As March Madness heats up this week, so do legal issues
surrounding everything from office pools to antitrust suits.
Depending on where you live, thanks to the federal system, the
brackets people filled out and the ten dollars each participant
contributed to office March Madness pools could mean the
participants are committing anything from a misdemeanor to a
felony or, in some states, possibly just violating company
policy.  For those individuals who win their office pools,
remember that the IRS requires people to report gambling
winnings as “other income” on their 2014 tax returns.
Individuals who show actual gambling winnings are allowed to
offset those gambling winnings with gambling losses.
Unfortunately, for those individuals who do not win their office
pool, the losses cannot be used to set off the salary they
earned while participating in the pool (or any other ordinary
income).  Finally, unlike the individuals winning their office
pools, the college basketball players are not compensated
directly for