Hi. The only income that I have that shouldn't be considered as income is from social security disability insurance which is around $22,000 I made for this past year. Also, during this past year I won sweepstake money on two social gambling sites called Lucky Land Slots and Chumba online slots. Between the both of them, I made around $7000 this past year. Both sites told me they do not send tax forms to the IRS or to myself regarding my winnings. Do I necessarily have to file this year? If I do have to file, how do I go about filing without tax forms involved? Would it be on other income on the 1040 is where I would put the amount made from from both sites?
If I do have to file I do have another thing to mention that will lead to a question later on in this paragraph. Both Chamba and Lucky Land Slots would give $1.00 of free sweep coins daily to gamble on their slots. I can obtain additional free sweep coins only by buying what is called gold coins (play money) that come in a variety of purchase options depending on the quantity. Can purchasing something else to enter to get more sweepstakes be used as deductions?
This is the first time I have ever dealt with anything regarding sweepstakes. If a tax professional can please write back to me about how I go about doing all this I would appreciate it.
