Some unknown bureaucrat working at the Israel Tax Authority was likely reading something about poker or perhaps watching the World Series of Poker on television when he asked himself, “I wonder if Israeli poker players are paying their income taxes?” He likely looked at poker websites such as Hendon Mob and did a search on ‘Israel.’ He discovered that there were Israeli poker professionals and even an Israel Poker Tour (held in Cyprus).
As an article in Globes notes, the Tax Authority wants its share. The current disputes include:
– Taxing poker as a business (at a rate of up to 50%) rather than as gambling (at 35%);
– Allowing business expenses, such as travel and tournament fees; and
– Allowing poker losses and ‘staking losses’ (where a player wins money but must give it to others) as an offset to income.
It appears that the Tax Authority has won that poker income will be taxed as a business, but has not allowed all business expenses and what I’m calling staking losses. Disputes are finding their way into Israel’s court system; it will likely be months to years before there’s a resolution of the issues.
That said, one thing is clear: With the Internet and publicity, it’s getting harder and harder to hide the fact that you’ve earned income. Sharon Fishman, the manager of criminal taxation department of Doron, Tikotzky, Kantor Gutman and Amit Gross law firm, is quoted in the Globes article:
An administrative decision was recently taken there to zero in on this segment of professional poker players. This is due mainly the accessibility of the information about them on the Internet, because there are now international websites that report who won international tournaments, who plays on the Internet, and who is traveling to overseas tournaments. They publish the names of the winners, where they come from, and how much money they earned, so the tax authorities suddenly have abundant evidence, and you can’t tell them that you weren’t there and didn’t win.