Hello! This is a guide for claiming a tax refund as a non-US citizen for prize money won in the Pokémon competitive circuit. I will note that I went through this process as a Canadian citizen and this guide will come from that point of view but I think the general principles of the steps that need to be taken are very transferrable.

Step 0: Are you eligible for a refund?

Although you may have won prize money as a citizen of a country where competition winnings are not taxable, if the winnings were awarded as part of a competition held within the US then, unfortunately, you CANNOT claim a refund.

You can claim a refund on winnings if all of the following are true:

1. You have earned a cash prize at a Pokémon tournament within the past 3 years (from date of filing)
2. The competition was held outside of the US

Because the Pokémon Company International is based in the US, it pays out all prize winners from the US. However, the source of the income is determined by where the competition took place (i.e. where the prize was earned). When getting paid out, TPCi automatically takes out 30% for tax withholding assuming the income is US-sourced, so, when this is not the case, you can claim a refund.

From the IRS pub. 519:

Activities to be performed outside the United States.
Scholarships, fellowship grants, targeted grants, and achievement awards received by nonresident aliens for activities performed, or to be performed, outside the United States are not U.S. source income.

Step 1: US Tax ID – W7 Form

In order to claim a refund, you will need two main things:

1. A US Taxpayer ID
2. A tax return form

If you are still reading through this, it is very likely that you have neither. First, I will go over how to apply for a US Tax ID, then I will cover how to do the return. If you already have an ITIN (Individual Taxpayer Identification Number) then you can skip to Step 2.

To obtain a US Taxpayer ID, you need to file (submit) a W-7 form. You can find a link to the most current version of the form here:

https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-w-7

If the form looks at all daunting, I promise you that it isn’t. I filled out mine last year with the 2025 revision of the document. There are two main things to note for filling it out:

• For Application Type in the top right, this will be “Apply for a new ITIN”
• For reason you’re submitting Form W-7, this will be “b – Nonresident alien filing a U.S. federal tax return”
• For your foreign tax ID, you would use your SIN number (Canadian specific, you can look up what is the correct way for your own country).
• Ensure that all your information is printed clearly, preferably you would fill this out online and print it out for signing

To submit your W7

You are able to submit your W7 form along with your tax return. I just want to add a caveat here that in order to submit your W7, you need a certified copy of your passport. Here are three valid options to do this:

1. Use a Certified Acceptance Agent (CAA), they are pre-authorized to send copies of your ID and they will be verified when you meet with them. The cost of this service ranges but I paid $250 for this. Find CAA offices here (open the “Agents abroad” dropdown and select your country): https://www.irs.gov/tin/itin/itin-acceptance-agents
2. IRS Taxpayer Assistance Center (TAC). You can make an in-person appointment with a TAC and they can make copies of your passport and verify them. Note, however that this has to be in the US and there may be some amount of waiting in line involved. The plus side is that there are no fees for this service. Find a TAC here: https://apps.irs.gov/app/office-locator/
3. Mail in your original passport (not recommended). The filing process until you receive your return is quite long, you probably do not want to be waiting for all that time without a passport.

One more thing to note, while a passport is not required it is recommended since it shows your ID + alien status. If you were to submit a different form of ID (e.g. Driver’s License) then you would need to provide at least two types of documents from the list of acceptable ones here:

Step 2: Filing the Return

In order to file your return you need FOUR documents:

1042-S

The 1042-S is physically mailed to you as a notice of income that was taxed. You need this in order to claim a refund. It is sent to the address that is listed on your eWallet account (for when you initially claimed the prize money). You need to send this in as part of your tax return package. This is what it looks like: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1042s.pdf

1040-NR

The 1040-NR is the tax return document. It is only a two-page document and it is very easy to fill out. For your “Identifying Number” this will be your ITIN, if you are submitting your application for an ITIN (W7 form) alongside this, you can leave this blank.

Other than your personal info, I’ll summarize the boxes that you should fill out below:

That’s it.

Schedule NEC

For the most part you will leave this blank. Because the claim is that the income is not US sourced, a lot of this does not need to be filled.

What you should fill is your name at the top and line 14 to be 0 for all columns and line 15 to be 0.

Schedule OI

This is just additional information that is required for 1040-NR submissions. For the most part, you can answer the questions or leave them blank.

