Latina winner of US$1.08 billion will lose half of the prize due to taxes – 2024-04-18 23:30:34

American lottery

Powerball: Latina winner of US$1.08 billion will lose half of the prize due to taxes

Yanira Álvarez, winner of the historic prize of US$1,080 million in the Powerball lottery, opted for the cash payment and will have to pay a million-dollar amount in taxes.

The winner of this prize bought the ticket at a store in Los Angeles, California. (Free Press Photo: AFP)

Yanira Álvarez’s life changed unexpectedly following win US$1.08 billion in a Powerball lottery drawing.

Álvarez, a Latina resident in California, won the fifth largest prize in the history of this contest last Wednesday, July 19, 2023.

Months following her historic victory, Yanira Álvarez opted to pay the cash prize, Therefore, the total amount obtained was reduced to US$558 million.

However, the Latina woman will lose even more money and her prize will be reduced by up to half due to the taxes she has to pay in Californiacity in which he resides.

Although California does not charge state taxes for winning the lottery, The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) does collect them at the federal level.

Read also: The story of the woman who mistakenly bought a Powerball ticket and won US$1 million

For this reason, The IRS imposes a 24 percent withholding on winners of prizes greater than US$5,000 of taxes.

The Latina woman won this historic award and chose to collect it in cash. (Free Press Photo: AFP)

In addition, American lottery prize winners are subject to a higher category of 37 percent for prizes greater than US$578,125.

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After payment of all these taxes, Yanira Álvarez will finally keep less than half of the US$1,080 million she earned last year when guessing the winning Powerball lottery numbers.