Unibet Open Bucharest

[sgriff]

 I am looking to book flights now to get a cheaper advance fare. Are the Bucharest dates firm? Is it safe for me to book flights?

 

[JeppeL]

@sgriff I can confirm the Bucharest dates of 30th November to 3rd of December. They won't be changed, so go ahead and book your flights :)

[sgriff]

Thanks Jeppe. I'm all booked. Woohoo! See you there. Hopefully see a few other familiar faces too.

[JeppeL]

Awesome @sgriff, should be a good one this year :)

[bergeroo]

Hi - I'm interested in going to this tournament, I just have a question. Are there any issues with Romanian taxes? I know you ran a tourney there last year.

For example, if I cash for 10k, am I going to get all of that, or will the Romanian government take a %?

Thanks.

[VikingsAF]

@bergeroo

I am not sure, but I think you don't need to pay taxes to Romania. BUT, you will have to pay taxes to your own country if the win is significant. (I don't know the numbers)

Maybe there is a difference when you want the payout in cash or as a deposit.

Hope this answer is of any kind of help :)

[bergeroo]

Thanks for your reply. I'm British, so no gambling taxes for me. But I've heard conflicting things from people who played poker stars event in Bucharest and the Pokerfest events they have. I believe Romanians are taxed from the prize pool in event of a big cash but I don't know about foreigners.

 

Perhaps someone who final tabled last year might chime in or the organisers can when they get official confirmation...

 

Cheers

[MoreTBC]

Romania

1% up to 66,750 RON, additional 16% of surpassing margin up to 445,000, additional 25% of surpassing margin over 445,000 RON

 

Source: https://www.cheekypunter.com/faq/do-i-have-to-pay-taxes-on-online-gambling-winnings/

66750 RON is about £13.4k and 445000 RON is £89.5k going by todays rates.

 

Best people to ask would be @AndreiBN or @FeelsBadMan, they're (hopefully) both Romanian.

[VikingsAF]

@MoreTBC

But isn't that for Romanian players? You should normally only pay for the country where your residence is.

E.g. Kenny hallaert, who finished 5th or 6th (not sure) can keep all of his november nine winnings, and a higher placed American player actually earns less, because he has to pay up to 45% in taxes.

The only reason why I'm not 100% sure that this is for all countries like this, is because they're always talking about an American-Foreigner agreement.

[MoreTBC]

In Kenny's situation (or John Hesp this year) there is a treaty between the US and many countries where winnings are not taxed, including Belguim and the UK. If Kenny had been Canadian, for example, he would have had to pay the standard 30% on his US winnings. 

Edit: I think the list in the link is what UK players would have to pay because I think Greek/Dutch players get heavily taxed but both show as no tax on the list.

[VikingsAF]

Okay @bergeroo, I did some research for you.

@MoreTBC is right. You normally should pay taxes to the country you win in. (Look a few posts up to see the Romanian rates :) )

@JeppeL I will get you here in the discussion, because it could be possible, that, because Unibet isn't a Romanian company,  your home country taxation still applies. 

(Tough actually UO Bucharest is hosted by PokerFest Romania, so I still think the Romanian taxes will apply)

All I can say, by doing this research, is that taxation rules for poker abroad aren't that clear at all.

Edit to @MoreTBC's edit.: Yes but USA is stated as 25% which isn't the case ;) (because of this regulation). The dutch thing is just wrong worded. Everything above 454 needs to be taxed (in the past even every hand in a cash game above 454) when it's a live event. So dutchies don't need to pay the tax if the prize is lower than 454 (don't substract the buy-in). On online gambling they have it bad indeed. 29% on everything is what they need to pay. (So even when they make profit of 10 euro online they need to pay 2.9 euro)

[MoreTBC]

Doesn't seem too bad for UK players when you first look at it. Based on above numbers and last years payouts you would need to finish in the top 6 or 7 before you broke the second tax tier.

 

A €100k (£92k) first place win would tax roughly like this :-

 

1% of first 13.4k = £134

16% of (£89.5k - £13.4k = £76,100) = £12,176

25% or (£92k - £89.5k = £2500) = £625

 

Total Tax: £12,935 - Total winnings: £79,065

 

I think that's how it works. Still a pretty nice payday :)

[bergeroo]

ok thanks for the posts guys and it seems like that is the correct info:

Here is a post from twoplustwo where a Romanian player talks about it and correlates with your info:

http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/184/staking-selling-shares-live/asehigh-pokerstars-festival-bucharest-1680872/

"Please keep in mind when buying that I have to pay taxes on possible cashes in the following quantums: 1% up to 15k euro, 16% for the difference between 15k and 99999 euro and 25% on the above 100k eur difference.  "

Does put me off playing the tournament slightly. Certainly I won't be playing the high roller (!!)

Hopefully Unibet will add this information to their website when the schedule is announced.

[sgriff]

---

@sgriff wrote:

Thanks Jeppe. I'm all booked. Woohoo! See you there. Hopefully see a few other familiar faces too.

---

Guess who booked with Ryanair?  First time I risked it and now look what happened! 

[0dividedby0]

ok , so i called anaf (the national tax administration ) and asked if a player comes from another country and wins gambling if they have to pay taxes for that win and they've said that he need to pay 1% of the win (regardless of earnings) . :D

Specifications :

-ANAF is the national tax administration for Romania.

-i asked them if someone from France come and bets (it was the first country that come to my mind but i don;t think the nationality matters ,because the lady on the phone said if someone from another country comes to Romania and wins they have to pay 1% of the winnings .. she didn;t say if someone from France comes ,,,,,, ).

-I am from Romania.

[0dividedby0]

But if you want to be sure it's 1% regardless of the player country or the winnings , Unibet probably can ask their lawyers to ckeck it or to tell unibet employees from the headquarters in Bucharest to check what it is.