There's a Powerball winner

Okay fine, they haven’t announced a winner of the $900 million Powerball prize yet – but it doesn’t matter. Because no matter who wins, someone always wins.

The IRS.

In fact, the IRS has won big on every single one of the 1,130 Powerball jackpots since the contest began in 1992, pocketing at least $17.5 billion of the $73 billion in total winnings.

💰🎰 A deeper dive… The IRS takes a minimum of 24% for any winnings over $5,000.

*game show host voice* But that’s not all! Whether you opt to receive the $900 million paid out over 30 years or receive a lump sum of $465 million (the two options available to you as a winner), the taxman cometh, and he cometh big time:

• Lump Sum: Choose the $465 million lump sum payout, and you immediately lose $111.6 million (24%). Then there’s income tax, which, at the highest tax bracket of 37%, tacks on an additional 13% in taxes (unless the winner chooses to give the money to charity, or opens certain types of investments). Take-home earnings: ~$293 million.
• Installment: $900 million over 30 years = an average payout of $30 million/year. Assuming not enough write-offs to move down into a lower tax bracket, that works out to a tax bill of roughly $11 million a year. Take-home earnings: ~$568 million.

🤑 Bottom line: Whether you’re the lucky 1 in 292 million that beats the lottery odds or part of the rest of us who don’t win, the IRS is coming – and it always gets its cut.