Jackpot, after taxes.

For U.S. citizens and residents, the IRS requires 24% federal withholding on lottery prizes over $5,000, taken before you're paid. Most states with an income tax withhold their own percentage at the same time. But withholding is a down payment, not the final bill — see the next question.

Because a large jackpot pushes almost all of the prize into the top federal bracket — 37% in 2026 on income above $640,600 (single) or $768,700 (married filing jointly). The 24% withheld at payout covers only part of that, and the remaining roughly 13 percentage points is due when you file. On a $46 million lump sum, that's about $5–6 million more at tax time. This calculator shows both numbers so the difference never surprises you.

Mathematically, the annuity pays more nominal dollars and spreads income across 30 years, which can keep the early, smaller payments partly below the top bracket. The lump sum pays roughly 45–50% of the advertised jackpot up front, all taxed in one year at the top rate — but you control the money immediately and can invest it.

Most winners take the lump sum, betting they can out-earn the annuity's built-in ~5% escalation. The right answer depends on your discipline, age, and investment plan; this is a decision to make with a fiduciary advisor, not a calculator alone.

The advertised jackpot is the sum of 30 future annuity payments. The cash option is the present value of that stream — the amount the lottery would actually invest today to fund those payments. Depending on interest rates it typically runs 45–52% of the headline number. Neither figure includes taxes; both are pre-tax.

Potentially both. The state where the ticket was purchased generally withholds and taxes the prize first (non-residents included). Your home state then taxes it too, usually with a credit for tax paid to the other state — so you typically end up paying the higher of the two rates, not double. If you live in a no-tax state like Florida or Texas but bought the ticket in New York, New York still gets its share. This calculator models one jurisdiction at a time; for cross-border wins, run it with the higher applicable rate.

As of 2026: Alaska, Florida, Nevada, New Hampshire, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington, and Wyoming have no tax on lottery winnings, and California exempts lottery prizes specifically even though it taxes other income. (Alaska, Nevada, and Hawaii have no state lottery at all, and Utah and Alabama don't either — but those states can still tax residents' out-of-state winnings.)

It depends entirely on the state where the ticket was bought. Roughly twenty states allow some form of anonymity — some at any prize level (Delaware, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, North Dakota, Ohio, South Carolina, Wyoming, and others), some only above a threshold (Texas $1M+, Virginia $10M+, Arizona $100k+, West Virginia $1M+, Georgia $250k+). Others require public disclosure by law, though claiming through a trust or LLC can add a layer of privacy where permitted. Check the map above, then confirm with the state lottery and a local attorney before signing the ticket — in some states, how the ticket is signed determines whether a trust claim is still possible.

Cash gifts to a 501(c)(3) public charity are deductible up to 60% of your adjusted gross income, and gifts above the limit carry forward up to five years. Two 2026 changes matter for big winners: only the amount above 0.5% of AGI is deductible (a new floor), and if you're in the 37% bracket, each deducted dollar saves at most 35 cents (a new cap). So a $23 million gift on a $46 million win saves roughly $8 million in tax — the gift's net cost to you is about $15 million. Giving reduces your tax bill, but it never leaves you with more money than not giving; it makes generosity cheaper, not profitable.

The gift must be completed in the same tax year as the income to offset it. Donor-advised funds and private foundations can help lock in a current-year deduction while deciding on charities later, but some of those routes face lower 30%-of-AGI limits.

Generally no. Under the IRS "assignment of income" doctrine, the person who won the prize owes the tax, even if they hand the ticket to someone else before claiming. Transferring winnings afterward can also trigger federal gift tax above the annual exclusion ($19,000 per recipient in 2026) and the lifetime exemption. Sharing arrangements (like office pools) should be documented before the drawing. This is exactly the moment to hire a tax attorney.

