Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with sweepstakes

Are the taxes on an American sweepstakes win by a Canadian worth our while?

stungeye — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 08:28:22 -0800

SweepstakesFilter: My wife (a Canadian like myself) recently won a large number of travel rewards points from an American chain of hotels. Help us determine if the prize is worth keeping considering what we'll have to pay in taxes to the IRS. We have confirmed the legitimacy of the prize. (The contest was handled by ePrize and we've been in direct communication with a rep from the hotel chain.) To redeem the prize we have been asked to fill out an IRS W8BEN Foreign Status form. The instructions for the form state that "Foreign persons are subject to U.S. tax at a 30% rate on income they receive from U.S." Unlike casino winnings (for which the 30% tax can be recouped by a Canadian winner) I cannot find any information on the foreign tax liability for points-based sweepstakes.

When asked about taxes, a representative from hotel chain said the following:

"Although I cannot provide you with tax advice, it is likely that your tax liability will not be based on the published retail value of the points, but instead based on internal costs to provide the points."

The published retail value of the points was $35,000 and we've been told that the internal cost will be around $15,000. The points can be cashed in for approximately 12 round-trip overseas flights, or (for the sake of monetary comparison) converted into $10,000 worth of Amazon gift-cards.

So here are my questions:

Have you been in a similar situation? Care to share your "Canadian winner of US sweepstakes" taxation experience?

Can you suggest a firm to contact that will know how to deal with this situation? (So far the Canadian tax advisers we've contacted haven't been overly helpful.)

Should we accept the prize, even if it means paying $4,500 to $10,500 USD? (The former being tax on internal costs, the later being tax on the retail value of the points.)

If we accept the points and are surprised with a giant tax bill (say the full $10,500) can we return the prize to avoid the taxation?

I just want to win a prize. Just once. Please?

joshrholloway — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 12:00:19 -0800

Are there websites or communities that exist to gather and link to legitimate sweepstakes, contests, and giveaways? Years ago, I saw a report on television about a woman who entered basically every contest and sweepstakes she could find in newspapers, magazines, TV, etc., and had won a bunch of stuff from them, including a car and a few other big-ticket items. Now that the Internet has grown so much, I figured there must be places where people go to discuss and/or exchange legitimate contests and sweepstakes and whatnot.

I have found many websites dedicated to referral programs and things that you have to pay for to receive free iPods, computers, game consoles, and the like, but this is not what I'm after. I only want to know about things that require minimal effort and no purchase, along the lines of, "comment on this blog post and you will be entered in a drawing to win!" (but I am willing to fill out entry forms and sign up for email lists if necessary)

So do these communities or websites exist? If you can't lead me to one, maybe you have tips or tricks on finding contests like these? I know I might not ever win anything and that I'm certain to be inundated with spam email, but I'm prepared for those outcomes.

Where to go?

Atom12 — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 04:00:31 -0800

I won a trip! But where should I go? I've got six choices. I have my choice of one of six travel packages. All come with business class airfare and five nights in a hotel w/ complimentary breakfast.

The cities I can choose from are Dublin, Venice, Amsterdam, Geneva, St. Maarten and wherever the Latin Grammys are going to be held. Some are tied to events, such as Geneva, which comes with tickets to the Montreaux Jazz Festival.

I've been to London many times, Germany and we honeymooned in Italy near Florence. The Latin Grammys are pretty much at the bottom of the list. Criteria for us are things like good food, reasonable prices (I don't think we get any spending money) and funky shopping.

I'm leaning toward Amsterdam but the others still sound really good too. It's a nice problem to have. If it matters, Amsterdam is in November. I think all the others are in spring/summer of 2009. Any tips?

How much will a free trip cost me?

amarynth — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:26:32 -0800

I won a trip in a drawing. I have questions about the tax implications of accepting the prize. I have a contract that states:

4. I am seeking to be declared the official winner of the following prize (the “Prize”) in the Promotion: “A trip for two persons to (Event) on (dates) in (Location). Trip includes (i) roundtrip airfare for two (2) people to (Location) from the major United States gateway airport nearest your (winner’s) home, (ii) two (2) nights double occupancy hotel accommodations and (iii) two (2) two-day general admission tickets to (Event) on (dates), including two (2) free parking passes and food provided by (venue). Hotel, airline, airport and food to be designated by (venue). Estimated retail value up to $1,700 depending on winner’s point of departure.” I understand that (venue) reserves the right to substitute the Prize (or any portion thereof) with one of comparable or greater value, at its sole discretion.

No other dollar amount or prizes are mentioned anywhere in the contract, however someone from the company said that they're saying the ARV of the prize is $40,000, but that includes "VIP stuff and things that are not really taxable." She couldn't tell me anything about what the approximate taxes I might have to pay are.

Does anyone have any ideas, or know how I could find out by COB tomorrow?

