Gambling Winnings Tax (How Much You Will Pay For Winning

are gambling winnings taxed differently

are gambling winnings taxed differently - win

Is Short-Term Crypto Taxed on Gross or Net?

Is short-term crypto one of those things where you can pay tax even if your net gains are zero?
Example:
Event 1: Sell BTC for profit of $50,000
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Event 2: Sell BTC for loss of $100,000
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Event 3: Sell BTC for profit of $50,000
Do you pay taxes on $0? or on $100,000?
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Does it matter if you are professional or casual trader?
I ask because I know with gambling winnings, it does depend whether you are a professional gambler or amatuer. For example, if you are an amatuer, you can have a net gambling winnings of zero and still owe a tax bill because it's taxed differently. I was wondering if trading is the same?
submitted by Grand-Profession-228 to tax [link] [comments]

Sports Betting Tax Advice from my CPA

Yes, this is another tax thread. These are the direct answers I received from my CPA who has 25+ years of experience filing for gamblers, both professional and not. Don't shoot the messenger.
Do I report winnings gross or net? Surely net, right? Right!??
Winnings are reported on a gross amount. If you open an app and it shows a ledger of $30,000 winnings, $28,000 bets wagered, Win/Loss $2000, the IRS needs the $30,000 number. The $28,000 gets reported on a Schedule A under gambling losses, and only factors into your net tax liability if you itemize.
But isn't sports betting on an app just one long session? I don't pay taxes on every hand of blackjack I win.
No. Unfortunately this matter relies on case law, for which the precedent for online gambling is an "every bet is a session" accounting.
So if I don't itemize and I have huge gross winnings, that means I could owe thousands in taxes?
Yes. If you have thousands in gross winnings and didn't plan to itemize, you will essentially owe taxes on the difference between your standard deduction and your pre-gambling itemized tax amount when switching to an itemized gambling loss deduction.
If I report net winnings instead of doing it by the book, what are the odds I get audited?
Almost zero. Obviously my CPA didn't advise me to do this, but of the thousands of filings she had done in her career, she has only had 3 audits, and all of them were due to inconsistencies on a Schedule C filed only by professional gamblers. She also said that due to COVID delays, the odds of getting audited are even smaller.
Are there any other hidden downsides to having an inflated Adjusted Gross Income when I have gross winnings of tens of thousands of dollars?
Yes. Student loan interest deductions and child tax credits go away at certain AGI.
On the state tax side, she said certain states don't allow ANY deduction for gambling losses on state taxes. I.e. if you live in IL, you probably just shouldn't ever gamble. Every bet you win comes with a 4.95% tax on gross winnings. If your state doesn't allow gambling loss offsets, there is no limit to what you could owe regardless of your year-end profitability.
submitted by Actuarial to sportsbook [link] [comments]

I wrote a long reply on why gambling, and loot boxes in particular, are bad...

