How to Fill Out IRS Form 730: Monthly Tax Return for Wagers

To fill out IRS Form 730, enter your identifying information and the month covered at the top, report your gross wagers on lines 1 through 3, split those wagers between state-authorized and unauthorized amounts on lines 4a and 4b to apply the 0.25% and 2% tax rates, claim any laid-off wager credits on line 5, and enter the net tax on line 6. The completed return goes to the IRS in Ogden, Utah, by the last day of the month after the month it covers.¹

Register With Form 11-C Before Your First Return

Form 730 assumes you are already registered. Before you accept a taxable wager, you have to file Form 11-C, which registers your wagering information with the IRS and pays your annual occupational tax.² Federal law prohibits you from accepting taxable wagers until that special tax is paid.³

The occupational tax is $50 per year if every wager you accept is authorized under state law, and $500 per year if any of the wagers you accept are not.⁴ Registration also requires you to list your name, residence, every place of business where you accept wagers, and the name and residence of anyone who receives wagers on your behalf. Agents register the name and residence of every principal they work for.⁵

What You Need Before You Start

Form 730 is a single page, but the calculations depend on records you should have already been keeping. Federal law requires anyone liable for the wagering excise tax to keep a daily record of the gross amount of all wagers subject to the tax.⁶ Monthly summaries alone will not satisfy that rule.

Before you sit down with the form, pull together:

Your Employer Identification Number.
Daily wagering records for the month, separated into wagers authorized under the law of the state where they were accepted and wagers that were not.
Records of any wagers you accepted and then laid off with another person liable for the tax, and records of any wagers you received as laid-off amounts from someone else.
For any credit you plan to claim on line 5, the certificate described in Treasury Regulations section 44.6419-2(d) and the supporting statement described below.

Header, Month Covered, and Final Return Box

Enter your name, address, and EIN in the identifying block at the top of the form. Write the month and year the return covers directly below. If this is the last Form 730 you will file because you have stopped accepting wagers, check the “Final return” box above line 1 so the IRS stops expecting monthly returns from you.

Lines 1 Through 3: Gross Wagers

Line 1 is the gross amount of all wagers you accepted during the month. Include every charge connected with placing the wager, such as service fees. One exception: if the bettor paid a separate charge equal to the excise tax and you can prove it, leave that charge out of the total. Do not include laid-off wagers on this line.⁷

Line 2 is for laid-off wagers you received. These are wagers that another taxable person accepted and then placed with you. Enter the gross amount here. Line 3 is the sum of lines 1 and 2.

Lines 4a Through 4c: Applying the Two Tax Rates

The excise tax has two rates, and this is where they apply. On line 4a, enter the portion of line 3 that represents wagers authorized under the law of the state where they were accepted, and multiply by 0.0025 for the 0.25% tax. On line 4b, enter the remaining wagers — the ones not authorized under state law — and multiply by 0.02 for the 2% tax.⁸ Line 4c is the total of 4a and 4b, and that total is your gross tax for the month.

The split matters. Every dollar of gross wagers has to land in one category or the other, and misclassifying unauthorized wagers as authorized understates the tax eightfold.

Line 5: Credit for Laid-Off Wagers

If you accepted a wager and then laid all or part of it off with another person who owes the excise tax, line 5 lets you avoid being taxed twice on the same dollars. No credit is allowed without supporting evidence.⁷

How you claim depends on whether you have already paid the tax on the laid-off amount:

If you already paid the tax, you can claim a credit for the tax you paid on the laid-off portion. File the claim within three years of the return that reported the tax, or two years from the date you actually paid, whichever is later. No interest is allowed on these credits.
If you have not yet paid the tax, you can claim the credit on the same Form 730 that covers the month you accepted and laid off the wager, provided you attach the required certificate.

Either way, attach the certificate described in Treasury Regulations section 44.6419-2(d), along with a statement giving the reason for the credit, the month the tax was paid, the payment date, and whether you have filed any previous claim on the same amount. You also have to show that you either never collected the tax from the bettor, refunded it, or have the bettor’s written consent to the credit.

Line 6: Net Tax Due

Subtract line 5 from line 4c and enter the result on line 6. That is the amount you owe for the month. If the amount comes out under $1.00, you do not have to pay it. If you had no wagering activity for the month, write “None” on line 6, sign the form, and send it in anyway.

Sign, Mail, and Pay

Sign and date the return. Mail it to:⁹

Department of the Treasury
Internal Revenue Service
Ogden, UT 84201-0100

The deadline is the last day of the calendar month following the month the return covers.¹ January activity is due February 28 or 29. November activity is due December 31. There is no annual option, and no skipping zero months.

If you pay by check or money order, include Form 730-V, the payment voucher printed on the same sheet as the return. The IRS uses the voucher to match your payment to your account.⁷ Make the check payable to “United States Treasury” and write your EIN and “Form 730” on it. You can also pay through the Electronic Federal Tax Payment System, which requires enrollment before your first payment, so set it up in advance of your first filing deadline.¹⁰

If You File or Pay Late

The failure-to-pay penalty is 0.5% of the unpaid tax for each month or partial month the balance remains outstanding, up to a maximum of 25%.¹¹ Interest also accrues on any unpaid tax from the due date until you pay in full, compounding daily at the federal short-term rate plus three percentage points.¹² A separate failure-to-file penalty applies if you do not submit the return at all, and it runs at a steeper rate. Filing on time, even when you cannot pay the full balance, keeps the penalty exposure lower.

1
eCFR. 26 CFR 44.6071-1 – Time for Filing Return
2
Internal Revenue Service. Form 11-C – Occupational Tax and Registration Return for Wagering
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4901 – Payment of Tax
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4411 – Imposition of Tax
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4412 – Registration
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4403 – Record Requirements
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 730 – Monthly Tax Return for Wagers
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Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4401 – Imposition of Tax
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Internal Revenue Service. Where to File – Forms Beginning With the Number 7
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Internal Revenue Service. EFTPS – The Electronic Federal Tax Payment System
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Internal Revenue Service. Failure to Pay Penalty
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 653 – IRS Notices and Bills, Penalties and Interest Charges