I live in one of those anonymous winner states, so if you hear that a ticket was picked up by the “The Irwin Schwab/Sebastian Tombs Beneficiary Society”…it wasn’t me. 
Ref IRS and witholding …
What if the winner is a tourist from e.g. the UK or Japan? The IRS has no legal hold on them whatsoever. And no right to a penny of their money. All that bit about mandatory withholding implicitly assumes the winner is a US resident who pays US taxes. But what if it’s not?
The e.g. Swiss or Cayman Islands anonymous trust that bought my ticket is not a US citizen and is not subject to US taxation. When it goes to collect its lottery winnings there’s no withholding.
You’re all correct that the IRS wasn’t born last night. Neither were rich people who routinely deal in 9-figure incomes. That’s not me personally, but I imagine I can figure out how to hire the kinds of advisors they do and get the kinds of results they do too.
It was “earned” in the US and they will pay taxes before any funds are issued. According to Google, 30%. I bet it’s somewhere in the fine print when you buy a ticket.
According to this site, both Federal and state taxes can be taken out if a person not from the U.S. wins the lottery. What Happens If A Non-US Citizen Wins The Lottery? A Guide For Foreigners Hitting The Jackpot - ExpertBeacon
Missouri quietly passed a law a couple of years back that allows lottery winners to remain anonymous. So when I win tonight, you’ll read that the winning ticket was sold at a Casey’s in Salem, MO, and you will know it was me.
Apropos of … something, when my stepdad was dying my mother Googled how to be a widow. One bit of advice that she took to heart was to not make any big decisions for at least a year. I think the same applies to a big lottery win. Let the dust settle for a while so that, when you ARE seen around town driving a new Lamborghini, no one will connect it to the big lottery win last year.
I don’t believe that is true as the money was “earned” in the United States. Likewise if I bought the winning ticket in New Mexico, I would owe NM state income tax.
From various folks’ cites it turns out I was flat wrong about that. I don’t think it was always the way it is now, but for sure it is now.
Thanks everyone for setting the record straight.
And as our bank lady pointed out about our registered retirement plans - the Canadian Deposit Insurance Corp only insures bank accounts. Funds holding stocks and bonds (or mutual funds of those) are not included. I would not be surprised if the FDIC makes the same distinction.
When the Powerball was a billion or so, there was a discussion of how that affected Canadians who had bought a ticket. Lottery winnings are tax-free in Canada, but the state where the ticket was sold, and the IRA, have first dibs on the money as income earned in the USA. It was mentioned that for some states (i.e. North Dakota) that would be a substantial chunk of the state annual budget.
And of course, when $900M starts earning interest in Canada, that is taxable.
My unprofessional advice - take $X - maybe 10% max, whatever makes sense - and put it in a spending account as “mad money” to but the Porsche and other toys, gifts, give to charities, pay off the mortage or buy a better house, etc. And then, as others point out, hire a financial advisor who will find the right mix of investments. If you are in the “above $10M” range, you would likely be able to live comfortably on the proceeds of the investments, even after taxes. Whether you want to hide your winnings off-shore… depends how paranoid you are. If you live in the country, you will pay taxes and (AFAIK) must declare foreign holdings.
Whether you can hide your identity or not, change your phone, coonsider moving or at least buying a good house alarm system. Hire a service to check your mail. Apparently the crazies come out of the woodwork begging fo money for their dying mother or because they need an operation, offering money-making schemes, sell you timeshares, etc. (Recall one story of a fellow who won $1M quit his job because the guy in the next cubicle was constantly bugging him - “you have lots of money now, you should pay off my mortgage”.) And as Willie Nelson would tell you, be careful who you trust.
The advice about immediately preserving the pictures of the ticket, etc. are accurate. Also, write your name in ink on the ticket. After a study revealed a statistically impossible number of lottery ticket vendors winning big prizes, it is now the law in Canada that a clerk cannot scan a ticket unless it is signed.
Nope, do NOT do that. If you sign it, then you have to claim the prize. Unless you’re in one of the few states that allow winners to remain anonymous you’re going to get hit up by every scammer, gifter, hard luck story, & person who has an unfunded ‘great idea’.
Meet with a lawyer first, set up a trust, & then have the trust claim the prize, that way, you can remain behind the veil of secrecy
Bank failure isn’t the only thing to worry about - they can be broken into, or the bank can have a fire ( the paper can burn due to high temperature even if the vault survives )
As has been mentioned a couple of times, not all States allow this. In fact about half of the States don’t.
Not if the Feds seize every box despite what the warrant allows.
The area of law governing this is the law of financial instruments. Apparently some states (example here) classify lottery tickets as bearer instruments, which means the lottery can discharge its debt by paying the winnings to whoever presents the ticket, without having to inquire into the legitimacy of that person.
Laughs in Canadian.
Our contests and lotteries are all tax free, although our national lotteries are capped much lower than the US lotteries. Our lotteries are also full cash value, not an annuity.
Ours can be cashed out as well and if they were Canadian lotteries they would show the prize money as the lower amount instead of the annuity. This is a distinction without a difference.
Isn’t that also the case for most game shows? ISTR seeing something along those lines at some point.
I’m surprised no one has already mentioned this, but the idea of depositing millions in a checking account is insane, regardless of whether it is Federally insured.
With few exceptions, checking accounts pay little or no interest, and when you’re dealing with millions, you want to start earning interest from the second the funds hit the account.
For instance, if you win $900 million and place it in an account earning only 1% interest, after just one day you will have earned almost $25,000 in interest. (This is assuming daily compounding and not dealing with details like withholding, etc.) And of course, with nearly a billion to play with, you’re going to be able to earn much more than 1%.
So don’t mess around with checking accounts.
I’m assuming no one would leave their winnings in a checking account but just start there and then move the money to more lucrative investments.
Yeah, but why not put the funds straight into an interest-bearing account, when even one day in the checking account would cost you tens of thousands?
You’ve just won $200 million (the amount given in the OP) and you’re going to worry about one day’s interest?