So, inside some other post, I was asked why gambling is bad... My reply ended up being really detailed, so I'll promote it to a post of its own (just copy-pasting it here; no new words)... [Note: list of 3 points about loot boxes at the end...]
(I work at a company that sells gambling services... I see how the sausage is made...)
By the way, I love PoE and GGG. Still, loot boxes are bad.
I personally get to see the statistics side of oddsmaking. It's always about suckering you out of your money, because by definition all you are doing is paying more money as the price of getting less money (on average), but you also need to feel like you have a chance at getting the upper hand, even though in the long run you don't.
For example, sometimes, if you're really "good" at betting, you just end up working for the oddsmaker on a bad deal. It's really hard for them sometimes to get the odds perfectly right (although the profit margin still takes care of 99.9% of punters). So, if you're a professional gambler making a regular profit, what's basically happening is that you are investing an enormous amount of time and expertise to try and make tiny profits at the margins, and the bookmaker monitors your activity and learns about the market from you, at what ends up being a lower cost than if they hired experts to give them the same info on a salary. Plus you constantly run high risks! Which is why my company is full of ex-gamblers who were able to make a profit for a while, and intelligent enough to realise that they were still getting a bad deal, and come to the company and offer their services directly. (For another way gambling companies guarantee their own profits by passing on the risk to gamblers, research "balancing the books": yes, a professional gambler could make some profits this way, but if you're possibly making profits by taking on a risk that a large gambling corporation wants to get rid of, do you really think you're getting a good deal, especially considering how much time and expertise you sink into the activity? EDIT: more info)
The only way I know of to make a consistent and considerable profit off gambling is when a pro gambler is allowed to make a profit off other gamblers, in a move that a company makes to increase total amounts played. So, for one person to profit, many others are being seriously scammed, and the company is safely skimming its percentages off the top.
There are many different ways a gambling company presents bad deals to you, hoping that your intuition misfires about one of them and you decide to throw away your money. Examples... There are single bets, of course. But then there are also combinations, and these screw with your intuition--you can convince yourself based on a narrative (e.g. team 1 wins first half, team 2 comes back in second half), where in fact the actual hard cold odds are against you. There is "cash out" where you take a fraction of a likely-seeming win early (but at a loss), which of course simply taxes you for your risk aversion. There are "systems", creating more and more complex bets, until you convince yourself you've set up the perfect deal, and yet the company's profit margin keeps growing the more complex you make it.
Anyway, those are the parts I work on as a software guy. (By the way, this isn't the worst thing in the world, it's not as bad, as, say, the military industry or the military itself, or say religions or banks, because at some level gambling is voluntary. And making gambling illegal is a terrible idea-we should fight it through education, not prohibition. Still, I only work there because I'm currently a completely non-creative software grunt (and currently satisfied with that). If I get to the point of pursuing higher-level jobs, I'll look elsewhere.)
But the most nefarious part of all is the psychological work they pull on you. That's not my area of expertise, so if you want it explained you need to look elsewhere (recommended book: Thinking Fast and Slow--it's not about gambling, it's about psychology). They are constantly doing things to 1) give you false hope and 2) artificially trigger some pleasure response in you.
E.g. most people are naturally risk averse and loss averse, e.g. losing $10 brings more pain than winning $10 brings pleasure. In reality, a gamble is about paying, say, $10 to win an average of, say, $9, so that's a terrible and painful deal. In addition to all the advertising and bright colours and encouraging sounds and making you read success stories and all the other psychological manipulations, they can also straight up befuddle you with numbers. So, losing $10 brings more pain than winning $10 brings pleasure, but what if you pay $10 but you're not really at a risk of losing that much, because on average you win $9 back, so you're only really risking a single $, and yet if you get lucky you won't win a mere $10 but millions? Suddenly that sounds good, right? Risk $1 to win $10000000? Of course not: you're still risking $10 and taking $1 losses on average each time you play, and the high rewards are vanishingly rare and built into that average.
That's it about gambling for money. On loot boxes I'm no expert, but, beyond the basic problems (encouraging addiction, exploiting minors who beg money from parents and don't understand how they're throwing it away, generating gambling "pleasure" while giving you "bits" instead of any real value, etc), I can point out a couple of extra scummy aspects:
  1. They can say "the box costs 30 points but all the possible rewards are worth at least 50, the average reward is worth 70 and the best is worth 400"... really??? Those prices are completely arbitrary... Who says the footprints are "worth" 50 or some random hideout decoration is "worth" 200? Talking about average microtransaction point values in a loot box is completely misleading.
  2. Either you (a) lose on the statistics of getting complete sets or you lose on (b) being psychologically manipulated into buying extra stuff you didn't actually want so much (or (c) you just lose by getting useless stuff). Let's say you decide to pick up a couple of boxes and see what you get before buying more stuff. You might just get useless stuff, of course (case c). But what if you get the body armour or wings? Now you might say "I'll get more boxes to complete the set". But the chances of getting any one part of a set are not anywhere near as bad as your chances of completing a set (like map lab trials, but much worse because loot boxes contain many more items), so you are getting totally fleeced (case a). Alternatively you could go "oh look, I got x in the box, I'll buy matching items y and z from the shop later" so you think you got x cheap and y and z at normal prices. But you are being manipulated into buying y and z. Would you really have bought x and y and z from the shop if there had been no loot box? Only rarely. The rest of the time you are overspending (case b).
  3. Loot box gifts are another scummy behaviour, considering people don't have good intuitions about statistics. Most of us get bad results from the gifted boxes, but some will get lucky. Those of us who are already gambling on loot boxes won't be affected by the outcome of a few extra boxes. Those who wouldn't ever buy them normally, and get bad results, who cares. But those who wouldn't normally buy them but get lucky a few times in a row might decide it's a good deal after all. So, it's manipulating us psychologically in a way that is statistically designed to fail at no cost most times and succeed sometimes, which makes money. (While also giving everybody holiday presents or race prizes, making the company appear generous.)
submitted by sesquipedalias to pathofexile [link] [comments]

My Options Overview / Guide (V2)

Greeting Theta Gang boys and girls,
I hope you're well and not bankrupt after last week. I'm just now recovering mentally myself. I saw a few WSB converts and some newbies asking for tips, so here you go. V2 of my Options guide. I hope it helps.
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I spent a huge amount of time learning about options and tried to distill my knowledge down into a helpful guide. This should especially be useful for newbies and growing options traders.
While I feel I’m a successful trader, I'm not a guru and my advice is not meant to be gospel, but this will hopefully be a good starting point, teach you a lot, and make you a better trader. I plan to keep typing up more info from my notebook, expanding this guide, and posting it every couple months.
Any feedback or additions are appreciated
Per requests, I added details of good and bad trades I made. Some painful lessons learned are now included. I also tried to organize this better as it got longer.
Here's what I tell options beginners:
I would strongly recommend buying a beginner's options book and read it cover to cover. That helped me a lot.
I like this beginner book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00GWSXX8U/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_OxNDFb2GK9YW7
Helpful websites:
Don't trade until you understand:
Basics / Mechanics
General Tips and Ideas:
Profit Retention / Loss Mitigation
Trade Planning & Position Management Tips
-Advanced Beginner-
Spreads
Trading Mechanics, Taxes, Market Manipulation
-Intermediate / Advanced Strategies (work in progress)-
You’ll notice many of these strategies inverse one another.
Options Strategy Finder
This website is great for learning about new strategies, you’ll see many links to it below.
https://www.theoptionsguide.com/option-trading-strategies.aspx
Short Strangle / Straddle
Iron Condor and Iron Butterflies
Long Condor (Debit Call Condor)
Short Condor (Credit Call Condor)
Reverse Iron Condor
LEAPs
PMCC / PMCP
Advanced Orders
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Disclaimer:
I’m not a financial adviser, I'm actually an engineer. I’m not telling you to invest in a specific stock/option or even use a specific strategy. I’ve outlined and more extensively elaborated on what I personally like. You should test several strategies and find what works best for you.
I'm just a guy who trades (mainly options) part-time for financial gain and fun. I don't claim to be some investing savant.
submitted by CompulsionOSU to thetagang [link] [comments]

