Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2395361)

Florida doesn't impose tax on lottery winnings. I believe you can "gift" up to $25,000 per year, to any individual(s) you want, without them having to declare it as income. You also can't write it off as an expense, but if you donate to a registered charity you can write it off as a charitable contribution on your year-end tax return.

I checked with OmniCalculator and see this:

With a $984 million megamillions winning ticket, the lump sum payout would be $511,680,000.

Federal taxes would be $189,729,688.

So your net payout would be $321,950,312

Over a quarter of a billion dollars. Pretty sure when you win THAT big, you don't have much need to worry about taxes. You can afford to pay them. If you bought a summer home up north by a lake, upgraded your house here in The Villages, got a comfy adobe in Santa Fe for ski weekends, and spent a month every year in Venice Italy, bought yourself a new car and his-and-hers custom golf carts, you'd still have around $200 million after 10 years. You can give $25,000 to your son, AND his wife, AND each of their three kids, and your daughter, and HER husband, and THEIR twin boys, AND pay for your mom's long-term memory care housing and medical bills that medicare doesn't cover, and still have over $100,000 million left over. You can live off the interest of that and die with enough to set your kids and grandkids up with a nice cushion for their own - and THEIR grandchildren's lives.

The gift might be only $18,000 per year. UMTA is up to $18k/year for minors tax-free but the kid can't touch the money until he's at least 18 (up to 25, depending on how the paperwork is filled out when the account is created).

Originally Posted by Topspinmo (Post 2395439)

I would worry about that after the win. Which pretty unlikely with 365 million to 1 odds. But, if don’t play you have NO chance to win.:undecided:

Originally Posted by Topspinmo (Post 2395439)

I would worry about that after the win. Which pretty unlikely with 365 million to 1 odds. But, if don’t play you have NO chance to win.:undecided:

Originally Posted by retiredguy123 (Post 2395642)

It is a bad investment.

Originally Posted by SHIBUMI (Post 2395354)

Hopefully someone in the Villages wins! But what to do.......

1. take lump sum or 30 year payments, lump sum after taxes less than 50%

2. 30 year payments get 5% interest a year

3. How do you slit it with a bunch of folks without them being taxed again

4. Can leave payments to beneficiaries

if you have any knowledge or ideas on this please share ...........thanks, Merry Christmas

Originally Posted by OrangeBlossomBaby (Post 2395603)

If I win megamillions I'll happily pay whatever taxes I'm obligated to pay. I have nothing I can deduct to reduce my obligation, I have no investments or tax shelters, and my Intel stock has been tanking this year.

I'll give my sister a million, maybe a hundred thousand to each of his aids, and then set dad up in the swankiest full-service nursing/memory/palliative care place I can find. I'll probably donate a million to the battered women's shelter down in Leesburg, and maybe I'll pick up a bunch of Sonic gift cards and give them to those sign-waver folks who hang out begging in front of Walmart.

And then, I'm going back up to New England from late May til late September. Enjoy the fall foliage, the lilac trees in the spring, mountains and roadside farmstands and hot lobster rolls and buskers playing in Harvard Square and the subway and shopping and taking the T everywhere! I'll buy a new car down here, and a spankin tricked-out golf cart. Hubby will just have to miss me a couple months every year, he hates travel and I miss home too much to not go.

I'll stop worrying about being able to afford health insurance premiums. I'll get the best I can find, and get this damned hip replacement I've been needing for the past few years.

I'll still have enough left over that maybe I'll buy a ghost-town in the midwest somewhere, just for fun.

Originally Posted by airstreamingypsy (Post 2395661)

I would take the lump sum, I doubt I'll be here in 20 years...

Originally Posted by SHIBUMI (Post 2395685)

I think that would be taxed again, the question is how do you make her part of the payout so it is only taxed once.

If you had 50 people you wanted to give money too, can you make them part of the payout so the money isn't taxed twice?????:BigApplause:

Originally Posted by Topspinmo (Post 2395605)

So says the hundreds that lost it all. You have no choice to try find honest tax advisor and hope he/she don’t steer you wrong or have sticky fingers. Think you have headaches now? The headaches over money will be ten fold.