Do i have to pay tax on my betting winnings in the uk?
ok so ive had a decent run lately on football accas, up about 2k over the last couple months. mate at work told me i need to declare it or HMRC will come after me lol. is that actually true?? feeling a bit paranoid now ngl. never had to think about this before
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Top Answer
nah you're fine mate, betting winnings arent taxed in the uk for the punter. been doing this for years and never paid a penny in tax on it. the bookies pay a duty on their side instead so they cover that part. your mate is thinking of the old system maybe, they scrapped the betting tax for customers back in 2001. i mostly use Rolletto and ive never once had anything from HMRC about winnings. just enjoy the 2k honestly, you earned it
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can confirm this. ive been betting recreationally for like 6 years and never declared a thing. won a fair bit on the grand national one year too. totally tax free for normal punters, it's one of the few good things about the uk system lol
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wait but what if betting is literally your main income? like if someone bets full time and makes a living from it, does that change anything?
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good question. even then no, gambling winnings arent treated as taxable income in the uk even for professional gamblers. theres actual case law on this (graham v green way back). hmrc cant tax it because they also cant let you offset losses, so it works both ways. so even a full time pro pays zero tax on winnings
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fwiw the reason for this is the duty got shifted to the operators. bookmakers pay something like 15% remote gaming duty on their profits. so technically the tax is baked into the odds you get, you just dont see it as a line item
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yeah just to add, this applies to all forms of gambling really. lottery, poker, casino, sports betting, spread betting too. none of it is taxable for the individual in the uk. different in some other countries though so dont assume it works everywhere
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idk this all sounds a bit too clean. if youre withdrawing 20k+ to your bank surely the bank or hmrc flags it at some point? cant imagine they just let huge sums slide with no questions
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the bank might ask you to explain the source for anti money laundering reasons sure, but explaining isnt the same as being taxed. you just say it's gambling winnings and show statements from the bookie. thats it. no tax owed. happened to my brother in law with a big football bet, he just provided the bet history and that was the end of it
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the tax thing is fine but honestly the real problem is the bookies will limit or close your account the second you start actually winning consistently. i got restricted to like £2 max stakes after a good run. so the tax free thing means nothing if they wont take your money
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yeah that happens but spreading across a few accounts helps a bit. ive had some get limited but others stay fine for ages. it's annoying but doesnt happen to everyone, depends how you bet really. matched betting types get clamped fastest from what ive seen
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so does this mean i dont even need to mention it on a self assessment? i do one anyway for freelance work and wasnt sure if winnings go anywhere on the form
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correct, gambling winnings dont go on self assessment at all. theres no box for it because it isnt taxable income. just leave it out entirely. only thing to watch is if you start say investing those winnings and earn interest, that interest could be taxable, but the winnings themselves never are
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can vouch for everything in this thread. been betting since uni and never paid tax or declared anything. the 2001 change was the best thing they ever did for punters honestly. enjoy your 2k mate dont stress about it
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