WHY CANNABIS MARKET FOR 2021

The cannabis market right now is so similar to the start of the green energy market.. its nowhere near done being bullish. Save for some small dips, there will very likely be a huge bullish trend for 2021. EVEN NASDAQ AGREES. I’ve posted my positions a few times, and I’ll continue to do so. But this is my reasoning for investing in cannabis stocks in general for 2021.
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Other ongoing state legislature:
Now that you understand why I’m going green, here’s my reasoning for my positions.
TLRY (Tilray)
GNLN (Greenlane Holdings)
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SNDL (Sundial Growers)
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PLNHF (Planet 13 Holdings)
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I’m well aware of other good stocks like GTBIF, CRLBF, SSPK, TCNNF, GRWG.. but these stocks haven’t been swinging as hard in response to pro-cannabis news. E.g. TLRY, SNDL, GNLN swung more than 20% some days from pro-cannabis news...I will likely reduce my current positions shortly after inauguration, after some news about the timeline for cannabis legislation, and diversify my positions more between these other good picks.
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2021 is the year of cannabis boys
submitted by DerbDsoul to pennystocks [link] [comments]

Lost in the Sauce: Rules finalized to take away LQBTQ rights, cement border wall, sell oil rights

Welcome to Lost in the Sauce, keeping you caught up on political and legal news that often gets buried in distractions and theater… or a global health crisis.
I am doing a separate post for the insurrection and related events. I think it is important to make sure the news in this post doesn't get overlooked.
Housekeeping:

Russia

A new report by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) found that Trump political appointees politicized intelligence around foreign election interference in 2020, resulting in significant errors. ODNI analytic ombudsman Barry Zulauf delivered the report to Congress on Thursday: “Analysis on foreign election interference was delayed, distorted or obstructed out of concern over policymaker reactions or for political reasons.” The biggest misrepresentation of intel involved diminishing the threat posed by Russia and overstating the risk of interference from China.
“Russia analysts assessed that there was clear and credible evidence of Russian election influence activities. They said IC management slowing down or not wanting to take their analysis to customers, claiming that it was not well received, frustrated them. Analysts saw this as suppression of intelligence, bordering on politicization of intelligence from above.”
  • WaPo: Zulauf, a career official, also found an “egregious” example of attempted politicization of the Russian interference issue in March talking points on foreign election threats, prepared “presumably by ODNI staff” and “shaped by” then-Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell.
The Justice Department and the federal judiciary revealed that the Russian Solar Winds hack also compromised their computer systems. 3% of the DOJ’s Microsoft Office 365 were potentially affected; it does not appear that classified material was accessed. The impact on the judiciary seems much more significant, jeopardizing “highly sensitive confidential documents filed with the courts.”
The sealed court files, if indeed breached, could hold information about national security, trade secrets and wiretap transcripts, along with financial data from bankruptcy cases and the names of confidential informants in criminal cases...

Appointees

D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine has accused U.S. Agency for Global Media Director Michael Pack of funneling $4 million in nonprofit funds to his own for-profit company. In a civil lawsuit filed last week, Racine states that for over 12 years, Pack used a nonprofit company he owned to direct money to his private documentary company, enabling “Pack to line his company’s coffers with a stream of tax-exempt dollars without...a competitive bidding process, public scrutiny, or accounting requirements regarding its spending.”
Employees at Voice of America have filed a whistleblower complaint accusing Pack of using the agency “to disseminate political propaganda in the waning days of the Trump administration. The staffers take issue with a planned speech by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to be broadcast from VOA headquarters. The event, to be attended by a live audience, “is a specific danger to public health and safety” in the middle of a pandemic. Finally, the whistleblowers say the event is “ a gross misuse of government resources,” costing at least $4,000 in taxpayer funds to date and using 18 employees who would otherwise be producing VOA content.
Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller has announced his appointees to the panel set to rename confederate military bases and plan the removal of confederate symbols/monuments. Most controversially, Miller named White House liaison Joshua Whitehouse, who oversaw the purge of the Defense Policy Board and the Defense Business Board last month. The other three Miller-appointees are former acting Army general counsel Earl Matthews, acting assistant secretary of Defense Ann Johnston, and White House official Sean McLean. The remaining four members will be appointed by the Senate and House Armed Services Committees.
  • The 10 Army posts named in honor of Confederate generals are Camp Beauregard and Fort Polk in Louisiana, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon in Georgia, Fort Bragg in North Carolina, Fort A.P. Hill, Fort Lee and Fort Pickett in Virginia, Fort Rucker in Alabama, and Fort Hood in Texas.

