Legal and tax situation in EIRE
Hi all !!
I searched for threads about the subject but didn't find anything. I am amazed that nobody posted on this subject before.
I know many of the biggest poker professionals have moved to London. And of course, London > Dublin in a lot of ways. I'm not comparing the two cities here.
But I have never heard about players intending to move to Eire. Nevertheless its situation toward poker players seem to be the best in the world for what I have read until now. But maybe I'm wrong, so I would like to know the opinions from better conoisseurs of the situation in this country.
I would like to get viable informations about this subjects :
1) A EU citizen player can go to Eire and stay as long as he wants ?
2) Will he be taxed ? What does he have to do ? I have read that gambling winnings are tax free in Eire but I can't say if he has to officialy declare himself as a professional poker player and then pay for social contributions to be in the right/legal way. Or does he have to just settle down and nothing to do to the administration since poker is not taxed there ?
So what ? U just have to rent a flat, settle down, stay min. 183 days here, grind, grind, grind, and u don't have to worry about anything else ?
3) UK seemed to be the best destination for players. Stable situation, tax free, etc. All the other destinations loved by grinders like Malta, Thailand, SA, etc, don't seem to be as good as UK regarding legal and fiscal aspects.
But now, with the new UK law, would it be better to move to Eire ?
Like I said, I'm not trying to compare the pros and cons of the everyday life between several countries. From what I have read, I find that Eire offer the clearest fiscal and legal situation for a poker grinder in the world now, in ~2015.
UK still offers a clear situation too but the .co.uk will pump some money from grinders in the next year. So...Eire seems to be the "UK before the new bill".
4) Is it viable for long term ? I have heard rumors that govt could pass a bill like in the UK to tax poker rooms but it doesn't seem to take off.
If anyone have infos about Eire...😀 Because I don't understand why we never see this country in the gigantic number of threads about these subjects.
So maybe I miss something ! But now i don't see any other country in the world where :
- poker is legal
- poker is tax free
- where we can play on the .com (with no raised rake) and on the .fr for example (since it's not possible now in UK)
Let me know if u know a country with a better (or even equal) situation !
Thanks !!
4 Replies
Hey there. Was wondering if any of you guys had info on the following:
US/Irish dual citizen. Played poker full time last year. First six months in USA online and live at wsop. Last 6 months in Ireland.
Previous to this I lived in the US for many years with a real life job and paid taxes accordingly.
I need to file a tax return with the US this year. I currently live in Ireland. Do you think I should just pay taxes on the $$ earned in the US ? Or do I also owe taxes on the Ireland poker income?
Namaste90
Obv, you should check this info fully, but a quick Google gets the AI summary:
Yes, as an American working in Ireland, you must still file a U.S. federal tax return and report your worldwide income, regardless of where you live. While you must file, you likely won't owe double tax due to mechanisms like the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) and Foreign Tax Credits (FTC), which prevent taxing the same income twice.
He def wants to get advice on this. He is not just a US citz and taxpayer, he is under the jurisdiction of Eire tax where gambling winnings are not taxable. This is important as the reason that eg UK winners in vegas don't pay tax is because there is a tax treaty between Uk and Us, so Uk bods are allowed to get us winnings in full, because it is accepted that they will be dealt with under domestic tax arrangements, which is tax free.
So the angle should be that he is under an Irish regime for gambling winnings and thus all tax due is to Eire (which is nil). So advice needed.
btw namaste Eire's new gambling regime will be in place by the end of this year and live will be non-existent and online probably the same. So don't get to cosy in the republic.
Namaste90Obv, you should check this info fully, but a quick Google gets the AI summary:Yes, as an American working in Ireland, you must still file a U.S. federal tax return and report your worldwide income, regardless of where you live. While you must file, you likely won't owe double tax due to mechanisms like the Foreign Earned Income Exclusion (FEIE) and Foreign Tax Credits
He def wants to get advice on this. He is not just a US citz and taxpayer, he is under the jurisdiction of Eire tax where gambling winnings are not taxable. This is important as the reason that eg UK winners in vegas don't pay tax is because there is a tax treaty between Uk and Us, so Uk bods are allowed to get us winnings in full, because it is accepted that they will be deal
Hey guys thanks for reaching out. And sorry for late reply. But yea the thing I wonder about most is the income that was made in Europe. Currently in Ireland there is no income tax on poker winnings nor has there been for at least the past 20 years while I have been playing. Davmcg is correct in his point regarding UK players not being taxed as WSOP and this is the angle where i'm coming from. No doubt i'll just reach out to a really good accountant who deals with poker and just file accordingly.
Gonna get even more awkward next year as i'm likely moving to South Korea 😀 One step at a time
