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Can pretax lottery winnings be donated to charity in the US simultaneously creating a deduction of the taxable lottery winnings and putting pretax proceeds to a productive cause?

CQM
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1 Answers1

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The lottery commission will withhold tax, typically, 25% federal. For large sums, the millions people dream of winning, the problem lies in that you can't deduct more than 50% of MAGI as a charitable deduction. So, the year you win, say, $4M, you can donate $2M, and keep $2M but have a tax bill on that $2M.

JoeTaxpayer
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