Trump

The Trump Inaugural Committee, a nonprofit, improperly paid a $49,000 hotel bill that should have been picked up by Trump’s for-profit business. D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine revealed the allegation in an existing lawsuit against the committee, which already accuses Trump’s hotel of illegally pocketing about $1 million of donors’ money. “The Trump Organization was liable for the invoiced charges...The [Committee’s] payment of the invoice was unfair, unreasonable and unjustified and ultimately conferred improper private benefit to the Trump Organization.”
The Professional Golfer’s Association voted last night to move the 2022 PGA Championship from Trump’s Bedminster course. Jim Richerson, PGA of America president, said in a statement that “it has become clear that conducting” the championship at Trump’s property would “be detrimental to the PGA of America brand” and put the organization's ability to function "at risk."
Amid speculation that Trump may spend inauguration day at his Scottish golf course, Scotland First Minister Nicola Sturgeon warned him that even presidents can’t break the country’s pandemic restrictions. “We are not allowing people to come into Scotland now without an essential purpose, which would apply to him, just as it applies to everybody else. Coming to play golf is not what I would consider an essential purpose,” she said.
Trump is on a Presidential Medal of Freedom spree, giving out the award to sports figures and Republican allies. Last Monday, Trump awarded the medal to Rep. Devin Nunes for his work undermining the FBI’s investigation of Russia’s election interference. “Devin Nunes’ courageous actions helped thwart a plot to take down a sitting United States president,” the White House press release states. Likewise, Trump gave the medal to Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) for his “effort to confront the impeachment witch hunt” and “exposing the fraudulent origins of the Russia collusion lie.”
  • The day after Trump supporters rampaged through the Capitol, Trump awarded the medal to retired professional golfers Annika Sorenstam and Gary Player. The president planned on giving New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick the medal on Thursday, but he declined the offer, saying that “the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award.”

Courts

Dominion Voting Systems filed suit against pro-Trump lawyer Sidney Powell for defamation. Powell falsely claimed that Dominion had rigged the election, that Dominion was created in Venezuela to rig elections for Hugo Chávez, and that Dominion bribed Georgia officials for a no-bid contract,” the lawsuit states. Citing millions spent on security for employees, damage control to its reputation, and future losses, Dominion requests damages of more than $1.3 billion.
  • Dominion's lawyer told reporters last week the lawsuit against Powell “is just the first in a series of legal steps.” Ari Cohn, a free speech and defamation lawyer, told WaPo: “If I had to guess I would say that [Poulos] wants a very public vindication with a ruling establishing that Sidney Powell defamed them and that her statements were baseless...That's not something you generally get in a settlement agreement.”
  • Just last week, Trump again said at a rally that Dominion machines allowed “fraudulent ballots” to be counted during the 2020 election (clip).
The Supreme Court declined to fast track eight Trump-related cases related to the 2020 election, ensuring they won’t be taken up before Biden’s inauguration. The cases include one brought by attorney Lin Wood against Georgia’s Secretary of State, the so-called “Kraken” cases, and three brought by Trump’s campaign. It is possible the lawsuits will be declared moot after Biden is sworn in.
The Supreme Court has agreed to hear two cases alleging that the Treasury Dept. incorrectly distributed Coronavirus aid meant for tribal governments. The Lower 48 Tribes argue that Alaska Native Corporations (ANCs) are not eligible for CARES Act funding, while the Trump administration wants to divvy up the money between tribes and ANCs.

Immigration

A federal judge blocked the Trump administration’s final attempt to restrict U.S. asylum laws. District Judge James Donato (Obama appointee) ruled in favor of advocacy groups who argued that acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf lacked authority to impose the new rules, which would have resulted in the denial of most asylum applications.
“The government has recycled exactly the same legal and factual claims made in the prior cases, as if they had not been soundly rejected in well-reasoned opinions by several courts,” Donato wrote. “This is a troubling litigation strategy. In effect, the government keeps crashing the same car into a gate, hoping that someday it might break through.”
On Monday, acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf submitted his resignation, citing the recent court ruling that he is not a valid appointee to the position. His resignation letter does not cite the Capitol riots or Trump’s language inciting the insurrection. FEMA Administrator Pete Gaynor will be the new acting secretary.
"Unfortunately, this action is warranted by recent events, including the ongoing and meritless court rulings regarding the validity of my authority as Acting Secretary. These events and concerns increasingly serve to divert attention and resources away from the important work of the Department in this critical time of a transition of power," Wolf added.
A new Immigration and Customs Enforcement policy will make it harder for immigrant minors to obtain asylum in the U.S. The change was made at the end of last month by then-acting agency leader Tony Pham, who served in the position for less than five months.
Beginning Dec. 29, ICE officers were told that they must review whether an immigrant child is still “unaccompanied” each time they encounter the minor… The memo indicates that the evaluation by ICE officers can come at any time, including when an officer is reviewing immigration court records of a child, and if it’s determined that an immigrant is no longer unaccompanied, they will move to change their status.
Such a change could lead to making some children ineligible to have their asylum claims initially heard and processed… “If implemented aggressively, this policy could significantly decrease the number of children who ultimately receive asylum in the United States,” said Sarah Pierce, an analyst at the Migration Policy Institute. “They are really putting the onus on ICE officers to do everything they can as frequently as they can to remove these designations.”
The Trump administration is still awarding border wall contracts, even in areas where private land has not yet been acquired. The move will make it more difficult for Biden to stop construction of the border wall.
Attempts to halt construction completely, as Biden promised, will prove difficult, particularly if contracts continue to be struck -- a challenge [acting Customs and Border Protection Commissioner Mark] Morgan acknowledged Tuesday. "They could terminate those contracts if they want to, but that's going to be a very lengthy, messy process," Morgan said.
"We're going to have to go into settlement agreements with each individual contractor," Morgan added, noting, that payments will have to be made for what they've already done, as well as for materials produced. He estimated the process could cost billions.
Trump is set to visit Alamo, Texas, today to celebrate the completion of more than 400 miles of the border wall. You can watch the event on YouTube at 3:00 pm eastern.

