To make money out of spread betting while on benefits

Profits from CFDs are taxable, but you need to have capital gains over over £10k to actually have to pay anything. Profits from spread betting are generally not subject to tax.

The reason the tax man doesn't tax gambling profits is simply that most punters lose. If based in the UK, the bookie pays corporation tax plus a gambling levy of 10% net winnings for sports spread bets or 3% for financial. If he taxed the bettor, it would be a net cost to the taxman as they would have to let you offset losses against other income.

I thought CFDs were classed as gambling so not taxable income - it does show how risky such activities are considered that even the tax man can't take a cut!

A lot of confusion caused by the OP. Spread betting and trading CFDs are similar, but legally different.

If you're spread betting (and you aren't a professional gambler) then profits are free of Capital Gains Tax (CGT), and don't count as income. So they're tax free, but you can't offset any losses against CGT.

If you're trading CFDs, any profits are subject to CGT, although £600 is well under your annual CGT allowance.

Either way, I wouldn't do it - the vast majority of spread betters and CFD traders lose money. Think 90%. You may be up £600 now, but you will likely give it all back to the bookie before long.

One way to maximise your matched betting is to open your various bookmaker accounts through cashback websites such as TopCashBack or Quidco :)

I remember the McColls story. I suspect the woman in question may have provided bank statements on HRMC's request for a tax credits review. They, whoever they may be, are still not permitted to flout data protection laws and have direct or continual access to claimants bank accounts.

Sprong - most bookies now require copies of photo ID before any funds will be released, so it's nigh on impossible to open second accounts.

Just as an aside, we did a lot of match betting through Betfair some years ago, using the free sign up promotional cash offered by online betting firms. After a while each and every one of the U.K. Firms close our accounts as they were clearly onto what we were doing. I've tried to sign up again using different email accounts but they clearly shock the IP as the new accounts have been declined. Good while it lasted though.

BetsyM00

It's not technically nonsense. There was a woman last year who had her Tax Credits stopped because HRMC thought she had a new boyfriend, turned out that actually it was because she was drawing her benefits from a "Martin MCcolls"
HMRC thought she had a new boyfriend when they saw it repeated on her bank account.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/single-mum-benefits-stopped-after-6543039

So yes, they have access and even small amounts will be noticed.

Really, Followyourart? Do you mean to say that banks have all accounts of benefit claimants tagged and report any deposits over a set amount to the DWP? Or do you mean jobcentre staff have direct access to claimants bank accounts and monitor them regularly?

What nonsense!

As far as I am aware, the benefit fraud department either have to have a claimants written permission to access bank account information, or have enough evidence to request court ordered access.

I think you're asking in the wrong place. There must be forums out there dedicated to the subject?

Re benefits, they can see your accounts and any income (particularly large amounts I.e I'm the 100's) is triggered , trust me I know. :-/ it isn't worth the risk. If you're making an income doing this you shouldn't be claiming benefits.

the easiest way is having two markets (such as yes it will snow tomorrow at 5/1 and no it won't for 3/1) on one site and another saying (yes it will snow 3/1 and no it won't 5/1) so you can cover both markets (yes and no) at 5/1 and definitely make money. But they have stopped this competition on most things now because a lot of the betting companies are parent companies of each other now :(

Other than that you can effectively match bets on a site called betfair. Which allows you to give 'odds' to another person. This is a bit trickier because you have to know something about the markets you are giving prices for or you could be grossly undercutting or overpricing, but there are a lot of how-to guides out there if you google.

When you sign up to a betting company (there are various ones to choose) you will no doubt get a "bet £10, get £10 if your bet loses" so you deposit £10 and then back (for eg.) Chelsea to win. Then you put in £10 in a different site- assuming they all have similar offers and put your £10 'risk free money' on man Utd to win. Obviously you would also need a third site in this scenario to cover the draw. Then whichever result comes in you will win (and receive your losing stakes back as free bets to have another go with on the other two sites)

Ok so I get the notion of putting alternate bets on (presumably with two different sites? But where does the promotional bet come into it?

Can you explain them both simply millions?

Spread betting is gambling. I do matched betting and it's a lot better and risk free!

if it is a trade (not sure that it is), surely you would treat it as a business, i.e. wait till the end of the tax year and declare the year's profits, or loss. Just because you make money in a particular 2 months doesn't mean you won't lose in the next two months... or not do it for 2 months. Just as if you're a plumber, you don't do a job and immediately pay tax on what you earnt, you wait to see how the whole tax year pans out. Though we are heading to wards the end of the year of course! It sounds like you'll be well within your personal allowance in any case, as far as paying income tax is concerned. As for benefits, I don't know anything about that! But as PPs have said, I'd be careful.

Could someone explain to me about matched betting though?

Matched betting at it's core is basically:
Man Utd Vs Arsenal
You bet at Ladbrokes that Man Utd will win
You bet at Coral that Arsenal will win
Either way, you win.
You then do that again with a promotional free bet and if the free bet wins, you keep the money, if the free bet loses you don't lose because your "Matched" bet covers it.
(there is a lot more to it but that is the basic. fans of matched betting say you can get a few hundred a month, i found it to be less and it's effort and time etc. I thin ki worked it out that i'd have been better off getting a minimum wage job for 20 hours a week)

Winnings from gambling usually aren't taxable, but the profit is declarable.

I would tell the DWP because I imagine your JSA will stop as soon as they notice the profit in your bank account, and you'll probably end up with a hefty overpayment, too.

It may be that they won't count it as income but unless it's changed recently, they will.

to keep yourself right with DWP ask them if you have to declare. If people know you are on benefits and earning this extra cash someone might report you. Best to be honest with DWP. My wife received £1 extra per week on her ESA to cover our mortgage interest payments. When I paid the mortgage off - 4 months ago - she forgot to tell them and when we received form to send to building society to confirm we were still paying mortgage she spoke to DWP to tell them of our error one of the advisors accused her of fraud even though the amount of over payment was just over £20.

Yes CFD is taxable and don't think that a low overall P&L will go unnoticed, the frequency of trades will be noticed and you could well be persued by the tax man. There is much more transparency these days. You could leave UK, there are plenty of countries who don't tax such trading.

Spread betting is slightly different to CFD. Spread betting is gambling on an outcome - no trade takes place because you are simply gambling on e.g. Whether something goes up or down and then closing at a point which meets your satisfaction. No money changes hands until you close the bet. So you could be £500 up, the unemployment figures get released and suddenly your bet drops through the floor and the £500 you had showing on your bet is gone.

Could someone explain to me about matched betting though?

Betting tax paid by company offering cfd? So nothing to do with taxman?

ther eis also a slight difference between "Spread betting" and "CFD Trading"

Which you will find info on here:
www.cmcmarkets.com/en-gb/learn-spread-betting/spread-betting-vs-cfd

Taken directly from that link:
CFDs:
Since you don't own the underlying asset when trading CFDs, there is no stamp duty to pay*. However, you will be subject to capital gains tax.