It’s tax season again, a time when we get questions about the documentation that’s available from the lottery for tax-reporting purposes. Each year, the lottery sends tax forms to each of its winners who claimed a prize of more than $600. The document is called a W-2G form and we are mailing out the 2014 forms this week. The W-2G lists the gross prize amount as well as any federal and state taxes that were withheld from that prize. If you claimed multiple prizes from the Iowa Lottery of more than $600 in calendar year 2014, you’ll get multiple W-2G forms from us, one for each prize claimed.
In addition to questions about those forms, we’ve heard from people who wanted to know if we could provide them with a listing of the entries they made into our VIP Club drawings so they could use that as they filed their taxes. The lottery doesn’t provide lists like that for tax-reporting purposes, for a few different reasons:
The entry of a nonwinning ticket into our VIP Club is not evidence that the person who made the entry is actually the one who bought the ticket. The lottery is required to provide accurate tax information to the Internal Revenue Service. Allowing incorrect information to be reported can result in hefty fines, something we certainly don’t want to occur, as it would be a disservice to the worthy causes benefited by the lottery.
If you have questions about the information you should maintain for tax-reporting purposes, please visit with a tax professional or legal advisor so they can provide you with the latest accurate details.
If you think you should have received a W-2G form from us for calendar year 2014 and you've moved since the time that you claimed your prize, please let us know your new address as soon as possible. You can contact us at 515-725-7900 or email us at [email protected]. Be sure to include your name, old address, new address and phone number in case we need to contact you.
Hi, Don. Great question. Someone who wins a Hot Lotto jackpot here in Iowa would receive a W2-G form from us showing the taxes withheld from the prize. As with all lottery prizes of more than $600, the applicable withholding taxes are deducted from the prize and remitted to the taxing authorities. The unique thing about the Hot Lotto jackpot is that instead of deducting the taxes from the advertised jackpot amount, the taxes are deducted from a gross prize amount that leaves the winner with a taxes paid prize that is at least equal to the advertised jackpot amount.
Posted by: Mary Neubauer | February 10, 2015 at 12:56 PM
Just wondering- since Hot Lotto jackpots are all cash with taxes paid, if someone wins the Jackpot, will you send a W2G form that says the winner has credit for paying the withholding taxes?
Thanks
Don
Posted by: Don Weis | February 08, 2015 at 09:00 AM