My Slot Losses Deductible?

The good news is that you can deduct your slot losses (line 28 of Schedule A, Form 1040), while the bad news is gambling losses are deductible only up to the amount of your wins. In other words, you can use your losses to compensate for your winnings. So, let’s say you won $200 on one bet, but you lost $400 on one or a few others, you can only deduct the first $200 of losses. Meaning if you didn’t win anything for a year, you won’t be able to deduct any of your gambling losses.
In order to prove your losses, you need to keep good records and have suitable documents. So, whenever you lose, keep those losing tickets, cancelled checks and credit slips. Your documentation must include the amount you won or lost, a date and time, type of wager, type of your gambling activity, name of each casino/address of each casino you visited and the location of their gambling business. You may as well list the people who were with you.

Do State and Local Taxes Apply Separately?

Yes, you are required to pay your state or local taxes on your gambling winnings. In case you travel to another state, and snag some huge winning combo there, that other state would want to tax your winnings too. But don’t worry, you won't be taxed twice, as the state where you reside needs to give you a tax credit for the taxes you pay to that other state.
Keep in mind though that some states like Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Ohio don't allow gambling losses.

Online Slot Taxes

Whether you usually spin the reels of your favourite casino games in land-based casinos in the US, overseas casinos, or online casinos, all income for the citizens of the US is taxable. As a US citizen, you are required to send Form W2G for all winnings from a slot machine (not reduced by the wager) that equals to or is more than $1,200.

Taxes on Slot Machine Winnings in UK

As a resident of the United Kingdom, your gambling winnings won’t be taxed. Unlike the USA mentioned above, you’ll be allowed to keep whatever it is that you have won and earned in Britain, even in case you are a poker pro. Then again, you won’t be able to deduct any losses you might collect.
It doesn’t really matter if you win £5 or £5 million playing online slots, your winnings will be tax-free as long as you reside anywhere in the UK, be that in England, Wales, Northern Ireland or Scotland.

Taxes on Slot Machine Winnings in Canada

If you are a recreational player who lives in Canada, we have good news for you. When it comes to gambling, you don't have to pay taxes as your winnings are totally tax free. According to laws in Canada, gambling activities don’t fall under the category of constant source of income, therefore your winnings will not be taxed.
Canadians don't even pay taxes on their lottery winnings. The only exception here are professional gamblers who make a living from betting and are, therefore, obliged to pay taxes. Keep in mind though, this is the current situation - laws in Canada change frequently, which may also include tax laws.

Taxes on Slot Machine Winnings in Australia

In case you reside in Australia and like to visit casinos from time to time, you’ll be happy to find out that your winnings in Australia will not taxed and here are 3 core reasons for that:

• Gambling is not treated a profession (it's treated as a hobby)
• The government doesn’t see profits from gambling activities as income, but as a result of good luck
• The Australian government taxes casino operators and lottery organisers instead.

Of course, taxation varies from state to state.

Taxes on Slot Machine Winnings in New Zealand

Unlike in Australia, where even professional players can claim they are recreational, in New Zealand slot machine winnings (and any other winnings from casino games) are considered taxable income, in case the player has little income from other resources.
But, apart from professional gambling, it is very unusual for winnings to be taxed in New Zealand. Most often, gambling is considered recreational and not income, so players can enjoy their gameplay as they do not have to pay taxes on their winnings.

