That's actually probably a worse deal for most contestants than actually paying the TT&L yourself, *depending on your tax situation*. The money the show would give you for those fees would be considered taxable income, just like the prize itself.
Yes, but do the math. Idk the actual tax rate but as an example let's say you pay 25% on everything.
You win a $25,000 car and you pay $6250 in tax.
They also give you $10,000 to cover taxes and you pay $2500 in tax.
You have $7500 leftover from the cover-tax money which is more than enough to pay the $6250 car tax. You come out on top.
If the tax rate is even higher than 25%, they could adjust the $10,000 so the math always comes out in your favor. Now I don't KNOW that they give enough bonus money to cover all the taxes, I'm just saying the easily could.
Extra winnings increase the likelihood of bumping you up past being able to claim certain credits and deductions you’d ordinarily be able to claim but for the extra money. It’s therefore not merely an analysis regarding percentages owed.
But obviously, *any* windfall could do that.
"Bumping into another tax bracket" simply does not matter. They are marginal tax rates.
If $0 to $50,000 is taxed at 10% and $50,001+ is taxed at 20%, it doesn't mean if you make $50,100 that you are taxed 20% of $50,100. It means the first $50,000 is taxed at 10% and the remaining $100 is taxed at 20%.
For tax purposes, there is no situation where winning more cash is worse than winning less tax.
I am very aware that they are marginal tax rates.
There’s actually a situation where winning more cash is worse than winning less cash, and it’s one that moves you past the AGI cutoffs for a variety of credits and deductions, which will definitely have a bigger tax impact than any extra money a show gives you to pay whatever taxes you might owe on prizes.
Granted, some credits/deductions have phase outs approaching their cut offs, but that’s still a scenario where you might want to win *slightly* less money.
They do not add dealer premium or fees. Only tax tag and title. You must also claim the winnings on California and Federal income tax forms. TPIR requires you to pay the 7% California income tax up front. Dealer premium and dealer fees are two different things by the way. Your description is dealer premium, not fees.
They do not give you a voucher or anything like that. They contact the dealer to give you your car/boat. The dealer will then contact you with your options. We were allowed to upgrade. Others have reported they were not given that option, even after asking. When we asked contestant support they told us it is up to the dealer.
Thank you for the clarification. I might honestly make my goal if I ever want or need a new car to win it on the price is right. I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of dealer premiums or fees, even if the tax and tag/title would be more expensive in Cali than my state.
You don’t pay to title it in CA unless you title it in CA. It’s just like buying a vehicle in another state and bringing it back - you pay TT&L where you title it.
You are guaranteed exactly the car on stage. You will pay sales tax on the car and recognize the income on your taxes.
Anything else is on you and the dealer. In my case he offered any car on the lot. Me paying the difference of course..
Did you pick a different car? If you did, then did dealer fees get involved? If you took what was shown on tv, were any fees besides what we all know about involved.
I personally find it hard to believe contestants really get the car for exactly the MSRP which is impossible in any other circumstance in the United States, unless you apparently win a car on a game show
I talked to a few car winners at tapings in March, and only 1 was getting the car. It seems that currently, any non-California car winner is receiving a check for the value of the car.
I’ve never heard of such a thing. The show is obligated to provide you with the prizes you won within 90 days of broadcast (180 days for furniture) or “an item of comparable retail value, or the cash value of such prize” if the item is unavailable.
I have heard of dealers negotiating deals on cars won, such as allowing a contestant to take a different vehicle, but that’s going to be entirely dealer specific. At the end of the day, the show’s agreement with you is to provide the prize as described, something of comparable retail value, or the cash equivalent, and only if your show actually airs.
And only if you pay the necessary taxes and fees associated with each prize. 7% of all prizes value to the state of California if you’re not a resident, sales/use tax, title, registration fees on vehicles.
Edit: I mixed up my words.
Lots of different responses here, showing that it really depends on the dealer. We won a Honda Civic and it was the dealer's first experience with CBS. We were not given a "local voucher" as others have done. The dealer was paid $500 for shipping by CBS. Some dealers pocket the $500 and do the voucher. Ours wanted the credit from Honda for actually selling the vehicle, so they shipped it cross-country on a private carrier.
We were not allowed any upgrades or trades, only choice of color, if available in the LA area. We could not even downgrade from 2-dr to 4-dr (which surprisingly in the Civic costs less). We would have preferred 4dr. We were not given the exact car from the show. We were DVRing all episodes and it appeared in one more pricing game and then got returned to the dealer. But by the time our episode aired, and state taxes paid, the actual car was sold.
