Can You Get a Casino Tax Refund Without an ITIN?

On this page

1. The Short Answer: A Number Is Required, but You Can Start Without One
2. Why the IRS Needs an ID Number to Match Your Withholding
3. Which Number the IRS Uses in Your Situation
4. How the ITIN Application Travels With the Refund Return
5. Proving Identity Without Mailing Your Passport
6. What Happens When a Return Arrives With No Number
7. One ITIN for Every Future Win
8. What a Preparer Handles in a Claim Without an ITIN
9. Frequently Asked Questions

You won at a U.S. casino, the casino issued Form 1042-S, and 30% of the payout was withheld under the rule for non-residents. Now you want that money back, and you have no U.S. taxpayer number. A casino tax refund without an ITIN can still get started. The IRS does need an ID number to match the withholding to you, but a non-resident in this position can apply for the ITIN and have it processed together with the refund return. This article explains how that works and how identity is proven without mailing a passport.

The Short Answer: A Number Is Required, but You Can Start Without One

The IRS does need a taxpayer identification number before it can process a refund claim. A non-resident files a U.S. return to ask for the tax withheld at the casino to be paid back, and the IRS has to know exactly which person is asking. For most visitors from Canada and other countries, that number is an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, or ITIN. A Social Security number also works, but most casino visitors have never been issued one.

Not having an ITIN yet is the usual starting point. A non-resident in this position applies for one, and the application is sent together with the return as a single package. The IRS reviews the application, assigns the number if it approves it, and then processes the return under that number. There is no separate step of getting an ITIN first and filing the refund return later.

This means the claim can be prepared before any number exists. The return and the ITIN application are prepared together, and the casino’s Form 1042-S showing the amount withheld goes in with both. Whether the IRS issues the ITIN and pays the refund is its decision alone, and the IRS sets the pace, which varies from case to case. U.S. Tax Recovery prepares and files all of it for you. For background on the number itself, see what an ITIN is and why casino winners need one.

Why the IRS Needs an ID Number to Match Your Withholding

When a U.S. casino withholds tax from a non-resident’s win, it reports the payment on Form 1042-S, showing the gross winnings and the federal tax withheld. The casino sends one copy to the winner and reports the same figures to the IRS. From that point, the IRS holds a record of tax paid on someone’s behalf. The record shows a name, an address and a dollar amount, but it is not yet tied to a tax account. For a closer look at the form, see our guide to Form 1042-S.

A refund claim asks the IRS to credit that withheld tax back to the person who earned the winnings. The IRS then has to match two things: the withholding it was told about and the person now asking for it. A name is not enough, since many people share one. The identification number is what links the claim to a single taxpayer account.

Many visitors look at their 1042-S and find the space for the recipient’s U.S. taxpayer number empty. This is normal. A Canadian or other foreign visitor usually has no U.S. number when they collect a jackpot, so the casino has nothing to enter. The casino still withholds, because the rule for payments to non-residents sets the 30% rate whether or not a number is on file.

That blank generally does not need to be fixed by the casino. Once the IRS issues an ITIN, that number goes on the return, and the 1042-S is attached as support for the withholding claimed. The IRS reads the return, the attached slip and the new ITIN together, so a missing number at the casino cage does not, by itself, end the possibility of a claim.

Which Number the IRS Uses in Your Situation

Which number the IRS uses, and whether an ITIN application is needed, depends on what U.S. number you already hold. Most visitors fall into one of four situations.

A person with no U.S. number at all applies for an ITIN, which the IRS assigns while processing the application and then uses on the return. A person holding a valid ITIN simply uses it. Nothing else is needed, because the IRS already has that identity on file and can match it to the withholding shown on the Form 1042-S.

An expired ITIN is still your number, but the IRS will not treat it as active on a return until it is renewed. The guide on renewing an expired ITIN covers that route.

An SSN from past U.S. work or study does not expire, and it is the number to use. Someone who has an SSN, or is eligible for one, is not eligible for an ITIN, so applying for both creates a mismatch and not a fix. If you are unsure which number you hold, what an ITIN is and how it differs from an SSN explains the distinction.

How the ITIN Application Travels With the Refund Return

For a first-time applicant, the return and the ITIN application are prepared together. The return reports the gambling income shown on the casino’s Form 1042-S and claims the tax withheld. The one difference from an ordinary return is that the identification number is left for the IRS to fill in once it assigns one. The ITIN application is then sent with the return to the IRS unit that handles ITINs, not to the address normally used for returns. That is why the application and the return need to be put together carefully.