Here’s my background:
-male, 34 years old living in Canada since 2014 and PR since 2017-18
-born and brought up in Philippines
-while doing my bachelors in my home country, I used to play a lot of online pokeblackjack and won in the neighbourhood of high 5 figures (USD) but wasn’t sure if I could withdraw it there without problems because of gambling being a grey area
-moved to Canada in 2014 to do my masters that I finished in 2015
-also managed to withdraw above money to my Canadian bank accounts in small increments during this period
During my masters, I started playing live at casinos here and really fell in love with the lifestyle and the freedom to visit my home country every year for a few months to look after my ailing mother, to the extent I never bothered finding a 9 to 5 after getting my 3 year work permit (2015-2018).
However, I did work part-time for around 6 months in 2017 and got my PR in 2018. I also worked part time for around 5-6 months in 2019. With salary around $6-8k each in both years.
I also played a lot of poker and blackjack at the casino during all these years during which I made:
2015-$8k
2016-$5k
2017-$35k
2018-$49k
2019-$35k
I started filing my taxes around 2018, and consulted with a few tax professionals, all of whom suggested that the above qualifies as casual gambling income (not conducted as a business), and to report only my part-time job income as per T4 slips. They did mention that it is a very grey area whether the activity is taken for the pursuit of profit or not and hence taxable or not, but the CRA would consider the amounts too small and the topic too controversial to litigate as taxing gambling profits could mean allowing gambling deductions for everyone. And at worst, I could be asked to pay taxes on these winnings in the future. Besides, I live a very basic life (no cahouse) and my only expenses are rent ($1k) and groceries. I also intend to find another job once COVID ends.
Over these years, I’ve never bothered to invest my money (that has been lying in a zero interest savings account) which I’ve realized has been a big mistake since I’ve seen my bank balance stay stagnant or trickle down. However, I still do have the high 5 figures (thanks to the money I won prior to moving to Canada) that I wish to start investing now, using something like Wealthsimple.
I came across something called TFSA and was advised to start with that (since my total contribution room accumulated over the years would be almost $50k) but since that is an account registered with the CRA, I’m not sure if it would be prudent to put a large sum of money into that?
Can the CRA come up to me and ask where I got the 50k from since it doesn’t reflect in my tax returns? I don’t have a problem even if that happened, but just curious if they indeed monitor TFSAs and match it with your income or not.
If so, should I consider investing in non-TFSA related funds?
Thank you for the suggestions in advance.

So I was gambling online using bitcoin and won a few thousand dollars.
I deposited CAD and converted to BTC numerous times, but at the end I came out on top. My issue is that how I arrived at my winnings is complicated. Let’s say I basically deposited $500 converted to BTC, lost it all, and then deposited another $500 converted to BTC and with this money (BTC) I won a few thousand dollars in BTC. I have yet to sell the BTC.
From my understanding, online gambling is not taxed in Canada, but since I gambled with my bitcoin, does this become a taxable event?
Could I justify to the CRA that I did not use bitcoin as an investment, but simply as a vehicle to gamble?
Would it wise to just call CRA / TAX accountant to discuss in detail?

So I know that "winnings" are taxable but not so in Canada. Let's pretend Jeopardy! was taped and carried out in Canada. If you were Ken or James and had longstanding Jeopardy! runs... could the Government of Canada eventually start charging you income tax?
(For those that don't know, Canada treats gambling/lottery/surprise winnings as just that, winnings, not income. The US treats winnings differently which doesn't apply to this question so much but hypothetically speaking....)