Miscellaneous

Stories that didn’t fit in the above categories...
The Trump administration auctioned off leases to drill oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge last week. Only two private companies bid, each winning large tracts of land. Knik Arm Services, from Alaska, paid $1.6 million for a 50,000-acre tract along the Arctic Ocean. A subsidiary of Australian company 88 Energy paid $800,000 to win the smallest tract.
One of the Health and Human Services Department’s final acts under Trump was finalizing the removal of Obama-era regulations barring discrimination among HHS grantees. The change will allow recipients of federal grant money - like adoption and foster agencies - to discriminate against LGBTQ people and those of a different religion.
Human Rights Campaign: “Statistics suggest that an estimated two million LGBTQ adults in the U.S. are interested in adoption… Further, research consistently shows that LGBTQ youth are overrepresented in the foster care system, as many have been rejected by their families of origin because of their LGBTQ status, and are especially vulnerable to discrimination and mistreatment while in foster care. This regulation would only exacerbate these challenges faced by LGBTQ young people.
submitted by rusticgorilla to Keep_Track [link] [comments]

I am 35 years old, make $56,000 ($231k combined), live in Seattle, and work in higher ed administration

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.
submitted by SupermarketWinter203 to MoneyDiariesACTIVE [link] [comments]

Stocks, Options & Taxes - a guide

Ho!
Given the recent stock frenzy, many of you may have made some quick gains on some stock trades. I was in a similar situation, had a hard time finding any exact answers, had to consult a tax attorney in the end. I'll write up what I know, feel free to add to it or correct me if I'm wrong.
The basics
Belgium does not have capitals gains tax (applying to Belgian tax residents only), if the investment is done as a private person, managing his/hethe families assets, within 'normal' limits.
However, some of investments could be considered speculative, potentially triggering a 33% + municipality rate capital gains tax. (Different from the 2016 speculative gains tax on stocks, abolished in 2017).
What counts as speculative and what is 'normal' portfolio management is a gray area and can be strongly debated. I will address it further below.
Speculative taxes, if applied, would be for the realized profits for the calendar year (from January 1 to end of the year). Realized profits/losses are calculated over your closed positions (profit/loss = your sell price - buy price). Open positions (even they are shorts, for which you got premium) do not count towards your realized profits.
There are no deductibles: if you lost money last year, you can't carry it over for this year; you can't deduct any other expenses from these losses either;
'Normal' limits
For what is considered 'normal' portfolio management strategies, you will find plenty of debate/examples of this on this forum, I recommend you read up.
What is known to be safe, is buy&hold type strategies, ETFs, staying away from risky assets (crypto, options, turbos,..), not putting ALL your portfolio on one big gamble, no day-trading, automated trading, frequent daily buys/sells, etc.
But what if you mostly hold ETFs, but buy the occasional long-dated call options? Gray area. Who knows. Debatable. Would you be taxed speculatively for your options winning only, or also for the ETFs part of your profits? Again, no one knows, but probably it could be reasonably argued the former .
How do you pay the taxman?
Luckily, it is not your responsibility to keep track of speculative/not speculative gains, but that of the tax authorities. It is up to them to prove you engaged in speculative investment behavior. When this happens, you will be contacted by the tax authorities asking for further information, account & trading history, etc. You would get a warning of sorts to know something is up and maybe it's time to involve a professional to help you justify your investments.
Be ready that they can/could come knocking on your door several years later. Have your transaction history/backups, just in case. But there are no fines or interest penalties, just a matter of debating with the fiscus how much you owe them.
Enforcement
In a typical Belgian twist, while taxes on speculative gains are harsh, enforcement/followup is lacking. I was told that it is very unlikely that anyone would get audited. People making mid six figures get away unchecked. And if you make that kind of money, be smart, and consider supporting the local tax attorney community, they are people too.
EDIT: By law, it is up to the tax office to prove/seek further proof you are dealing with speculative investments. They might or might not follow up with you. While your brokebank does not share with them for example stocks/options trading history, there are other things that can be red flags for the tax office: suddenly 200.000 shows up in your bank account, you hold foreign bank/brokerage accounts, there's a lot of monthly money transfers back and forth, you suddenly form a low-tax LLC in Cyprus, etc.
The average Joe (or Jan?) is unlikely to be audited (and please no one interpret this as it can't/won't happen either).
Advanced ruling
This is relatively costly (EDIT: free, if you do it yourself) and tedious procedure that helps get a binding decision from the tax authorities regarding a deal you made, a particular transaction, etc. So if you made mad money on a single transaction, it might be worth the effort. If you made a lot of smaller trades, you would need to do this individually - not worth it.
The other downside of an advanced ruling is that it lists a strict set of conditions: if you did A, B and C under circumstances X and Y, then this or that is allowed. Any small change to A, B, C, X or Y can make the advanced ruling unapplicable.
Summary
You made good money? Be happy, keep the potential tax amount around in case they do come for you, and if you don't get audited/asked additional info/transaction statements/etc, you're probably fine. Talk to a tax attorney if you can't sleep at night.
The BEFire community is doing a great job at promoting a fairly safe, low-tax, low-risk investment strategy. But if you do end up taking the more adventurous route, you might as well be informed on what to expect.
submitted by flapflip9 to BEFire [link] [comments]

