Lottery taxes · 46 states · rates verified July 13, 2026
Lottery taxes, in one honest number.
The advertised jackpot is a headline, not a deposit. Two things happen before any of it is yours: the prize shrinks to its cash value, then federal and state tax take their share. Here is what actually lands.
What lands in your account
What you’d actually keep of a $800M Mega Millions jackpot, taken as cash, claimed in Florida. The other $127.3M is tax.
Line by line
| Advertised jackpot (Mega Millions) | $800M |
|---|---|
| Cash value — what the prize really is | $344.2M |
| Federal income tax (top bracket 37%) | −$127.3M |
| Florida — no state income tax | — |
| What lands in your account | $216.9M |
The lottery withholds 24% up front. The top federal bracket is 37% — the remaining 13% comes due on your return, which is where people get caught. The advertised jackpot is the headline number, paid out over 30 years; every figure here is the cash value — the lump sum you’d actually be paid. Figures assume a single winner in the top bracket and no other income.
Price it for you
Mega Millions and Florida carry over — you won’t re-enter them.
You have the number
You now know what you’d keep. You still don’t know what you’d do with it.
Almost everyone can name the number in ten seconds and then goes quiet for the rest. Someday walks you through it — every gift by name, every house, what you’d live on — and shows you the life those choices actually add up to.
About four minutes. Free, and no account until you want to save it.
The 24% withheld is not the bill
The lottery withholds 24% federal at the moment you claim. The top federal bracket is 37%, and a jackpot puts you there instantly — so roughly 13% of the cash value is still owed when you file.
On this $344.2M cash value that gap is about $44.7M. It is the single most common surprise for winners, and it is entirely predictable.
The same win, 46 places
cash option · Mega Millions at $800MRates are each state’s final income-tax rate on lottery prizes for a single filer claiming in that state — the total state liability, not the amount withheld at claim — applied to the cash value. Every row is state-only. New York City and Yonkers residents owe a local tax on top of New York’s state rate; it is computed in the configurator on Someday’s New York page, never in this table.
Same jackpot, 46 different checks. The table above shows what you’d keep from the current $800M Mega Millions jackpot ($344.2M lump-sum cash) after federal and state tax — each state’s page has the full breakdown and its quirks.
Next drawing: Tue, Jul 28
Advertised jackpot: $800M — that’s the 30-year annuity total, not the cash.
Cash value: $344.2M. After federal and state taxes, you’d keep between $179.4M and $216.9M, depending on your state.
Updated after the July 24 drawing.
The actual question
What would you do if Someday comes?
You came here for a tax figure. The interesting part is the one it unlocks: $216.9M of decisions, made while none of it is real.
Answer it →Someday is real math about an imaginary win — for entertainment purposes only. We don’t sell tickets.
Estimates for entertainment purposes, not tax advice. Rates from public sources; your actual outcome depends on your full tax situation. Figures use the top federal bracket of 37% and each state’s final rate on winnings; your own bill depends on your full return. State rates verified against official state sources on July 13, 2026. Someday does not sell lottery tickets and is not affiliated with Powerball, Mega Millions, or any state lottery.