Niagara Falls has changed things up since I was last there. There are 2 casinos, Fallsview and Casino Niagara, and they used to each have a poker room. Niagara had 1/2, 2/5 and probably on up, I don't know because I am a low-stakes player. Fallsview had went up from 2/5.
Fallsview no longer offers Poker, only Casino Niagara. They have moved their tables to a newly constructed room. The old room was in the lower level, but open to the rest of the casino, where the bings and bongs of the slots were part of the soundtrack. The new room is off to the back, has 26 nice, new tables, comfy chairs, and is walled off from the bustle of the casino floor. Limit runs 3/6 to 50/100, and NLHE is 1/3 to 50/100. There are also some Omaha, I think.
Buy-in is maxed at 100BB.
One big difference is that they have disposed of the rake. Instead, every 30 minutes there is a dealer swap, and everyone throws in a $6 "seating charge". So it's $12/hr to play a rakeless table. There is a pull for the BBJ.
Speaking of the BBJ, it's 50/25/25, and according to the rules, a full house of Aces over Queens or better, must be beat by a higher full house, Quads, or Straight Flush. Both hole cards must play. Right now it's running at a shade over 100K CDN. Keep in mind that in Canada, gambling winnings are not taxable.
As far as play is concerned, there was lots of action, but none of it went my way. The players seemed to know their stuff, and were nowhere near as loose as I had hoped. There were some 100-200BB pots, but I wasn't in 'em. I think Niagara might not be as loose as some other places, as there are something like 7 million people in the Greater Toronto area, and this is the only casino within the 2 hour drive. As well, there were some out-of-towners, one from Texas and one from London at the table.
Shitty variance day. Had an OESD + 4 to the flush coolered at the river. One hand I had AQo, flop A84, turn A, called the guy all-in, and the motherfucker flips over pocket 8's. One hand I had the nut flush, bet 10BB into a 5BB pot and got ONE caller. Oooooo, a whole $42 payout for the nuts. It was just not my night. Stupid shit like folding 46 pre and seeing a 664 flop. Lady Luck was spitting in my eye at times. Eventually I busted out and headed home.
That's poker. I wasn't bringing money I couldn't afford to lose, I enjoyed my time there, the table was pretty sociable, and I had a good time. I actually had more money in my budget for the night, but the way things were running for me, I decided not to rebuy. Knowing when to pull the plug is a skill I am still learning. I've gone from "Where's the fucking ATM?" to "That's poker. Have a good night, gents."
Have a good night, gents.
EDIT: Sorry, there are other casinos within 2 hours of Toronto. There's Rama, with 10 tables, Brantford with 14, and Blue Heron with 7, but those numbers might not be accurate.
EDIT 2: If you are thinking of visiting, competition for the tourist dollar is substantial, and the off-season is coming up. Shop around, there are some really nice hotels, suites overlooking the Falls, that can be had in the $100 range mid-week, maybe a little more on the weekends.

So.. we in Canada have capital gains tax, obviously. Ok, that's fine.
How do you report coins you've won through gambling?
In Canada, gambling winnings aren't taxable...
If for example:
I had five LTC. I gamble 4 LTC and lose them. I gamble my last LTC and leave the casino with 25 LTC.
How are you supposed to report that? Are you?
This is going to get complicated.

Hey everyone,
Temporary account for obvious reasons. I've got a pretty unique situation that I need some help on.
I am a dual citizen of USA and Canada. I was born in the states and moved when I was 3 years old. I've lived in Canada ever since (currently 23 years old).
I've recently been playing a lot of those trivia apps on my phone (HQ, Beat The Q, QuizBiz) and well, I've won fairly consistently with a few large prizes in the mix. In a few months I've made just over $5,000 CAD (paid out in USD, converted in PayPal to CAD).
Those apps pay out through PayPal, and most of them are located in Hong Kong (non-US). Here's where my tax question comes into play.
As far as I know, prize winnings in Canada aren't taxable. However being a dual citizen, the rules in the states are a bit different. Now to clarify, this isn't gambling... If you've never played any of these apps before, it's essentially 12 questions of trivia, and if you get all 12 right, you split the cash prize with everyone else who also got them right. No cost to play what so ever.
Firstly, would this fall under the 'prizes and awards' category that seems to be un-taxable, having lived in Canada for over 330 days consecutively, or would I owe taxes on these prize winnings to the states being a dual citizen? I have yet to file US taxes and plan to do so starting next year to make sure I'm compliant (only finding out that I need to do this as of recently).
Here's part two of this question. PayPal. After a lot of reading, PayPal only reports earnings to the states if you make both over $20,000 USD and have over 200 transactions per year. If you're under that (which I am, and plan to be), they don't send any info to the states. Recently, PayPal sent me an email looking to collect tax information from me just to have on record for if I cross that mark. There's two options. One of them saying 'I'm not a US citizen and am not eligible for US taxation', and the other being 'I am a US citizen', where I then need to provide my SSN number. All my info in PayPal is Canadian.
Obviously the correct choice is saying 'I am a US citizen', finding my SSN number and putting it in. I'm more so wondering if anyone has clicked the 'I am not a US citizen and am not eligible for US taxation' box instead, and what the process thereafter is. It seems like if you click that box, the notification will go away and they'll leave you alone.
To clarify - I don't want to avoid taxes. If I need to pay them, I will. I'd just rather be seen as a Canadian by PayPal and file them myself when I do my other taxes, instead of PayPal automatically generating them and linking them to my SSN. There's a lot of family and friend transactions in my PayPal as well, transferring around money for buying friends food and stuff that wouldn't be taxable. In the end it's a personal PayPal account, not a business account, and an auto-generated report of 'earnings' doesn't let me specify that this isn't income from a job.
I know that was a lot of questions, but any and all advice is appreciated! I need to select an option in PayPal in the coming days or else they'll start putting limits on my account, and being such a unique scenario, don't really know who to ask. Thanks in advance!
TL;DR - Made a decent amount of money from trivia winnings, still making money from it as well. Dual citizen wondering if I need to pay tax to the states on those winnings, and if PayPal needs to view me as a US citizen or not.