d100 Adventurer's Guild Promotional Events

The Adventurer's Guild can't rely on people just walking into their offices and signing up, and they absolutely cannot survive without a positive public reputation. To facilitate both of these, the Adventurer's Guild (or your own proxy organisation) holds an event like a Trade Show or Convention, where they show off everything they can do to help career adventurers and the general populous alike.
EDIT: We hit 50+ options! wow!
  1. High Level Adventurer Fashion Show - In our Arcane Summer Collection, a lovely breezy set of Robes of the Archmagi!
  2. Meet & Greet with the heroes of another "campaign" from your world (like Not Another D&D Podcast)
  3. Discussion Panels on how to deal with the edgy rogue/warlock or the religious-book thumping paladin/cleric in your party
  4. Demonstrations of new creations from the Guild's greatest Artificers - Try the new Arcane Powered Armour for yourself!
  5. Show off your martial prowess in the safe arena, or just watch the sparks fly!
  6. Another kind of safe fighting arena, where the PCs step inside a magical mirror to fight eachother or the monsters of their dreams/nightmares. Uses the Mirror Zone magical effects from Tasha's.
  7. Book signing event for a famous adventurer's autobiography [ u/TheMultiuniverse ]
  8. Treasure examining event where experts appraise anything you bring in (sorta like antique roadshow) [ u/TheMultiuniverse ]
  9. Tour of a dungeon that was recently cleared [ u/TheMultiuniverse ]
  10. "Survival in the wild" a masterclass from a world-renowned adventurer [ u/TheMultiuniverse ]
  11. Adopt a Familiar-cuddly and oddly intelligent creatures are for sale-most of them newly trained, but some are survivors of their former masters gruesome demise. [ u/lazy_human5040 ]
  12. Adventurous counseling-clerics and bard's listen to your woes and fears and help you overcome trauma. Sign up, if you want that as a regular service! (also possible to gather blackmail material) [ u/lazy_human5040 ]
  13. Who's the mage now?- A high level rogue showing off sleight of hand, people can bet whether they witnessed magic or mundane. [ u/lazy_human5040 ]
  14. Finding your inner magic-for just a few drops of your blood, you can find out whether there were any mythic or magic creatures in your ancestors. Do you maybe have sorcerous powers?! [ u/lazy_human5040 ]
  15. A Guild-sponsored theater festival, where local playwrights and actors reenact Guild members' glorious adventures [ u/MissMedea ]
  16. A natural history event, where adventurers show off some of the strange/interesting flora and fauna they've collected on their travels [ u/MissMedea ]
  17. A Guild-sponsored swordsmanship/archery/sorcery etc. competition - comes with a hefty cash prize and free Guild membership! [ u/MissMedea ]
  18. Bardic Rap Battle [ u/Starmark_115 ]
  19. A zoo showing the monstrosities of the wilderness (this may just scare people into not joining the guild) [ u/TheLothor ]
  20. Orienteering challenge where a trained navigator helps you travel you through a safe patch of wilderness, teching you a little about navigation along the way. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  21. Iron Chef: Dungeon Edition. Compete to create the best dishes using only tools & food available "on the road". For tools this would be small, portable stuff. For food this would be preservable items and/or things that can be harvested from local creatures. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  22. Flyting. Match wits with a poet and get a prize if you can deliver a good enough insult. For higher stakes - the poet is using the Vicious Mockery cantrip. But will try not to kill. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  23. Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion feast. Seating capability may vary depending on your D&D edition. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  24. Draw a picture and watch a talented illusionist make a moving illusion of it. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  25. Two truths and a lie: A well-travelled guild members tells three stories, one of which they made up. Get a prize for correctly guessing the fiction. [ u/Zawoopdoop ]
  26. A few wizards summoning coffee elementals - the result can be be bought from them [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  27. A demonstration of more or less useful cooking tools for on the road [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  28. "Small Heroes" play area for the children [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  29. A debarked tree one has to climb to reach sausages hanging from the top branches [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  30. Weight lifting competition [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  31. Auction for (slightly) used equipment [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  32. Concerts with well know Bardic bands [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  33. Food stands with specialties from distant countries [ u/Raven_Witch ]
  34. Adopt A Highway/Dungeon. An Event Drive where the guild tries to get adventures to clean up dungeons that were recently clearly of all the baddies. Who else is going to clean all the corpses out, or the cobwebs? [ u/ElectricParasite ]
