Are Betting Profits Taxable?
Are you worried about the impact your profits from Matched Betting and perhaps also casino offers will have on your income tax? Do you perhaps have to declare your profits in your tax return?
We often get asked these and similar questions. In this blog post, we would like to try to clarify a few misunderstandings and give you some links to further information that you can pursue.
This post relates to the fiscal situation in Germany!
First of all: any winnings from gambling are not taxed in principle and do not need to be declared either, i.e. there is no obligation to disclose them. This relates to both lottery wins, as well as winnings from sports betting and casino games, no matter what the amount.
Below is the relevant legal wording and a few links to articles in which the topic of tax on winnings from sports betting and casino games is discussed.
VAT: https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/ustg_1980/__4.html unter §4 Nr. 9 Buchst. b Satz 1 UstG
Sports Betting: https://www.vlh.de/wissen-service/steuer-abc/sportwetten-sind-wettgewinne-steuerfrei.html
Casino Wins: https://www.lohnsteuer-kompakt.de/steuerwissen/muessen-casinogewinne-versteuert-werden/
Exception: Games that are based on knowledge or skill, e.g. winnings from a chess tournament or a TV quiz where you have to answer questions correctly. This however does not apply to sports betting! 🙂
But how about professional players who make a living from sports betting? According to general information regarding this, those winnings are in fact taxable and need to be declared in a tax return.
However, there is an opinion that even for players who do sports betting professionally, certain features, like the participation in general economic traffic, as well as a causal exchange of services, are missing. This opinion is further explained in the following article:
https://www.ahs-kanzlei.de/2019-03-einkommensteuer-gewinne-sportwetten-gewerbe
In general, by the way, the usual regulations with regard to recipients of Hartz 4 (income support) or BAFÖG (students) apply with regard to any additional earnings.
DoppelWetten is not responsible for the content of the external links. This post is for general information and does not constitute any financial or fiscal advice. It is down to every individual Matched Bettor to look into these issues and to verify whether their earnings are taxable, because laws and regulations can change at any time.