For section G, this info is used to determine whether you have substantial presence in the US which could qualify you as a resident. The test to determine this is:

Current-year days + 1/3 of previous year days + 1/6 of second-previous-year days > 183

So even if you are in the US for 120 days each year for the past three years, you would be under this threshold.

For sections L and M, leave these blank. This application aims to claim a tax refund on the basis of the income source being not US-based. This is different than claiming a refund based on a tax treaty.

Statement of Source of Income

Feel free to copy and paste my statement and adjust it to your scenario. This is just a document to state your case. You should have documents to support your stance (i.e. tournament details and standings to prove your placement) but you do not need to submit those at this time.

Taxpayer: [FULL LEGAL NAME]
Tax Year: [TAX YEAR]
Form 1042-S Income Code: 23
Withholding Agent: [COMPANY / PAYER NAME]
I am a citizen and resident of Canada. The income reported on the attached Form 1042-S was a prize received as a result of my placement in a Pokémon Trading Card Game tournament held in [CITY, COUNTRY].
I physically participated in the tournament in [COUNTRY]. The amount of the prize was determined by my final placement in the tournament. I did not perform services for the withholding agent or perform activities related to earning the prize in the United States.
The attached Form 1042-S reports gross income of $[GROSS INCOME] and U.S. federal income tax withholding of $[FEDERAL TAX WITHHELD].
My position is that the tournament prize constitutes foreign-source income because the activities giving rise to the prize were conducted outside the United States. Accordingly, the income is not treated as U.S.-source income on my Form 1040-NR. The U.S. federal income tax withheld and reported on Form 1042-S is claimed as an overpayment on Form 1040-NR.
I have included a copy of Form 1042-S with my return showing the income and U.S. federal income tax withheld.
Signature: ______________________________
Date: ______________________________

And with that, your return is complete.

Submitting your return

As I mentioned earlier, if you are applying for your ITIN (submitting a W7), then you will need to undergo the ID verification process and you can submit the rest of your forms alongside your application.

If you are submitting with a CAA, the process is straightforward. Reach out to a couple of places via email and go with the lowest cost one. I had to reach out to five different places and some of the first to respond were quoting over $1000 (CAD). When the only service you really need is ID verification this is waaaaay overpriced. I found a firm that only charges $250 and they also checked over all my forms as well.

If you already have your ITIN, then you can just send your return through the mail. The address for this can be found on the IRS website. While you can normally e-file a return of a 1040-NR, the requirement of the attached explanatory statement is usually not an option for e-filing software. Paper filing is easy, just print all your documents and mail them to the IRS via Canada Post (you can use Xpresspost-USA to keep track of delivery).

Receiving your Return

Be warned: this process is slow and takes a lot of time. My documents were mailed in early May of 2025 and I received notice that my ITIN application was accepted three months later at the start of August. Then, I received a cheque in the mail another month later, at the start of September.

All in all, a four month process.

Although, it is important to note that once you have an ITIN, it will last indefinitely until it has seen three consecutive years of inactivity. So, if you go three years without winning non-US based prize money, then you’ll have to go through this again.

I will shoutout the CAA that I used as they were very quick to review my documents and gave me a good price. Check out Yaletown Accounting if you happen to be based in Vancouver.

Final Notes

When is it worth it to claim this money? I would argue that it is always worth it. With the minimum cash payout at Regionals being $1000USD, Canadians tend to cope and say that this is pretty much just $1000CAD after taxes. BUT WE SHOULDN’T BE PAYING THAT TAX!!! I got a nice $400 bonus for just an hour of filling out forms and a quick appointment to verify my passport.

I am also looking forward to a nice payout next tax season as I claim a refund for winnings from Queretaro Regionals.

The fact that we Canadians get a nice 30% bump on prize money has really made me rethink which tournaments are best to attend. For me, Mexico Regionals are the most obvious answer just for the fact that we don’t get much in Canada.

My final note is that there is some risk when filing on your own without an accountant. Feel free to do your own research or talk to your own financial advisors. But, if you are like me and want to maximize savings by doing the work yourself, I hope that all of my findings throughout this process is helpful. While the forms referenced and processes for filling may be specific to the 2025 tax year, I hope that the information provided is helpful yet.