Taxman Pressing for Declaration of Winnings - Finds winners on Winning Lists

In Finland, tax authorities are causing uncertainty and perhaps even alarm with their latest strategy. They are requiring selected citizens who are poker players to declare their Internet and land poker winnings.

Using online and land gambling media and websites, tax officials have sent letters to recipients selected from winner lists, a tax official recently informed the newspaper Helsingin Sanomat.

Based on information from message boards and player comments, it is apparent that several dozen Finnish players have received such letters, asking them to declare their winnings, which were received over the past five years. 

According to Raimo Kinnunen and Taneli Lallukka, top officials in the Finnish tax administration, as told to  Helsingin Sanomat, the letter specifies that winnings earned outside the European Economic Area are included.

Chairman of the Finnish Poker Players’ Association, Mikko Hirvonen, is reported as saying that the vagueness of the request and the short time being allowed to report such earnings, have triggered comments. For example, several players received the letter on Monday last week, setting the deadline for a reply as being in mid-August.

Confusion persists over whether it is sufficient to attain tax-free status if the organizers of a poker tournament are registered in a European Economic Area, or if the application for the tournament license must also originate from within the EEA. Lallukka says that the matter is open for interpretation, since no legal precedents exist. Presently, according to him, the deciding factor is where the organizer of the game is registered.

Gamblers must also deal with the issue of when they are allowed to deduct losses for tax purposes. Here Lallukka told the newspaper that full-time players may only deduct those losses that were incurred in games played outside of the EEA, and only from winnings earned outside the EEA. Those listed as recreational players may only deduct the participation fees of the games in which they participated.

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