Disney Parks " Disney Time" Sweepstakes- Any Other Winners?

[loveshak22]

Now I am worrying about the taxes. Maybe I should knock it off and stop entering. I so wanted to go and take my grandchildren but if I can't afford the taxes then it is stupid for me to enter. Guess my dreams of going back to Disney World is squished. Oh well. It was fun dreaming.

Well if you plan right it might be possible. Someone on here might know more than me but I'm guessing you have to pay the taxes the year you take the trip? You claim the trip on your tax form and it's calculated into your tax return you don't just write a check right then when you win.

So if you win this year and you take the trip in early 2014 (I think you have until February 2014 according to the rules?) then I would think that you would then claim it on your 2014 taxes that get prepared in 2015. So you'd have from the time you win - sometime this month if you get lucky - until mid-2015 when tax payemnts are due to the government until you owe the money. That's almost 24 months to save up the money. And do you ever get a tax refund? That refund would go towards any money you owe on your taxes. In this case what we're approximating to be about $1,800, give or take depending on your tax bracket and annual income, etc. If you normally end up with a $300 refund and that's expected the year you file the vacation then that could help offset the money you owe that year.

Even if you went this year you wouldn't have to pay taxes until mid-2014 when you get your taxes done for this year. Even if you went this year then you'd still have from winning this month until mid-2014 when your taxes get done to pay. That's still about 18 months so save up $100 a month and you'll be good!

I'm not an expert with taxes but I think this is how it would play out.

 

[Scottiesmommy08]

So, I skimmed through the rules on my tablet, and I'm confused on the hotel stay. Which hotels are you allowed to choose from, or is it chosen for you?

 

[Stitchfans]

The overall cost of the trip may be lower than the estimated value, since that price is based on four people (possibly 4 adults) and those individuals picking a higher cost resort. I wouldn't let that prevent you from entering, and talking to them if you win about choosing the options that work best for you.

Thank you. Never thought about that. We never could afford the expensive resorts. We always stayed at All Star Movies. That is where I was I estimating my taxes from. I had planned on it being me, DD32, DD18 and my grandson who just turned 2 and my grand daughter who just turned 4 months.

I figured they wouldn't charge for my grand daughter since she is so tiny and young.

 

[triplejen]

Stitchfans, if they let you select the hotel, perhaps you could choose a value or
moderate instead if a deluxe, which would
reduce the value of the prize and therefore your tax responsibility?

 

[cristen72]

Thank you. Never thought about that. We never could afford the expensive resorts. We always stayed at All Star Movies. That is where I was I estimating my taxes from. I had planned on it being me, DD32, DD18 and my grandson who just turned 2 and my grand daughter who just turned 4 months.

I figured they wouldn't charge for my grand daughter since she is so tiny and young.

This is our situation as well. Both of our trips were at value resorts. Even estimating $1800 in taxes is scary to me. That's more than we spent in September for 5 nights at AoA including park tickets.

We drove to WDW both years. I thought about driving again if we won instead of flying. If we don't use the flights that would bring the cost of the prize down, in turn reducing the taxes.

And I'm confused about the taxes a bit. (Forgive me, I've never won anything!) Do you actually have to PAY the taxes (like write a check to the goverment or have the tax amount deducted from your refund) or are you actually just adding the tax value to your total income for the year?

I realize you're going to pay a tax regardless but I'm just not quite clear on the "how" part.

 

[momto3gr8boys]

This is our situation as well. Both of our trips were at value resorts. Even estimating $1800 in taxes is scary to me. That's more than we spent in September for 5 nights at AoA including park tickets.

We drove to WDW both years. I thought about driving again if we won instead of flying. If we don't use the flights that would bring the cost of the prize down, in turn reducing the taxes.

And I'm confused about the taxes a bit. (Forgive me, I've never won anything!) Do you actually have to PAY the taxes (like write a check to the goverment or have the tax amount deducted from your refund) or are you actually just adding the tax value to your total income for the year?

I realize you're going to pay a tax regardless but I'm just not quite clear on the "how" part.

The amount of the trip (let's say $6,000) gets added to your total income. So if you make $50,000 a year, the year you won you would have "made" $56,000. So you aren't essentially paying out of pocket and depending on your deductions, income, etc it can vary greatly.

 

[ProudMommyof2]

Yes, you pay the taxes for the year you take the trip. You also can keep track of airfare and discounts at the resorts and ask for a revised 1099 if you could have booked the same trip cheaper.