Hey guys! I'm an 18 year old 3rd year university student and I won the jacpot ($4000) off a slot machine last night. My financial situation right now is fairly stable with no studen loans and no car payments with an income of roughly $800 every 2 weeks (for the summer) and $300 every 2 weeks during the school year. Right now I have a savings account I set up back in January where $50 (from my checkings account) goes into in every 2 weeks, currently it's at $1000 and I don't take money out of it. I have just recently made some major repairs to my car that came out to be around $850 and it went all on my credit card. Every month I pay around $200 for car insurance, $40 for my phone bill and around $80-100 in gas, this all comes out of my checkings account. In total I am due to pay around $1250 on my credit card by August 5 (because of the car + other uses), and my checkings account is around $380 (this is what I use for spending money as well). I know I should pay off my credit card right away with the winnings but how much should I throw into my savings acccount and how much into my checkings, or is there any other smart thing to do with it? Thanks ahead of time!
EDIT: I am from Canada which means the gambling was legal where I played and this is not taxable income

The 9-9-9 plan is one of the most idiotic proposals ever written. I’m just going to pull quotes directly from Herb Cain’s own site:
http://www.hermancain.com/999plan
I’ll even go line by line.
• “The natural state of our economy is prosperity. Freedom ensures that.”
I guess you can think that. I’m sure the ancient Romans thought something along the same lines.
• “In order to return to prosperity, Government must get off our backs, out of our pockets and out of our way.”
A fair and open market requires regulation to ensure that barriers stay low and competition is fair and benefits the consumers, remember “We the people”, they consume.
Having no regulation does not spur competition, it simply allows the dirtiest player to take the whole market.
Taxation, like it or not, pays for society. And since business income tax is only paid on profits, it does not hamper growth. It can actually encourage growth, since it becomes more beneficial to grow his business to achieve an increase in personal wealth, as opposed to just pulling dividends out.
• Production drives the economy, not spending. Production is the engine, consumption is the caboose.
This is a complete fabrication. Demand is what drives an economy. Business’s do not build factories if they don’t have a viable market to sell their goods.
• We can not spend our way to prosperity.
Nobody is asking you to. What America does have is a high risk of depression, which does need a influx of cash to jumpstart the economy.
• Government spending is like taking a bucket of water from the deep end of the pool, pouring it in the shallow end. Then they HOPE that the water level will CHANGE.
No it is not. Government spending usually has a multiplier effect that is not seen through lower taxation. The highest cost to government spending is directly to people, either benefits or employment, this spending is almost always re-invested into the community.
• Risk taking drives growth .
Sort of, sure why not.
The question is really what is acceptable risk. I think for the most part, people aren’t happy with the risks corporations and banks are taking. The banks gambled with other peoples money and lost, resulting in the bailout (it should be noted Canada had regulations in place that prevented high risk trading by the commercial banks, and no bank bailout). Corporations not only take risks that put consumers in jeopardy, they also cost society money when they go into bankruptcy.
• Business formation and job creation are dependent on entrepreneurs taking risks.
True, and that’s why there are rewards. Again we want more acceptable risks and demand is still the main factor in driving jobs.
• Investors who fund those entrepreneurs likewise take risks.
Yes. And again they are rewarded.
• Measurements must be dependable.
I thought this guy was fighting against regulations. Oh wait, maybe he’s going somewhere else with this.
• A dollar must always be a dollar just as an hour is always 60 minutes. Sound money is crucial for prosperity.