  35. Magic Ring Toss! Win magic rings with fun aesthetic applying properties! [ u/pineapple_pikachu ]
  36. Flumph petting zoo, because who doesn't love flumphs? [ u/pineapple_pikachu ]
  37. Beholder Laser Tag. Chase other contestants in a labyrinth meant to resemble a Beholder's while using harmless beam emitting wands to stun opponents. [ u/pineapple_pikachu ]
  38. Purple Worm Tunnel ride. Like a tunnel of love, but grosser and more educational. [ u/pineapple_pikachu ]
  39. A venue of self playing instruments meant to show off the craftsmanship of the guild's artificers [ u/pineapple_pikachu ]
  40. Mimics and how to spot them: An informational panel involving how to differentiate regular chests and mimics. Live demonstration included. [ u/AlcofMagnus ]
  41. The Legalities of Adventuring. A booth giving out pamphlets reminding adventurers local rules and regulations on adventuring (Always keep your adventuring license on you, pay your looting taxes to the local government, etc.) [ u/AlcofMagnus ]
  42. Necromancy and how to say “No!”: A PSA for all magicians, sorcerers, wizards, etc. on how to respond when offered dark powers. (Make sure this is as cheesy as possible, like a 90’s anti-drugs ad). [ u/AlcofMagnus ]
  43. S'mores and Stories, a ghoulish, fireside evening of storytelling and treats. Actual ghouls discouraged from attending, adventurers participate at their own risk, waivers will be mandatory [ u/loldrums ]
  44. A winery/brewery tour around the area hosted by an expert in local history. [ u/loldrums ]
  45. Clean up the river! A nearby goblin den has been cluttering up the river, volunteers wanted to help keep our waterways pristine. In actual fact, the goblins are trying to dam up the river to cause problems for the locals, and aren't pleased to see some adventurers showing up intent on disrupting their plans. [ u/loldrums ]
  46. Poke3 Dragon Ante/whatever game Night! A night of drinking and gambling with strangers can spawn any number of plot hooks. There could be a fight, or an interesting item - possibly one the party has encountered before, why does this person have it now? - for the taking. [ u/loldrums ]
  47. Masquerade Ball - what exciting NPCs will attend and what intrigue will they let slip? [ u/loldrums ]
  48. Dinner theater - a murder mystery (actual murder and/or mystery optional) with player participation. [ u/loldrums ]
  49. Mystic fortune teller - if it's not a total scam, it could reveal another character in trouble or many possible leads. [ u/loldrums ]
  50. Ancestry report - which character has unexpected ties to a particular ancient ruin or perhaps a BBEG and what can the party do about it? [ u/loldrums ]
  51. A Red Wedding - a grandiose event at a gathering hall that just happens to be arranged by a villain with the bright idea of gathering up a large group of would-be heroes in one place and doing terrible things to them. The players could be targeted, but they could also be in on it on the villain's side, or discover the plot in advance and try to break it up. [ u/loldrums ]
  52. Highland Games/Tournament/Jousting - contests of strength, skill and dexterity, or outright combat prowess. This could attract competitors from a variety of interesting places, with stakes ranging from gold, court position, land holdings, a favor from the royal family... [ u/loldrums ]
  53. Hear the Word and Be Healed! Are these televangelists charlatans or the real deal with divine backing? Maybe a bit of both. [ u/loldrums ]
  54. Is it Lit, Fam? An expert hippie druid explains how to tell the differences between psychedelic foragables and deadly ones. This could be useful for an upcoming journey, or perhaps steered into a poison crafting seminar by a clever rogue. [ u/loldrums ]
  55. Thinking Outside the Spellbook: A panel teaching magic users how to utilize their spells in different and unique ways. [ u/Kami-Kahzy ]
  56. Basic Healing 101: Teaching mundanes how to patch wounds and help with basic medical issues that anyone might encounter. [ u/Kami-Kahzy ]
  57. Hunting Beasts: A regular class teaching how best to handle certain monsters, showcasing their strengths and weaknesses. Often features live demonstrations. [ u/Kami-Kahzy ]
  58. Magical Safety and You: Class that teaches how to respond when presented with anything vaguely magical. Specialty classes available for runes, necromancy, curses and fae protocol. [ u/Kami-Kahzy ]
  59. Monstrous Potluck: A giant potluck that features monster parts as the primary ingredients. Prizes are available for different categories such as baked goods, stews and barbeque. [ u/Kami-Kahzy ]
  60. Guild sponsored talent show: anything goes as long as its impressive. [ u/Dapo607 ]
  61. Monster Banquet made with rare animals like hydra eyes or dragon tongue [ u/Dapo607 ]
  62. Magic classes: see if u can cast your first cantrip in a weeklong workshop [ u/Dapo607 ]
  63. Evocation wizard pyromancy demonstration where u can be in a center of an explosion or come of fire but come out unharmed [ u/Dapo607
submitted by oddly-tall-hobbit to d100 [link] [comments]

Warsim 0.8.2.9 (The TJ Bugsmash Update, 330 features)

