Gambling winnings tax in Utah

Utah taxes your gross gambling winnings and allows no deduction for losses, so a losing year can still produce a state tax bill.

Checked against Utah’s own sources on 2026-10-02.

In short

A win usually makes Utah’s taxpayer tax credit smaller, because the credit shrinks as your state taxable income goes up.6, 7
From 2026, $10,000 of itemized gambling losses can raise your Utah credit by up to $540, and by less if you are in the 37 percent federal bracket.
If you get Social Security, a win can also shrink Utah’s credit for your benefits.2

How Utah treats gambling losses

6, 7, 10

Utah does not let a casual gambler offset winnings with losses at all. But its taxpayer tax credit is a share of the deduction your federal return takes, so itemizing federally, losses included, can lower the state figure.

The two examples below are the same numbers the calculator uses, worked at Utah rates.

Two examples, worked at 2026 Utah rates

A single filer with $60,000 of other income who takes the standard deduction on everything except gambling losses.

A losing year

You win $50,000 and lose $52,000, so you finish down $2,000.

Federal: $3,596
Utah: $1,033
Total: $4,629

You finished the year down and still owe tax.

Federally you itemize, so your losses offset your winnings, but the 2026 rule caps that deduction at 90 percent and leaves $3,200 taxable. Utah starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at 4.45 percent, less $1,192 because your gambling losses raise your taxpayer tax credit, which comes to $1,033.

A winning year

You win $50,000 and lose $10,000, so you finish up $40,000.

Federal: $10,350
Utah: $2,654
Total: $13,004

Federally you take the $16,100 standard deduction, which is worth more than itemizing, so your gambling losses do not reduce your federal tax at all. Utah starts from your federal income and allows no deduction for gambling losses, so the full $50,000 is taxed at 4.45 percent, plus $429 because the win takes away your taxpayer tax credit, which comes to $2,654.

Utah income tax rates, 2026

5, 10

Taxable income	Rate
$0 and above	4.45 percent

The calculator also applies what this table leaves out: a taxpayer tax credit off the tax, a share of the deduction your federal return takes, which falls as income rises.

The federal 90 percent loss limit in Utah

6, 7, 11

From tax year 2026 the federal deduction for gambling losses is cut to 90 percent of what you lost, and never more than what you won. Public Law 119-21 did it, at section 70114(a), by rewriting 26 U.S.C. 165(d).

Utah allows no loss deduction. But its taxpayer tax credit is a share of the deduction your federal return takes, so the federal limit reaches your Utah bill through the credit, and this estimate uses the federal figure.

Utah follows the federal code as it changes. The paragraph above says what this means for the federal 90 percent limit.

If you do not live in Utah

A nonresident is taxed on the Utah-source portion, computed on Form TC-40B as a percentage rather than at a separate rate.

The calculator works the bill for somebody who lives in Utah. It does not apportion income between states, so a nonresident return is not what the figure above describes.

More about Utah

How a win changes the taxpayer credit

If you take the federal standard deduction, the credit is 6 percent of that standard deduction instead of your itemized deductions. Your gambling losses then do nothing for you in Utah.7

The credit leaves out state and local income tax. It adds 6 percent of the Utah personal exemption, which was $2,111 for each qualifying dependent in 2025.7, 8

Then the credit shrinks by 1.3 cents for each dollar of state taxable income above a base amount:

Filing status	2025 base	2026 base, worked out from the law
Single or married filing separately	$18,213	$18,696
Head of household	$27,320	$28,045 (not printed by Utah)
Married filing jointly	$36,426	$37,392

Utah has not yet printed the 2026 base amounts on a return form. The 2026 figures are worked out from the index in the law, and nothing Utah has printed gives the 2026 head of household base.

Your gross winnings count in state taxable income, so for most filers a win makes the credit smaller. The credit grows with a win only where 6 percent of the added itemized deduction is more than the 1.3 cents a dollar lost on the added income above the base, and the credit is not already zero.6, 7

From 2026 your federal itemized deductions count only 90 percent of your losses. In the 37 percent federal bracket, the federal limit on itemized deductions (IRC 68) cuts them further. So $10,000 of losses can raise your Utah credit by up to $540, and by less in that bracket.

If you get Social Security

Utah gives a credit of its income tax rate, 4.45 percent for 2026, times your taxable Social Security benefits. It goes down by 2.5 cents for each dollar of modified AGI over $54,000 single, $45,000 separate, or $90,000 joint or head of household. A win in that band makes the credit smaller.5, 2, 3

The rate, and who owes nothing

The Utah rate is 4.5 percent for 2025 under House Bill 106, and 4.45 percent for 2026 under Chapter 250 of the 2026 session.10, 5

If your federal adjusted gross income is at or below the federal standard deduction, not counting the extra amounts for age or blindness but adding any federal deduction for seniors, you owe no Utah tax.

Withholding

Utah bans almost all gambling, so no payer in Utah withholds tax from you. No Utah withholding rule was found, but no source says for certain that none exists.

About this estimate

If you enter your Social Security, the calculator works out the credit. It measures the credit on federal AGI, where the form starts from Utah taxable income. If you do not enter it, it shows a warning when your income falls in the band where the credit shrinks.

If you were born in 1952 or earlier, you can take a retirement credit of up to $450 a person, which falls as income rises. You cannot take it with the Social Security credit. The calculator does not include it.

The calculator does not ask how much of your other itemized deductions is state and local income tax, so it counts all of them toward the taxpayer credit.

The calculator does not ask about dependents, so it counts none in the credit.

Sources

Every figure above traces to a primary source: a statute, an administrative code, a state agency page, or official form instructions.

1. 2025 TC-40 instructions, code 18: the retirement credit, $450 a person born on or before December 31, 1952, less 2.5 percent of modified AGI over $25,000 single, $16,000 separate or $32,000 joint or head of household (checked 2026-10-12)
2. UCA 59-10-1042, the Social Security benefits credit and its phase-out (checked 2026-09-26)
3. 2025 TC-40 instructions, code AH and the Social Security Credit Worksheet (checked 2026-09-26)
4. Social Security Administration, benefits for workers with maximum-taxable earnings: $5,251 a month in 2026, the bound on taxable benefits (checked 2026-09-26)
5. Utah Code 59-10-104, tax rate of 4.45 percent effective January 1, 2026 (checked 2026-09-11)
6. Utah Code 59-10-103, state taxable income built from federal AGI with no deduction line (checked 2026-09-11)
7. Utah Code 59-10-1018, the taxpayer tax credit: 6 percent of the federal deduction as allowed, less $.013 a dollar above an indexed base (checked 2026-10-02)
8. 2025 TC-40 instructions, lines 11 to 20: the taxpayer tax credit and the 2025 base phase-out amounts (checked 2026-10-02)
9. Utah Publication 14 (Rev. 4/26), withholding tables from June 1, 2026, not a return form. Its annual Married line shows $18,696, the 2026 single base (checked 2026-10-02)
10. Form TC-40 instructions (2025), the 4.5 percent rate and no Utah deduction line (checked 2026-09-11)

The federal rule, for the parts of this page that rest on it

11. Public Law 119-21 section 70114(a), which rewrote 26 U.S.C. 165(d) on wagering losses from tax year 2026 and sets out its text (checked 2026-10-18)

We could not confirm these from an official source: whether any city or county tax applies; the payout at which withholding starts; the withholding rate.