Do your taxes, folks.
That’s the lesson you can learn from Yokasta Boyer of Clifton, New Jersey. According to the New Jersey Lottery, Boyer, who works both a full-time job and a part-time job, was prepping to do her taxes – sifting through records and documents – when she found an old Jersey Cash 5 lottery ticket. She checked the ticket numbers against those on the lottery website and found out that she was a winner.
And talk about perfect timing: Boyer filed her claim on April 1, 2016. Since that ticket would have expired on April 14, 2016, she found it just in time, according to lottery officials.
That would have been a shame: the winning ticket was worth $472,271. That’s before taxes, of course. Federal law requires the New Jersey Lottery to withhold 25% from any prize of more than $5,000 (30% if you do not furnish your Social Security number). State law requires the New Jersey Lottery to withhold state tax at the rate of 5% from any prize in excess of $10,000 and up to $500,000 (8% if in excess of $500,000, but Boyer is just under the threshold). Those amounts are reported on Form W2-G to IRS and to the taxpayer and filed at tax time.
(For more on state tax consequences, here’s where not to win the lottery.)
According to lottery officials, Boyer doesn’t have any plans for her big win just yet other than to pay off some debts. She typically works 60 hours per week and even more during the Christmas holidays so she’s hoping to work less and have more time to relax and enjoy time with friends and family this upcoming holiday season.
According to the website, since its inception in 1970, the New Jersey Lottery (NJLottery.com) has contributed nearly $24 billion to the State in support of education and institutions. Among its beneficiaries are: veterans homes, colleges, and universities, school nutrition programs, homes for the developmentally disabled, psychiatric hospitals, higher education scholarship programs and the Marie Katzenbach School for the Deaf.
(To find out more about how other states spend their lottery cash, click here.)