How do we legally run an online contest for non-US participants?

oaklandj — Thu, 27 Mar 2008 15:50:53 -0800

How do you run an online contest for contestants from any country in the world with real-world prizes (i.e. with $ value) and not spend tens of thousands of dollars on legal fees for compliance with each country's arcane rules? We had talked to lawyers before and they said you should limit to US participants only. The problem is half of our userbase is non-US and we don't want to exclude them. Any experience from anyone? We saw that Crestock's contest was open to anyone in any country. We have no idea if they just bit the bullet and took the risk, or they decided to find a way to comply with any winners' home country rules, or there is a way to say something like "Void where prohibited; participants are responsible for making sure their entry complies with their local laws" and have that actually work. Lawyers have told us that doesn't really hold up.

We've won a new car! Or did we...

Sufi — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:52:20 -0800

We've won a new car! Or did we... A few months ago our local movie theater (Texas) was having a drawing to win a motorcycle or a large amount of money, and we entered into the drawing. Today my husband received a call stating that he had won and is scheduled to meet with the company next week.

Apparently there is no motorcycle, but we will be given a game card to scratch off, where he will win one of four things (cars, money, or a trip), plus we will automatically be given a one week trip.

The scratch card sounds sketchy, plus they require the winner to make a certain amount of money per year (we do qualify). The whole thing sounds a bit shady to me. How likely is it that we'll actually walk out of there with something?

Is there a Halo 3 master list of promotions/drawings?

Quarter Pincher — Sun, 23 Sep 2007 07:27:15 -0800

Is there any kind of master list of Halo 3 promotions? There's the gamestop/mt.dew sweepstakes, the xbox.com "unite" drawing.. is there some kind of long list of stuff I can enter for?

There's also a site listed on Xbox Live about Best Buy Gold Days, but the address they have listed comes up 404 (that)..

Who audits the advertised odds on lotteries

PercussivePaul — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 13:30:28 -0800

One in three chance you'll win a free pop, check under the cap! Does anyone audit these advertised odds? I almost never win these things. I figured with one in three odds , maybe this time... but no. Then I started wondering - maybe they're cheating.

I'm imagining some kind of sweepstakes control board, randomly buying bottles of Dr. Pepper at convenience stores across the country to do samplings of who wins... crack statisticians ensuring that winners are evenly distributed across regions... yeah right. So how do I know they're not cheating?

Weghting a sweepstakes in my favor

plinth — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 13:09:04 -0800

"you will automatically receive one entry for each bill payment you make" Is this sweepstakes set up by morons? What would stop me (other than a lack of time) to pay my bills with micropayments and enter potentially tens of thousands of times?

WIN A DATE WITH TOM HANKS

(bb|[^b]{2}) — Mon, 20 Aug 2007 09:14:43 -0800

When someone wins a "SPEND A DAY WITH [INSERT FAMOUS PERSON]" sweepstakes, what exactly happens on said day? A friend of mine just entered Holiday Inn's "WIN A DAY WITH CAL RIPKEN JR." sweepstakes, which is what got me thinking about all these celebrity giveaways. Has anyone here ever won one, or know someone who has? I imagine the time you spend with the celebrity would be rather awkward and forced, but I don't know. That's why I'm asking.

Is there a list of all active sweepstakes and contests?

damn dirty ape — Mon, 21 May 2007 12:31:17 -0800

Is there a list of all active sweepstakes and contests? I thought it might be fun to enter into every contest and sweepstakes I possibly can for a week or so. Is there a centralized list of these things? If not can someone give me pointers on how find contests especially ones that are off the beaten path. Perhaps if the hive mind works in unison this thread can make for a nice list of contests to apply to. Thanks.

How to guarantee a win from Burger King's contest?

ajpresto — Wed, 18 May 2005 11:01:37 -0800

I know that some contests have cheats so you can usually win... Are there any ways to "cheat" on scratch off contests where there are two boxes to choose from? Specifically, Burger King's "Choose your Destiny" contest.

Time Share Scams

anastasiav — Wed, 25 Feb 2004 09:22:44 -0800

We went to a home show recently, and while there my sweetheart apparently filled out some sweepstakes form. As a result, we got a call today from a nearby resort offering us several apparently-nice 'free gifts' in exchange for visiting their timeshare-resort and "learning more about their property" .... my question is: I assume this is a scam of some kind, but what kind of scam is it? They're offering us 3 free nights a a hotel of our choice (which must be booked through their travel agency), plus a $50 "travelers check" and a $40 Macy's Gift Card. They say we have to bring photo ID with us, and attend a 1 1/2 hour presentation and tour. Sweetheart is willing to do this to get the free hotel as we've been planning a trip anyhow ... but I'm sure participating in this will end up costing us in the end, I just can't quite see where the trap will be....

Forewarned is forearmed. Please forewarn me.