I "saved the offer" for the same vacation that we took on the WDW website and then printed the reservation confirmation as proof of what I could have booked the resort forour dates at a lower price than they put on the 1099.

Does that make sense? You can dispute the 1099 if you can prove you could have booked the same trip for less.

 

[sirabe76]

I wonder if there will be black out dates. I would love to take my family during the Christmas in the event of winning. Not during actual Christmas but after the decorations are put up.

 

[ArmyWife2002]

This is our situation as well. Both of our trips were at value resorts. Even estimating $1800 in taxes is scary to me. That's more than we spent in September for 5 nights at AoA including park tickets.

We drove to WDW both years. I thought about driving again if we won instead of flying. If we don't use the flights that would bring the cost of the prize down, in turn reducing the taxes.

And I'm confused about the taxes a bit. (Forgive me, I've never won anything!) Do you actually have to PAY the taxes (like write a check to the goverment or have the tax amount deducted from your refund) or are you actually just adding the tax value to your total income for the year?

I realize you're going to pay a tax regardless but I'm just not quite clear on the "how" part.

I think the way it works is you get a 1099 at tax time and it is reported to the government as income. So it would be added to your regular income and if you get a refund, it is taken out of the refund. S if a normal refund for you is $3000 and your tax portion was $1500, you would only get $1500 refund back. I think!

 

[pwdebbie]

Yes, you pay the taxes for the year you take the trip. You also can keep track of airfare and discounts at the resorts and ask for a revised 1099 if you could have booked the same trip cheaper.

I "saved the offer" for the same vacation that we took on the WDW website and then printed the reservation confirmation as proof of what I could have booked the resort for our dates at a lower price than they put on the 1099.

Does that make sense? You can dispute the 1099 if you can prove you could have booked the same trip for less.

I think you explained that very well. And saving your online offer is a perfectly wonderful idea. I would not have thought of doing that.

 

[suevr]

Yes, you pay the taxes for the year you take the trip. You also can keep track of airfare and discounts at the resorts and ask for a revised 1099 if you could have booked the same trip cheaper.

I "saved the offer" for the same vacation that we took on the WDW website and then printed the reservation confirmation as proof of what I could have booked the resort forour dates at a lower price than they put on the 1099.

Does that make sense? You can dispute the 1099 if you can prove you could have booked the same trip for less.

Yes, I did the same thing for the OMDD trip that I won last year. I printed off the cost of the hotel/tickets and airline tickets. We don't have our 1099s yet, so I guess we'll see what it says. We went to DL in the middle of the summer so there weren't any discounts so I'm guessing it will probably be correct.

There were a few winners that live close enough to WDW to drive and they were given gas cards instead. I suppose you could turn them down if you wanted to keep the prize cost down too.

 

[camsmama]

This is our situation as well. Both of our trips were at value resorts. Even estimating $1800 in taxes is scary to me. That's more than we spent in September for 5 nights at AoA including park tickets.

We drove to WDW both years. I thought about driving again if we won instead of flying. If we don't use the flights that would bring the cost of the prize down, in turn reducing the taxes.

And I'm confused about the taxes a bit. (Forgive me, I've never won anything!) Do you actually have to PAY the taxes (like write a check to the goverment or have the tax amount deducted from your refund) or are you actually just adding the tax value to your total income for the year?

I realize you're going to pay a tax regardless but I'm just not quite clear on the "how" part.

I won a OMDD trip last year and this is how it works: the value of the trip is added to your total income for the year that you went on the trip. I won in 2012 and went in 2012 so the value will be added to my 2012 income; so it will look like I made $6000 more this year than I actually did and since I didn't pay taxes on the winnings, it will have to be paid when I file my tax return. I'm guessing it will be around 2k but we knew that when we won and adjusted our pay check withholdings to make up for it.

 

[suevr]

Oh, I have one more question for last years winners.

I know this may sound stupid.... what airline did you all fly on?

We flew on Delta from Atlanta to LAX. It seems like the airline you fly varies depending on where you're flying from so it could be any of them.

Also, I sent a photo in with my affidavit but I don't know what it was for.

 

[Stitchfans]

Oh boy. Now this really gets complicated. Due to some medical problems I recently started collecting disability. Therefore, I do not get a W2 nor do I file any taxes since I was told I wasn't suppose to. I do not get much and at times have just enough to cover monthly expenses. Once in a while I have to dip into my savings which is what I figured I'd have to do to pay the taxes for the trip.

