KDPPatsfan85

Remember last season when I said I won the travel package from the CT lottery where I received 2 tickets round trip airfare, 2 nights hotel stay, 2 tickets to an away game, and an authentic patriots jersey?

Well the package was probably worth at most 1500 dollars. I received a w-2G saying it was 18,000 so I called the CT lottery to complain. I threatened them with the IRS and Consumer Protection. SO, here's what I am getting:

-2 VIP tickets for a day at Training Camp
-2 Putnam Club Seats at a Patriots game
-2 meal vouchers
-VIP Parking
-I get to go on the field pre-game and post-game.
-Private tour of Gillette Stadium
-Merchandise Package:
-Patriots Dufflebag stuffed with- Patriots Cap, Sweatshirt, tshirt, AND a Signed Authentic Brady Jersey!!!

So they are sending me a W-2G this year for 2500. Then next tax season, they are sending me a w-2G for 10,000 dollars. Do you think the new package I just mentioned is worth $10,000?

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Wilfork#75

That experience sounds priceless to me

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ctpatsfan77

Clearly, the contentious items are the ones I marked in bold above.

The way I see it, you have two options (perhaps you can take both):

(1) You can argue that they are, literally, "priceless opportunities" that do not actually have monetary value;
(2) You could call NFL Extra Points and see if the Patriots and/or other teams offer similar experiences through the card. If they say "We offer VIP passes to TC for 20,000 points each," then you could argue that since they offer $200 cash back instead, the actual value of the item is no more than $200.

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"Momentum was quickly snatched away by New England, who once again proved that any Patriot, at any moment, can make a play." —Inside the NFL, Packers v. Patriots

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Jangles

I would say all of that is worth $10,000


If it were for the superbowl

Onedaful

Not posting to answer the question just to say you are one lucky SOB. Have fun man!

WhiZa

Parking next to Gillette is about $5,000 in itself

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Ron Sellers

First a question: are you getting the items listed instead of the tickets to any road game with airfare and hotel, or in addition to that package?


I would ask for it to be itemized, showing what each of those items are valued at.

Then I would research to see if those figures appear to be correct.

Another option would be to ask them to provide proof in the form of receipts, that the values they are assessing jibe with what they are taxing you.



On a side note, the company that I work for has had somewhat similar issues with incentive packages for sales people, and with their business partners whose products we sell. The incentives are typically whoever has the biggest dollar or percentage increase in (business partner's products) over a (day, week, month, quarter) wins a certain prize (rather than cash).

The company (which will remain nameless) prefers prizes rather than cash stating that it is 'more special, more memorable', but the real reason they prefer prizes is because they negotiate a discounted group rate on prizes, but charge the business partner full price - plus a (very profitable) administrative fee for running the reports, updates, printing flyers to hand out to everyone reminding them of the contest, sending emails out reminding them of the contest, etc. It has basically turned into it's own profit center. The winners get taxed full retail value.

This is a Fortune 500 company that does everything by the books, so I am assuming they have done their homework and have found themselves to be legally within their rights to operate this way. You hear similar stories about people who win a prize on television game shows, are assessed taxes on the full retail value, and are forced to sell the winning product at a substantially lower amount to pay those taxes. At my company so many people were refusing prizes that it got to the point where in most cases the winning prize now also includes payment of those taxes.

Sadly the state of CT is probably within their legal rights as well. The one major difference that I see is that they have a conflict of interest: the higher the assessed value, the more that they collect on income taxes. Perhaps arbitration should be considered, but if you go that route then make very sure it is not done with an arbitrator that they are able to choose themselves.


Assuming the state gets their way, it doesn't come down to whether or not the package is worth $12,500 to you, but whether or not it is worth whatever the taxes are on $12,500 - $2,500 to $3,500 I'm guessing? I don't know what your financial status is, but it seems like your options would be to accept the prize and pay the taxes; refuse it and walk away; or accept it and sell it. Someone who knows taxes here better than I do might be able to advise you on the last option, and how it could change your tax status for better (akin to a business loss) or worse (are you also responsible for taxes on the money you make selling the package, in addition to taxes on the prize?)