Nonresident aliens face a flat 30% federal withholding on U.S. lottery winnings (unless a tax treaty says otherwise), plus applicable state tax, and generally can't use the graduated brackets or standard deduction this calculator assumes. Use the manual federal rate override (set it to 30%) for a rough estimate, and get advice from a cross-border tax professional.

The Powerball® figures at the top of the page are read from Powerball’s public website; the Mega Millions® figures are currently obtained from a public Ohio Lottery feed that carries Mega Millions jackpot information (both fetched by this site’s own server and refreshed periodically). All are displayed for information only. They are estimates that change frequently, we don’t guarantee their accuracy, and winning.monster is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Multi-State Lottery Association or either game. Always verify current amounts with an official lottery source. If the data is briefly unreachable, the cards simply invite you to type any amount into the calculator.

Your calculator entries are never collected: every calculation runs locally in your browser, and nothing you type is transmitted, logged, or stored by winning.monster. Like most websites, we do use Google Analytics to understand overall traffic (pages visited, approximate region, device type) — that measurement never includes your jackpot figures or any other numbers you enter. Details are in our Privacy Policy.

No. winning.monster provides educational estimates based on published 2026 tax parameters. Your actual liability depends on your complete tax picture, and state rates and anonymity statutes change. Before claiming any large prize, engage a CPA and an attorney licensed in the state of purchase — ideally before you sign the ticket. See our Terms of Use.

The seven ordinary-income brackets from IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with the top 37% rate above $640,600 (single), $768,700 (married filing jointly), or $384,350 (married filing separately); 24% withholding on prizes over $5,000; and standard deductions of $16,100 (single/MFS), $32,200 (MFJ), and $24,150 (head of household). State and local income taxes are itemized up to the SALT cap, which phases down to $10,000 at jackpot-level incomes. Not modeled: net investment income tax (it doesn't apply to gambling winnings), AMT, estimated-payment penalties, multi-state credits, and the 30% nonresident-alien withholding.

As a cash gift to a public charity, deductible up to 60% of AGI, with 2026's two new limits applied: only the amount above 0.5% of AGI counts (the new floor), and each deducted dollar saves at most 35¢ for income in the 37% bracket (the new cap). State treatment was reviewed per state: CT, IL, IN, LA, MI, NJ, OH, PA, RI, and WV allow no state charitable deduction, so the checkbox defaults off there; Utah, Vermont, and Wisconsin offer partial credits instead; Maine caps itemized deductions; New York limits the deduction to 25% of the federal amount above $10M of income (not modeled — uncheck the state box for a conservative NY estimate). Non-cash gifts, donor-advised funds, and private foundations (which can face 30% limits) are not modeled.

Every default was audited against the Tax Foundation’s January 1, 2026 state tax tables, including this year’s cuts: Kentucky 3.5%, Ohio 2.75%, Mississippi 4.0%, Montana 5.65%, Nebraska 4.55%, North Carolina 3.99%, Oklahoma 4.5%, and Indiana 2.95%. South Carolina’s 2026 default is 5.21% (the rate on income of $30,000 and above under H.4216, signed March 2026). Maryland’s 8.95% default is the resident lottery-withholding rate (6.5% state top rate plus average county tax). New York’s 10.9% top rate technically applies above $25M of income, so smaller NY wins are slightly overstated. State tax is applied as a single flat rate — a close approximation at jackpot scale — and every rate is editable, including NYC’s extra 3.876%.

As 30 graduated payments rising 5% per year — the published Powerball/Mega Millions schedule — that sum exactly to the advertised jackpot, with each payment taxed under 2026 law as it arrives. Real future brackets, inflation, and your other income will differ, and totals are nominal dollars, not present value.

Bona fide residents of Puerto Rico generally owe no U.S. federal income tax on PR-source lottery prizes; Puerto Rico taxes them under its own code, so the calculator treats the PR rate as covering the full liability. The U.S. Virgin Islands uses the federal “mirror code” — the same math as the federal calculation, but paid to the USVI treasury.