German Poker Pro Appeals Taxes On WinningsPoker: Game Of Luck Or Skill? Answer Will Decide German Court Ruling |
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A former poker player is appealing against having his winnings of more than $1 million taxed. According to Tax-News.com, the test case is being looked into by a tax court in Cologne, which will have to conclude whether or not the game relies on luck or skill in order to reach a decision.
The tax authorities have demanded tax to be paid on the German player’s winnings from 2001 to 2008 with the argument that professional poker players are carrying out a commercial activity, relying on skill rather than chance.
The plaintiff’s argument is that his success relied mainly on luck and that skill and a player’s influence does not guarantee a win.
Earlier this week a judge in the U.S. ruled poker was a game of skill while a Dutch academics published a paper suggesting poker was a skill game.
A verdict will be decided upon this year. In the meantime, hundreds of poker players in Germany are facing this problem.
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Comments
Cameron1
10 months ago
Who wins every time at anything? Even the great tennis players, golfers, nba stars etc get beat from time to time. Does that mean its not a game of skill because the best players lose from time to time? Absolutely not.
Staphylococcus
10 months ago
Please do not win this case you selfish jerk. Ever since Black Friday, the poker community has avidly been trying to convince higher political entities that poker is a game of skill in order to regulate the industry properly. If this appeal goes through in Germany, a highly respected economic power, it will just supply fodder for ultra-conservative right movements in the US as well as other countries. Pay your damn taxes fool. If you don't know that poker is a game of skill after you played it for 7 years, then you are either a liar or an idiot. Ein Lügner oder ein Idiot.