So if I do not get a W2, how do I deal with this? Just pay taxes on whatever they claim the trip was worth since it is considered income? I am so thankful I have the savings and figure this will be a once in a lifetime trip for my grandchildren so I'll gladly take it out of the savings and try my hardest to build the savings back up.

Either way I guess I will continue to enter the contest and see what happens. My chances aren't that great since there are so many others entering but if it is meant to be I will win. That is how I look at life. If it is meant to be it will happen. Then I will deal with whatever I have to do later. Thanks everyone.

Maybe the person I talk to for the contest will have some answers if none of you do. Or when the time comes if I win, I will talk to someone from HR Block or something.

 

[cristen72]

Thanks for the answers regarding the tax situation. If you're close to the upper limit of your current tax bracket (which we are) then a $6000 trip could bump us up to the next bracket which could be really bad.

I think if I'm lucky enough to win then I'd try to make it economical instead of splurging. I'd probably go with a moderate resort instead of deluxe and drive at my own expense instead of fly.

I love how I'm putting so much thought into a trip I'm not even taking

 

[awoogala]

Oh boy. Now this really gets complicated. Due to some medical problems I recently started collecting disability. Therefore, I do not get a W2 nor do I file any taxes since I was told I wasn't suppose to. I do not get much and at times have just enough to cover monthly expenses. Once in a while I have to dip into my savings which is what I figured I'd have to do to pay the taxes for the trip.

So if I do not get a W2, how do I deal with this? Just pay taxes on whatever they claim the trip was worth since it is considered income? I am so thankful I have the savings and figure this will be a once in a lifetime trip for my grandchildren so I'll gladly take it out of the savings and try my hardest to build the savings back up.

Either way I guess I will continue to enter the contest and see what happens. My chances aren't that great since there are so many others entering but if it is meant to be I will win. That is how I look at life. If it is meant to be it will happen. Then I will deal with whatever I have to do later. Thanks everyone.

Maybe the person I talk to for the contest will have some answers if none of you do. Or when the time comes if I win, I will talk to someone from HR Block or something.

I would talk to someone who really understands taxes. a 1099 form is NOT a w2, it is not "income" per se, but it falls more into the gift/lottery/winnings zone (which is sort of income).
I do not believe it would affect your disability, since it is not "income" but "winnings"
When we did win a trip, it did reduce our refund.
For more info, I would also read about.com sweepstakes section. They have a lot of good tax info that explains most of this.

 

[arbolita]

I wonder if there will be black out dates. I would love to take my family during the Christmas in the event of winning. Not during actual Christmas but after the decorations are put up.

One of the winners can correct me, but I believe from reading the contest thread last year that the week (or weekend) of Thanksgiving was blocked out, as well as the week between Christmas and New Years, but the other dates around that time were available.

 

[Turk February]

Stitch all you need to really concern yourself with right now is IF you win, you WILL have to pay around 30% of the total trip cost in taxes either in 2014 or 2015, whenever you take the trip.

Don't worry about it affecting your disability because it won't.

 

[TJDisneymama]

all this time I've been fantasizing about which Deluxe I'll pick if (when ) I win and it just now occurred to me ----- maybe I should consider choosing DL! I'm a WDW nut and know next to nothing about DL and I don't know that we'll ever decide to go there, but if it's FREE (well.....70% discount anyways after taxes, lol) -- maybe I should think about that instead?!?!??! Esp. since we're doing WDW this April, DH will have NO desire to go back to WDW so soon; I was thinking I would just take my sister. But he would def. go for DL......and the weather there is bearable in the summer, isn't it? Not like WDW in the summer? Hmmm, that's something to consider, that's we could go in the summer......

 

[camsmama]

all this time I've been fantasizing about which Deluxe I'll pick if (when ) I win and it just now occurred to me ----- maybe I should consider choosing DL! I'm a WDW nut and know next to nothing about DL and I don't know that we'll ever decide to go there, but if it's FREE (well.....70% discount anyways after taxes, lol) -- maybe I should think about that instead?!?!??! Esp. since we're doing WDW this April, DH will have NO desire to go back to WDW so soon; I was thinking I would just take my sister. But he would def. go for DL......and the weather there is bearable in the summer, isn't it? Not like WDW in the summer? Hmmm, that's something to consider, that's we could go in the summer......

We live an hour from WDW and practically live there so when we won OMDD, we chose DL and I am so glad that we did! We had never been before and it was so awesome to go somewhere different! I really enjoyed it there and the weather is more bearable than here in Florida!