Mega Millions

Quote: Paradigm

I am a CA CPA and based on my experience, it CA knows about you living here they aren't going to care that you have a P.O. Box or voting rights in Nevada.....if they find you, you will pay CA taxes.

Well, at least we finally have a post from someone who should know. My concern is the case of someone who owns several residential properties in different states and spends part of the year in each of them. And maybe vacations in another state for a few weeks and spends six weeks or so in a hotel in another state while there on business. If each of those states is claiming that you have to pay your taxes in that state, then I think they are being unreasonable.

As I said in the beginning, I don't know all of the details, but there certainly are cases where you have to declare which state is your residence and which other states are not. I own two residences in different states; I declared the date that I ceased to be a Georgia resident and became a North Carolina resident. In my case, that mostly corresponded to when I changed where I spent the bulk of my time. How much time can I spend in my house in Georgia without saying I am a resident there? I don't know. The most obvious examples are the folks who live the entire time in a motor home, moving from state to state. Some provisions of the so-called Patriot Act made that life-style difficult to adopt now, but the folks who do it have to declare some fixed spot as their residence.

The technical answer is part-year residence to two states depending on how much time in which residence. Very few folks actually do that "split", but it is the technical answer.

Nomads/full time RV'ers have an chance to game the system a bit as they truly have no permanent residence.....so set up a P.O. Box in NV and claim you residence is there may be as good an answer as any. In that set of circumstances there is no state that is going to "find out about you" and try and claim you are a resident.

You are right on the double taxed income in any state that you are a non-resident in....most states give their residents the "Other State Taxes Paid" credit on income taxed in the resident state and another state.

Traveling consultants spendin 6 weeks here on business and 6 weeks there are supposed to file non-resident returns in each state in which they earn income even if it is only for a minor period of time. The big consulting firms got in trouble back in the early 90's and started to report their employees wages as taxable in the states they were working on assignments as a result. The system is too administratively complicated with the wrong set of facts in place, that is why a lot of folks ignore them and have "exposure".

Like how you are normally supposed to pay "Use Tax" in your home state if you buy an internet item and they don't charge you Sales Tax. That is the technical rule in CA, but not a lot of self reporting is really going on.

Back to the lump sum vs annuity, I've been wondering (but not so badly as to start digging on my own).

Are there any conditions under which you would lose your rights to the annuity payments?
Say you decide to move to a better country, with change or citizenship. Or were found to have been in the nation illegally and deported. Or anything else. Is there any potential situation in which a winner would lose his rights to the annuity payments (but which would not result in international freezing of bank accounts)?

The last person turned in their ticket today,
110M after taxes. Just enough to make you
go hog wild and pay for it down the road.

Quote: P90

Are there any conditions under which you would lose your rights to the annuity payments?

I don't think so, except they do deduct for various debts: delinquency on student loans, alimony, child support, court orders, etc.

I heard a tale somewhere -- was it on this forum? According to the tale, a man won a major lottery jackpot and selected the annuity option. He received one payment then died. His wife inherited the remainder of the annuity. Unfortunately, or at least so it was claimed, the feds wanted to collect the inheritance tax on the entire value of the annuity right then as part of settling the estate. The wife did not have resources to make such a payment, so the feds agreed to a three-year payment plan. Even that required payments in excess of the annuity payout rate. The widow was able to negotiate a cash payout of the present value of the annuity in order to satisfy the feds.

I don't know whether that is true or whether the feds even handle things that way.

Quote from MD woman who claims she has the winning ticket.
I'm still looking for it. I haven't even looked in my uniform pants yet. I'm still looking everywhere to find it, in my purse, everywhere.

She hasn't looked in her uniform pants yet. Won't it be hysterical if she shows up with the ticket? That will show us to be skeptical.

Quote: EvenBob

The last person turned in their ticket today,
110M after taxes

Likely $110M after tax withholding.....what the actual tax liability is will be determined when the tax return is actually prepared.

"While many have raised doubts about the veracity of Wilson's tale, one burning question stands out: Why would anyone lie about something so huge?"

When I watch COPS and they pull a guy over for
speeding and find dope in his pocket, and he says
the car isn't his, the pants aren't his, the dope isn't
his. Why does he lie? Because he thinks everybody
is as stupid as he is.

The Maryland ticket was purchased in a tiny little place called Milford Mill. I lived about five miles from there when I lived in Maryland. There is a pet store there, which has been around for ages, where I used to buy guinea pig food and wood shavings.

The newspaper is all abuzz about this woman who won the Powerball twice in one day for $1 million apiece. One guy in Georgia won twice in one day at Mega Millions for $13.5 million per ticket.

For some strange reason some people purchase the same numbers more than once. Well, for these two people that was money well spent.

The Virginia woman claims that her double-purchase was a mistake.

Quote: JB

The Virginia woman claims that her double-purchase was a mistake.

At least that story makes sense. I don't know why the guy in 2003 bought two Mega millions tickets with the same numbers. but instead of winning only half of a $40 million prize, he won 2/3 of the prize.

I still like my idea of only buying unchosen numbers. So there is only one jackpot winner. Of course, you need to go online to do that. But the lotteries got permission to go online. No private gambling online, but it will be OK for the states.

Quote: pacomartin

But the lotteries got permission to go online. No private gambling online, but it will be OK for the states.

I always liked this Daily Show clip about the UIGEA.

Quote: JB

I always liked this Daily Show clip about the UIGEA.

Jon Stewart is the most brilliant man on television. Thank you.