Hey Everyone,
So this update has come about while I've been planning the combat stuff, I've been given an ungodly amount of bug reports by a diligent Warsim community member known as TJtheSoundBoard and u/TheSoundBoard on reddit. Getting the bugs sorted is always important so I've been trawling through them and caught/added new things along the way. I hope you guys like it!
TERRAFORMER'S TROVE (4 features)
TJ made a suggestion that terraforming should have a chance to reveal loot, now you can get all sorts of stuff.
ENLISTING SONS ENCOUNTER (11 features)
There are several variants for the 'Sons for hire' type encounter in the throne room, after ending up here due to a bug report by TJ I ended up expanding the reactions to be unique depending on the variant.
MUSHROOM TRIP IMPROVEMENTS (13 features)
I've tried to expand these trips a little bit, some extra encounters and some polish on the ones currently there.
NAIRO'S PARTY EXPANDED (6 features)
Just a few new additions to the best houseparty in Darkdale
BLACKMARKET SLAVERY (6 features)
TJ mentioned that when banning slavery in the Blackmarket, the previously enslaved people seemingly evapourate... now they are accounted for, and the system in-general has been expanded.
THE GAMBLER RETURNS (4 features)
A lot of people were asking for more follow up throne room encounters that progress over time, while testing I found a good candidate for this, giving a gambling man a small sum of gold. Now there are several potential things that could happen if the gambler gets lucky!
ORB SELLER NOW BUYER (5 features)
TJ mentioned that the Blackmarket orb seller should be able to also buy orbs, I've given him a little overhaul to fit with this, he sells them for 10k but buys them for 5k.
DARKDALE TAX CHANGES (2 features)
TJ rightfully pointed out that as Darkdales ruler, removing a few of the smaller local businesses should have some effect... so now it does.
SLEEPY'S STALL (10 features)
A homage to a good friend, find this strange new character in Darkdale's market district!
A NEW CHEAT (1 features)
A hillarious suggestion that I had to put in.
NEW NAME PREFIXES (31 features)
A heap of new character name suffixes inspired mostly by a member of the Warsim discord with the name Titan of War, now we've got all the titans.
NEW CHARACTER NAMES (3 features)
A handful of new possible names thanks to Warsim Patreon supporter Joe! Thank you a bunch for the support :)
CAVE GNOME VISITORS (2 features)
TJ suggested that the hirable throne room gnome insult entertainers should be different if you've discovered the cave gnomes, it's a good idea and now it's in!
THRONE ROOM MUSICIAN CHANGES (3 features)
After a suggestion of having the hirable entertainers from the arrange entertainment section of the throne room refuse to come if your relation to the musicians guild is too low, I've decided to expand the idea to include an opposite effect if you have a really high relation.
GOLD INDICATION (65 features)
There are still areas where you spend gold that it isn't clear how much you have, this is another attempt at sorting that out AND MY GOD trawling the throne room encounters was a pain.
BUGFIXES (140 features)
Well... this is one of the meatiest bugfix sections I've had in recent memory... thanks a lot TJ!
EVERYTHING ELSE (24 features)
Everything I couldn't fit in other sections is now here, quite a few changes, tweaks, and additions!
SCREENSHOTS
WHAT'S NEXT
Well, I'm still in the early phases of the combat update planning and have some remnant bug reports to also work through so I'll keep trudging forward. Thank you everyone for the continued support and to those sharing ideas and reporting bugs, it's all helpful.
Cheers
Huw
submitted by Huw2k8 to WarsimRpg [link] [comments]

are gambling winnings taxed differently video

So in the long run you are being double taxed. my turbo tax Illinois state program did not warn me of this situation and thus I was not hit with taxes but late fees etc. The letter says they do not allow a credit for taxes paid on gambling winnings in another state. I believe the program should let you know this. However, you can only deduct your loss up to the amount you report as gambling winnings. So, you should keep: An accurate diary of your gambling winnings and losses; Documentation of your gambling activity that can be verified; How Winnings Are Reported to the IRS: Form W-2G. The payer must provide you with a Form W-2G if you win: In many nations around the world, gambling winnings aren’t taxed. Others tax winnings only from professional gamblers, or tax gambling winnings at a reduced rate that simply asks for a In many countries, gamblers have to pay a small tax on their winnings. While giving some of your hard-earned profits to the government can feel unfair, try being the casino. Gambling activities are taxed differently from most other types of income. Taxpayers are often surprised that their gambling winnings are not simply netted with their gambling losses to determine the net amount taxed. To determine your winnings, you should include only the net gain on the wager, but you cannot offset losses on other That means your winnings are taxed the same as your wages or salary. And you must report the entire amount you receive each year on your tax return. For example, let’s say you elected to receive your lottery winnings in the form of annuity payments and received $50,000 in 2019. You must report that money as income on your 2019 tax return. The following rules apply to casual gamblers who aren't in the trade or business of gambling. Gambling winnings are fully taxable and you must report the income on your tax return. Gambling income includes but isn't limited to winnings from lotteries, raffles, horse races, and casinos. It includes cash winnings and the fair market value of prizes, such as cars and trips. Gambling winnings are taxed by both the IRS (Internal Revenue Service) and by many states in US All winnings from all forms of gambling are taxable and must be declared as income on your tax return. All losses from all forms of gambling are deductible as an itemized deduction for recreational players, limited to the amount of winnings declared. The gambling isn’t on U.S. servers. The money doesn’t come from U.S. sources. Does that mean you don’t have to pay U.S. taxes? It does not. This is one of the most common misconceptions about online gambling. People think of it differently because it happens on the computer and the companies — and other players — aren’t Americans. The gambling winnings would then be determined by subtracting losses from winnings. Since this is done before the taxable social security and allowable medical determinations, the senior tax payer would not be unfairly taxed.

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are gambling winnings taxed differently

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