thank you

Sorry to rain on your parade (or your parade plans, anyway), but in another post you did say that you liked to be fully informed. New Jersey taxes all gambling winnings except New Jersey lottery winnings, so you'd owe taxes on any prize from Pennsylvania or any other state's lottery. It may get even worse.  The Pennsylvania lottery's web site says that Pennsylvania lottery winnings are tax exempt for Pennsylvania residents, but I think that non-residents are also exempt.

A couple from New Jersey won Powerball in PA either last year, or the year before. The article stated they paid no state income taxes in either state.

I personnaly had to declare winnings on my federal form, and in New Jersey, the year before last. Forgot the 10XX number for gambling, and too lazy to look it up; however, it did not reference the type of gambling or where I won. All New Jersey wanted to know was the amount I won. There is no slot for horse racing, dog racing, or anything else. They don't care; to them, gambling is gambling. I filled it in and the computer hummed.  No addition to my W2 income resulted. Based on that, no extra state income tax was paid. Thus, no state income tax is required. I have no doubt, if New Jersey wanted to tax me, they would have found a way to tax me. Hell, they wrote the original check. Between the state IRS and the state webwiste, I rely on the state IRS. You can take it to the bank - I did!

I love a parade, especially on sunny days ...

I went to the Powerball site for some confirmation. I saw mention of Federal taxes. Perhaps you can point out the paragraph that showed where they had to pay state taxes to either New Jersey or Pennsylvania? http://www.powerball.com/powerball/winners/2004/122204pa.shtm

The less you win the less coverage you get. If you win a 20 million dollar pot most states wouldn't even cover it at all. If you break a record though forget about a lack of coverage.

Can you find the paragraph that says they didn't pay state taxes? Call me a cynic, but I'm pretty sure that the press releases about winners are intended to sell tickets. I know I've never seen one that mentions the actual  taxes due  instead of the mandated withholdings. Why advertise the lump sum when you can advertise twice that, and why advertise the amount the winner actually ends up with when you can advertise the size of the check they get?

If you're going to get tax advice from a website it's probably a good idea to go to the official site for the state's revenue department. Better still, check with an accountant.

You stated you have never found a site that mentions actual taxes withheld. I gotta ask: Did you do any research at all? A simple search to powerball.com, then the winners page, provides extremely enlightning information. You will probably consider this earth shaking, but there is actual information available. Quite a bit more than I found at disneyland.com.  Just look at the last two winners. Nothing in depth, just the first two winners listed. Took, maybe, 90 seconds.

http://www.powerball.com/powerball/winners/2005/062905wv.shtm

The FEMA Team, June 29 , 2005 -  The West Virginia winners received $265,812.96 after the Lottery withheld 25 percent in federal taxes and 6.5 percent in state taxes.

http://www.powerball.com/powerball/winners/2005/052805id.shtm

Brad Duke, May 28 , 2005, -  But he's not the only Idaho winner; the state will receive a lump sum check of about $10 million dollars in taxes

Me thinks you sould spend more time at the shallow end of the pool.

Chewie wrote:
>> You stated you have never found a site that mentions actual taxes
>> withheld. I gotta ask: Did you do any research at all?

I said I've never seen one that mentions the taxes that are due. I very clearly said I've seen ones that refer to the taxes that are withheld. You undertand there's a difference, right? I hear ads for the lottery on the radio a dozen times a day, and I occasionally come across a press release/ad. Why would I bother to make a point of looking for more ads to read? It doesn't matter to me whether or not theymight ocasionally mention the actual taxes that the winners will pay, I simply observed that everything I've seen that mentions taxes only makes note of the 25% mandated withholdings.

I avoid the shallow end because it's already too crowded and  the company is better elsewhere.

Ahhh the New York trick of defining "is" when caught. Cool. When in doubt, send the person off to research their data, then reference something else without providing the research yourself. Cool. I heard something, therefore it is true. I provide the data, you provide the hearsay. Cool. You sure your not John Kerry? Cool. Me from New York, me can do that! Cool.

Chewie:

I wonder if John Kerry played. Same with George W Bush.