Good points. I did the easy thing and just plugged in numbers into TurboTax.
Assuming the cash value reaches 1 billion and I take the lump sum and for simplicity purposes I am not counting state liabilities.
Obviously if I make no donation, I am on the hook for the 39.6% rate. BTW I found out not all my winnings would be taxed at 39.6....only the amount over 400,000. Irrelevant in the grand scheme of a billion jackpot where the majority falls in the 39.6 bracket but still.
The rough estimate was around 396,000,000 of fed tax liability assuming no deductions, etc.
If I make the donation of 100 million to my church, then I am approx paying 356,000,000 in federal taxes plus the 100,000,000 "donation" Basically my 100 million donations saves me about 40 million give or take that I don't pay the feds. Pretty sure there are other deductions possible besides the charity one but unsure if they would make a dent in the grand scheme or not.
So yeah hiring a CPA and a financial firm to handle the numbers is probably a smart idea. Hopefully fee-based instead of commission. Only way I would pay commission to professionals is if they are making me marginal revenue
Curious what a reasonable fee/salary would be for someone or a team to work for me on this endeavor assuming I win. Would $100,000 annually be low-ballin the fees for the labor? I assuming Merill Lynch, GoldManSachs, etc are better than going thru the phone book and google route for the CPA/finance pros...right? An attorney to write me an ironclad will or trust so no future wife or sue-happy person gets lucky.