The ITIN unit reviews the application first. If it assigns a number, it enters that number on the return and passes the return on for processing, so the refund claim and the 1042-S withholding can be matched. Sending the return alone breaks this chain, because the unit that issues ITINs never sees it. The IRS sets the pace at each stage, and it varies from case to case. We take care of this assembly for you.

Proving Identity Without Mailing Your Passport

An ITIN application asks the applicant to prove two things: who they are and that they are a foreign national. A valid passport covers both on its own, which is why it is the document most non-residents use. The IRS accepts the passport as the original, or a copy certified by the issuing agency. For a Canadian, that agency is the passport office that issued it. An ordinary photocopy, or one stamped by a notary, does not meet the rule.

Sending the original means mailing a passport across the border to the IRS ITIN unit. The IRS returns original documents once it has reviewed them, but the passport stays out of its owner’s hands until then. Someone who travels, or simply does not want their passport in the mail, has a reason to look at the other route.

That route is a Certifying Acceptance Agent. A CAA examines the original passport, confirms that it is genuine and matches the applicant, and certifies the identity documents. The IRS accepts that certification in place of the original. The passport is reviewed once, by the agent, and handed straight back to its owner. The IRS still decides whether to issue the ITIN.

U.S. Tax Recovery is an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, listed on the IRS’s Acceptance Agents directory for Canada. That is a credential that allows the company to certify identity documents for an ITIN application. It is not an endorsement from the IRS, and the company is not affiliated with the IRS. For a fuller look at the number and when it is needed, see Do you need an ITIN?

What Happens When a Return Arrives With No Number

The withholding on a casino win sits in the IRS’s records under the Form 1042-S the casino filed. The refund return is the claim to get that tax back, and the identification number is what lets the IRS connect the two. When the return carries no number and no request for one, the IRS can see a claim for credit, but nothing on it ties the claim to the person named on the 1042-S.

In that situation, the IRS typically does not process the refund. It holds the return and writes back by letter, asking for the missing identification. The return generally stays where it is until that information arrives, and some returns in this position are treated as incomplete instead. The IRS sets the pace of any follow-up, and it varies from case to case.

For a non-resident who has never had an ITIN, answering that letter usually means supplying what was missing in the first place: the ITIN application and identity documents that meet the IRS standard. The claim then moves back into the ITIN step with an extra round of correspondence. A missing number is one of several gaps that can stall a claim, and the guide on why a casino tax refund gets delayed covers the others.

One ITIN for Every Future Win

When the IRS approves an ITIN application, it assigns the number to the person who applied. The number is not tied to one casino, one jackpot or one tax year. The IRS confirms it in a notice mailed to the address on the application. That notice is the record of your number, so it belongs with your 1042-S slips and copies of your returns. If it goes missing, the number still exists, but finding it again takes extra steps.

On a later win, the same ITIN is used on the new return, and no new application is needed because the IRS already has a number on file for you. The same applies to a return for an earlier tax year that was never claimed. The guide on claims for more than one win covers how separate years are handled.

An ITIN does not last forever on its own. Under the IRS rule, an ITIN that is not used on a federal tax return at least once in three consecutive tax years expires at the end of the third year. Casino trips are often irregular, so a gap like that is common. An expired number can stall the return, because the IRS has to sort out the identification before it looks at the refund. Renewing an expired ITIN is its own process, covered in the separate guide on renewing an expired ITIN before a casino refund claim.

What a Preparer Handles in a Claim Without an ITIN

A preparer starts with the paperwork the casino issued. U.S. Tax Recovery uses the figures on your Form 1042-S to prepare the U.S. nonresident return, applying the tax treaty between Canada and the U.S. where it fits the facts. It also prepares the ITIN application, and the two are completed to match each other, with the same name, the same foreign address and the same tax year.

Identity is the next piece. The ITIN application needs proof of identity and foreign status, which for most visitors means a passport. U.S. Tax Recovery is an IRS Certifying Acceptance Agent, listed on the IRS’s Acceptance Agents directory for Canada. In that role, the company reviews the passport and certifies the identity documents. The certification goes into the package in place of the original, so the passport stays with its owner. We then assemble the package and send it to the IRS. Each step is laid out on the how it works page.

There are limits to what any preparer does. The IRS alone decides whether to issue the ITIN and whether to pay the refund, and it sets the pace, which varies from case to case. The time limits for claiming a given tax year depend on that year, so they are checked case by case before anything is filed. U.S. Tax Recovery is not affiliated with the IRS. It prepares and certifies documents.

Frequently Asked Questions