There Is Relief Available For Las Vegas Tax On Winnings

For almost eighty years Las Vegas, Nevada has been a base for several casinos.  Frank Sinatra and his Rat Pack made the city famous in the fifties and it has been the fashionable place for gambling ever since.  Twenty four hours a day, seven days a week eleven major casinos offer side shows, drinking, luxury hotel rooms, and above all gambling.  Just about any game is available.  The United States Internal Revenue Service IRS) was quick to notice the millions being won and soon devised special rules to be able to collect a Las Vegas Tax on Winnings.
Canadians are no exception and the Las Vegas tourist commission advertises north of the border with gusto.  With a temperate desert climate (especially in the winter as compared to most of Canada) flights from most major cities to Vegas on Air Canada are nonstop and mostly quite full.  The casinos offer free vacations, homes, new luxury cars (BMW, Cadillac), even watches and jewelry for jackpots but most of all cash and a lot of it.  Some games can pay as much as one million dollars or more.  There is US tax recovery Canadians available.
The IRS requires the casinos to deduct thirty per cent of a foreigner’s winnings.  The casino is decreed by law to fill out IRS Form W2-G. The Canadian wins five hundred thousand dollars and collects $350,000.  If the alien is unaware of current regulations, he flies home to Ottawa blissfully happy, only to face Canadian tax authorities for more taxes, not knowing that the United States Government has taken his money for a Las Vegas Tax on Winnings that they should never have collected in the first place.
That is because Canada and the United States, like many other friendly countries, have a tax treaty with each other.  Basically the treaty states that Canadians residing in their home country do not have to pay taxes to the US based upon income provided from short trip, as Canada already taxes them.   The Canadian gambler will still have to file the paperwork and once again pay the thirty per cent ($150,000) tax yet once he gets home he can file IRS Form 1042-S for a complete refund for the taxes he paid to the US tax recovery Canadians.