I’m not sure if he is going after inflation or world currency trading. Either way, these are things that can’t be controlled ever to the point where the US dollar would have an unchanging value. Also small inflation is good for an economy, it makes lending worthwhile. Hyper-inflation is really bad, and deflation is just a tad better, 0.75%-1.5% is where most economists agree it should be.
• When one party is so focused on spending so that the other must focus on cutting, we must unite around economic growth
Blah blah blah, just meaningless rhetoric.
• Unite income tax payers with payroll taxpayers so we all pull for low rates
That’s a nice Utopia, but business and citizens have different needs for government spending and would always make them opposition when it comes to taxation.
• Unite those wanting to eliminate deductions with those seeking lower rates.
Again, natural opposition. One side would want higher overall taxation, while the other side is calling for lower taxation. Most people want lower taxation and keep the deductions that benefit them, business included.
• Unite the Flat-Taxers with the Fair-Taxers
Great, and later you can unite Country with Western. These people are trying for the same thing, with only subtle differences on implementation.
• Our current economic crisis calls for bold action to truly stimulate the economy and Renew America back to its greatness.
Doesn’t mean the whole tax code should be turned on its head.
• The 9-9-9 Plan gets Washington D.C. out of the business of picking winners and losers, using the tax code to dole out favors, and dividing the country with class warfare.
It doesn’t do that, as you’ll see below. And guess what, the rich are hugely winning the class war, giving them more money won’t stop it.
• It is fair, simple, transparent and efficient.
It is anything but fair. The tax shift would hurt the middle class. Simplicity is not a good reason for this huge change that would be massively complicated to switch to. The current tax code is transparent in the sense that anyone can read it, so really this is just back to simple. It’s still going to require accounting and auditing, and most the people doing that are well versed in manipulating numbers.
• It taxes everything once and nothing twice.
Not true at all. When an employee spends his/her paycheque, they will be paying 9% on income then another 9% on sales tax.
• It taxes the broadest possible base at the lowest possible rates.
It taxes a smaller base then the current system, and if you are middle class the effective rate is much higher.
• It is neutral with respect to savings and consumption,capital and labor, imports and exports and whether companies pay dividends or retain earnings.
Most of this is a lie. Consumption is taxed, savings are not, plus the two act very differently in the economy. Capital doesn’t get taxed at all, in fact smart capital spending can eliminate the majority of business tax, and labour is taxed. I’ll get into the import export thing further down. Currently business pays the same tax if they put their profits into dividends or retained earnings. Of course right now the dividends would be charged personal income tax, but again this change would encourage the business owner to pull profits out of the company instead of re-investing.
• 9% Business Flat Tax
Seems a bit low.
• Gross income less all purchases from other U.S. located businesses, all capital investment, and net exports.
Few things of concern here. This illiminates several usual taxable expenses most notably payroll.
By not having payroll as a taxable expense, employment tax gets a 18% tax treatment. It will also encourage business to go with independant freelance employees. By not allowing an expense from other then US purchases NAFTA rules will be broken, this will result in retalitory tariffs on American goods. This will also place a double tax on imported goods, since the expense of purchase would not be tax deductable while the sale price would, again, this will tick off a lot of countries.
It’s kind crazy to allow business to deduct all capital investments. I can’t even imagine how many different games the CFO’s of America are going to play with capital investment to avoid all business taxes.