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The Most Important PT Article for Players?
by Bill Stark | posted at 2010-02-16 22:38:00
tagged: MTG, Magic, Magic the Gathering, Pro Tour, PT, Jon Becker, Taxes, Tax
Pro Tour-San Diego marks the kickoff to the 2010 Pro Tour season, but if you're a full time Pro Tour player, it promises to provide an additional opportunity that could save a lot of players time, money, and potentially jail. Jon Becker, a former Wizards coverage reporter and long time player from the East Coast, will be hosting a number of impromptu tax sessions, just in time for the 2010 tax season.
What does this mean to you? A lot of Pro Tour players are young, first time tax payers or people who don't have a lot of experiences with taxes in general. They don't realize they may be able to save thousands of dollars in taxes from winnings or claim a number of expenses from traveling to defray the total amount of costs they might have from taxes. The information is useful for Pro Tour players, freelance writers, or poker players.
Why is this a big deal? Not properly declaring your taxes can cost you significant portions of money you either don't owe the government, or don't have to pay them. Or, it could cost you big time in legal penalties and/or jail if you don't declare money won from playing cards (whatever form).
About Jon
Jon Becker is a long time attorney, with a Master's of Tax from Georgetown. A long time Magic player with a Pro Tour career in between his day job as legal counsel, Jon has also been active in the writing and coverage community. He serves as legal representative for numerous poker and Magic players, including a number of pros who have left the game full time and moved to foreign countries to pursue jobs. He plans on giving presentations Friday, Saturday, and possibly Sunday in San Diego (though his seminars are not being sponsored by Wizards of the Coast). In addition to speaking with the public, he's also agreed to do some one-on-one sessions with interested parties. Considering the rate at which legal advice can cost, the opportunity is a big one for players who have failed to declare winnings, failed to file tax returns during previous years, or are simply curious about how they can save money/file properly.
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Bill Stark is the founder and editor-in-chief of TheStarkingtonPost.com. He began playing Magic in 1995 after being introduced to the game by his brother. Since then he has competed at all levels of play including the JSS, Grand Prix, Nationals, and Pro Tour. In addition to his career as a pro, Bill began writing about the game early on for TheDojo.com, the first website dedicated to Magic. Since then he has written and edited for nearly every major Magic website on the web. In 2007 he began work as an official coverage reporter for Wizards of the Coast, flying to Grand Prixs, Nationals, and World Championships to record the events happening at each. He was also hired for six months as an R&D intern at Wizards where he worked on the redesign for DailyMTG.com as well as helping to develop multiple Magic sets. After leaving Wizards, he started TheStarkingtonPost.com to utilize his many contacts in the industry to provide a better information solution for fans of TCGs, gaming, and Magic: The Gathering.