What happens to the prizes if the contestants can't pay the taxes?
I'm just curious.
shareThey can sell the prizes to raise money to pay the taxes.
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It's my understanding the show prefers contestants to take cash.
Way easier and faster to write a check than to deliver a sailboat to a 5th floor walkup.
I laugh when people win boats or a huge bathtub...No way would these people be that excited. Hell, I live no where in a backyard or close to a marina.
shareYea I always laughed at that too- I live in the desert-where's the water? Or I live in the ghetto-I don't need no damn hot tub. Or when an old lady wins a motorcycle or jet ski. Ef' that I be pisssssed.
shareIt's a zonk to get a boat.
sharere: Winterview It's my understanding the show prefers contestants to take cash.
Not true at all. My wife won a car. You have to pay CA Tax up-front before they ship the prize. They almost never substitute cash. If you can't pay the 8.5% tax up front, you forfeit the prize and they'll never send it.
The following April 15th, you owe Federal tax on your winnings. Some people do sell their prize by this point to pay the additional taxes and keep the remaining cash. But TPIR does not award cash as a prize substitute.
Actually they can't. You have to pay taxes before you can claim the prize. What's worse if you don't claim it by a deadline, you forfeit it.
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