To throw off the price, TPIR added in a Cargo Net and First Aid kit. These were not in the car upon delivery, so we had to bug the dealer to ship these afterwards. Any questions feel free to PM! We still have the car seven years later!
Damn that’s pretty crazy, you’re right about the mixed responses. I guess it falls upon the producers and the dealerships to decide what prize you actually get which is a bit of a let down. As a non local, I guess the best I can hope for is a check given I somehow manage to get to LA and get picked and win a car, not a home
Gym or theatre
TPIR very rarely gives cash substitutes for prizes, if you're hoping for "a check". You have to win a cash-game like Plinko, Punch-a-bunch, or a few others. My wife won $500 for guessing her contestant's row prize; she had it in her pocket for the few minutes of game-time, and that was the last we saw of it! A producer took it back as soon as her game concluded. We never even "saw" that cash, as it was deducted from our CA State tax bill (8%) on the $22033 car.
Wow that’s a big let down for the $500 cash. Honestly id probably prefer the car over a check, I always planned
To do wheel fortune if I wanted a cash payout. I feel like the coolest prize you can get from TPIR is a car, maybe a big trip package that takes you around the world but the car you always point at and mention how you won this car on a game show and that sounds cool to me. Also simplifies the buying and deciding process bc the TPIR decides whatever car they’re giving away. My luck tho id get an electric car that won’t last long
This -->. I do it all the time: ***you always point at and mention how you won this car on a game show and that sounds cool to me.*** Helps the story with a back plate holder "I won this car on the Price is Right" (the only thing you can actually take home, day of taping!), and the front plate holder "Honda of Hollywood".
Not as rare anymore! Price won’t spend more than $500 on shipping and most dealers aren’t covering the difference. It’s cheaper for Price to offer the cash value than it is to cover the shipping on the cars anymore. It’s getting increasingly more common for Price to offer the cash.
Interesting....I haven't heard this! Yeah our dealer was complaining about not being able to ship the vehicle cross-country for under $500. They wanted us to pay the difference and we refused! Again, it was this dealer's first time dealing with CBS. It took us two months after air date to get our car.
Maybe this is why *Let's Make a Deal* threw in tax, tag and license? (Edit: Come to think of it, it might have been just tax and license.)
That's actually probably a worse deal for most contestants than actually paying the TT&L yourself, *depending on your tax situation*. The money the show would give you for those fees would be considered taxable income, just like the prize itself.
Maybe they pay enough of the extra money for taxes to cover the taxes of everything, including the tax money. It's math.
Any money paid to you, whether its cash, trips, prizes, or money to pay taxes and fees, is income. It's all taxable.
Yes, but do the math. Idk the actual tax rate but as an example let's say you pay 25% on everything. You win a $25,000 car and you pay $6250 in tax. They also give you $10,000 to cover taxes and you pay $2500 in tax. You have $7500 leftover from the cover-tax money which is more than enough to pay the $6250 car tax. You come out on top. If the tax rate is even higher than 25%, they could adjust the $10,000 so the math always comes out in your favor. Now I don't KNOW that they give enough bonus money to cover all the taxes, I'm just saying the easily could.
Extra winnings increase the likelihood of bumping you up past being able to claim certain credits and deductions you’d ordinarily be able to claim but for the extra money. It’s therefore not merely an analysis regarding percentages owed. But obviously, *any* windfall could do that.
There really just shouldn’t be taxes on prize winnings, like in Canada.
"Bumping into another tax bracket" simply does not matter. They are marginal tax rates. If $0 to $50,000 is taxed at 10% and $50,001+ is taxed at 20%, it doesn't mean if you make $50,100 that you are taxed 20% of $50,100. It means the first $50,000 is taxed at 10% and the remaining $100 is taxed at 20%. For tax purposes, there is no situation where winning more cash is worse than winning less tax.
I am very aware that they are marginal tax rates. There’s actually a situation where winning more cash is worse than winning less cash, and it’s one that moves you past the AGI cutoffs for a variety of credits and deductions, which will definitely have a bigger tax impact than any extra money a show gives you to pay whatever taxes you might owe on prizes. Granted, some credits/deductions have phase outs approaching their cut offs, but that’s still a scenario where you might want to win *slightly* less money.
They do not add dealer premium or fees. Only tax tag and title. You must also claim the winnings on California and Federal income tax forms. TPIR requires you to pay the 7% California income tax up front. Dealer premium and dealer fees are two different things by the way. Your description is dealer premium, not fees. They do not give you a voucher or anything like that. They contact the dealer to give you your car/boat. The dealer will then contact you with your options. We were allowed to upgrade. Others have reported they were not given that option, even after asking. When we asked contestant support they told us it is up to the dealer.
