One more time, Mega Millions is being history, since one of the biggest prizes of this lottery and in general, of this game of chance in the United States is currently waiting for a winner, because someone could win in the draw that will be held today, nothing more and nothing less than $1 billion dollars.
Whenever there is a lottery prize of this magnitude, interest in trying your luck increases and perhaps being the lucky one who becomes a millionaire overnight, which also causes many doubts to be generated around these games.
One of the most common questions that people who play the lottery is about how much money they will actually get after paying all federal and state taxes. And, really, it is much less than what is advertised and boasted in each draw.
In the particular and current case of the Mega Millions, if someone turns out to be the lucky winner this Tuesday of the fourth largest prize in the history of this lottery and that amounts to a little more than $1,000 million, they must be aware that at said figure, you have to subtract several hundred thousand dollars because of taxes.
Before the winner begins to plan or spend part of the Mega Millions prize, the first thing they will need to do is pay both taxes (depending on where the winner is from), which can reduce the prize considerably.
On the subject of federal taxes, a tax rate of 37% is applied, regardless of the modality in how you decide to collect it. This rate applies to those taxpayers who are single, with income greater than $578,125 dollars. If you are married, $693,750 and file a joint return.
You can wait to pay this tax bill; however, the IRS will take 24% immediately. Taking into account that if the payment of a lump sum is decided, it will be $527.9 million and after this discount, there will be $401.2 million.
State taxes would still have to be subtracted from that amount. Some do not tax lottery winnings, such as California, Florida, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming. But in others you should do it; For example, in the case of New York, the Mega Millions winner will have to give up 10.9% of the prize, which will make them keep $343.6 million.
Remember that taxes are calculated taking into account your income, so the state tax would be calculated similar to the federal one, that is, based on the total amount of the prize. If you ask for the lump sum, then it would be calculated based on the $527.9 million
Keep reading:
* 3 tips that the New York Lottery gives in case of winning the Mega Millions and another millionaire prize
* Mega Millions: How much money is won for each successful ball
* The numbers you must play with if you want to win the Mega Millions
