Hi, one simple question, how much % of the prize you win goes to taxes in tournament poker? After reading an interview with Joeseph Choeng, where he said "Majority of my winnings went to taxes", I got curious how much would that be. He won ~4.1M$ for his 3rd place last year, so majority would be like $3M, right? Or he is just exagerating?
Is there a difference in taxes for USA and non-American tournaments?
He probably just meant that it was a large amount of winnings.
It's 25% I think. But I could definitely be wrong.
In 2005 after Joseph Hachem won the ME, he said that America took 30% of his winnings and when he came back to Australia, they wanted to tax 30% of his winnings.
Luckily for Joe he was not a claimed professional poker player back then so he was able to argue in court that poker was only a hobby and Australia couldn't tax a hobby.
30% is still a lot and way too much if you ask me...totally devalues the prize of the ME...
30% of 7,500,000 is 2.25 million...
And the American government hasn't regulated online poker yet lol...
err...it's live poker isn't it 
Edit: Just to add if you country has agreement with USA about evading double taxing then you can pay taxes back home
Yeah its live and if you think about it, people make hundreds of thousands online every day.
If you can tax 30% off of live tournament winnings imagine how much tax revenue the American government could be pulling..
30% tax is nuts! Thought that it was one of the bonuses to playing poker for a living, the govt can't stick their hands in your pockets. Am only a recreational player but I've never heard of poker winnings being taxed before. I trust that it's never done for online winnings but if not, why make that distinction? For some reason the govt's due 30% on the total prize pool in live games. How to they justify taking that much of a piece?
If all players got taxed at just the main event then the govt made over $19,000,000 for doing absolutely nothing. Or did those who just min-cashed get to keep their little profit? How does it work?? As hostile as the US govt has been towards poker, they have some f'king nerve! Do live cash game pros have to pay tax on their winnings?
Does the UK govt ever tax winnings for large tournies? Say those who cash big in the UKIPT? Or WSOPE?
You have to pay tax for whatevers considered your job. The 30% is only for non-Americans who don't have a tax ID tho.
Heres a few articles on taxes paid by WSOP winners:
http://www.cardplayer.com/poker-news/5527-governments-take-huge-bite-out-of-wsop-final-table-pool
http://www.pokerlistings.com/paying-taxes-on-tournament-poker-winnings-860
Its absolutely ridiculous...
In the UK AFAIK poker is considered a game of chance and winnings from "games of chance" are non taxable so pro players in the UK pay no tax on their poker earnings.
There are also other countries where poker income is not taxable, Gibraltar I think is one.
I am sure I read somewhere that one UK player who cashed in a WSOP event managed not to pay tax there because of his UK passport.
I didn't have to pay any tax when I cashed in the WSOP last year.
If your country has a tax treaty with the USA you will (afaik) have to pay taxes on your winnings in your country of residence and the USA government won't take anything.
Then it depends where you live ofcourse, the UK doesnt tax gambling winnings, but the Netherlands for example tax 29% on the amount you cash...
Freaking rake everywhere 
How about some tax-back, you pay your taxes regularly you get 25% back.
I believe all the taxes depend on the policy between USA and your country (if we are talking about Main Event for example) which means that if your country has bad tax laws with USA you can be taxed big time or on the other hand, you might be taxed minor amount.