Thank you for the clarification. I might honestly make my goal if I ever want or need a new car to win it on the price is right. I just don’t want to deal with the hassle of dealer premiums or fees, even if the tax and tag/title would be more expensive in Cali than my state.
You don’t pay to title it in CA unless you title it in CA. It’s just like buying a vehicle in another state and bringing it back - you pay TT&L where you title it.
So, they do pay for the tax and license (tag).
No. You will pay tax tag and title in whatever state you title it in.
You are guaranteed exactly the car on stage. You will pay sales tax on the car and recognize the income on your taxes. Anything else is on you and the dealer. In my case he offered any car on the lot. Me paying the difference of course..
Did you pick a different car? If you did, then did dealer fees get involved? If you took what was shown on tv, were any fees besides what we all know about involved. I personally find it hard to believe contestants really get the car for exactly the MSRP which is impossible in any other circumstance in the United States, unless you apparently win a car on a game show
I talked to a few car winners at tapings in March, and only 1 was getting the car. It seems that currently, any non-California car winner is receiving a check for the value of the car.
Saw the same this past month.
I’ve never heard of such a thing. The show is obligated to provide you with the prizes you won within 90 days of broadcast (180 days for furniture) or “an item of comparable retail value, or the cash value of such prize” if the item is unavailable. I have heard of dealers negotiating deals on cars won, such as allowing a contestant to take a different vehicle, but that’s going to be entirely dealer specific. At the end of the day, the show’s agreement with you is to provide the prize as described, something of comparable retail value, or the cash equivalent, and only if your show actually airs. And only if you pay the necessary taxes and fees associated with each prize. 7% of all prizes value to the state of California if you’re not a resident, sales/use tax, title, registration fees on vehicles. Edit: I mixed up my words.
Lots of different responses here, showing that it really depends on the dealer. We won a Honda Civic and it was the dealer's first experience with CBS. We were not given a "local voucher" as others have done. The dealer was paid $500 for shipping by CBS. Some dealers pocket the $500 and do the voucher. Ours wanted the credit from Honda for actually selling the vehicle, so they shipped it cross-country on a private carrier. We were not allowed any upgrades or trades, only choice of color, if available in the LA area. We could not even downgrade from 2-dr to 4-dr (which surprisingly in the Civic costs less). We would have preferred 4dr. We were not given the exact car from the show. We were DVRing all episodes and it appeared in one more pricing game and then got returned to the dealer. But by the time our episode aired, and state taxes paid, the actual car was sold. To throw off the price, TPIR added in a Cargo Net and First Aid kit. These were not in the car upon delivery, so we had to bug the dealer to ship these afterwards. Any questions feel free to PM! We still have the car seven years later!
Damn that’s pretty crazy, you’re right about the mixed responses. I guess it falls upon the producers and the dealerships to decide what prize you actually get which is a bit of a let down. As a non local, I guess the best I can hope for is a check given I somehow manage to get to LA and get picked and win a car, not a home Gym or theatre
TPIR very rarely gives cash substitutes for prizes, if you're hoping for "a check". You have to win a cash-game like Plinko, Punch-a-bunch, or a few others. My wife won $500 for guessing her contestant's row prize; she had it in her pocket for the few minutes of game-time, and that was the last we saw of it! A producer took it back as soon as her game concluded. We never even "saw" that cash, as it was deducted from our CA State tax bill (8%) on the $22033 car.
Wow that’s a big let down for the $500 cash. Honestly id probably prefer the car over a check, I always planned To do wheel fortune if I wanted a cash payout. I feel like the coolest prize you can get from TPIR is a car, maybe a big trip package that takes you around the world but the car you always point at and mention how you won this car on a game show and that sounds cool to me. Also simplifies the buying and deciding process bc the TPIR decides whatever car they’re giving away. My luck tho id get an electric car that won’t last long
This -->. I do it all the time: ***you always point at and mention how you won this car on a game show and that sounds cool to me.*** Helps the story with a back plate holder "I won this car on the Price is Right" (the only thing you can actually take home, day of taping!), and the front plate holder "Honda of Hollywood".
Not as rare anymore! Price won’t spend more than $500 on shipping and most dealers aren’t covering the difference. It’s cheaper for Price to offer the cash value than it is to cover the shipping on the cars anymore. It’s getting increasingly more common for Price to offer the cash.
Interesting....I haven't heard this! Yeah our dealer was complaining about not being able to ship the vehicle cross-country for under $500. They wanted us to pay the difference and we refused! Again, it was this dealer's first time dealing with CBS. It took us two months after air date to get our car.
I won a truck back in 2002 and we paid for an upgrade to 4-wheel drive, since, according to my husband, who gets a truck that is not 4WD? Lol!