Doorway to Dreams Sweepstakes winners 1099

[skylynx]

Hi there...just a heads up to anyone who won the sweepstakes trips at the July 08 Doorway to Dreams event...the 1099's for the IRS for the sweepstake value are issued by McDonalds. I kind of freaked out when I saw it, as there was nothing about McDonalds in any of the prize paperwork and I was afraid someone had stolen my identity! A number of phone calls confirmed it. In fact, the lady at the local Illinois place that administered the sweepstakes was kind of curt on the phone, like I should have known McDonald's and not Disney would issue the 1099 for the prize!

Just in case anyone else got this and wondered, what the heck?

 

[CarolAnnC]

Yes, I noticed this too! Did they explain the McDonalds connection to you? I am wondering why they were involved at all?

 

[skylynx]

Hi...the story I got was that the local Illinois company that administered the sweepstakes ("Creata") is a subsidiary of McDonalds, so even though the promotion itself had nothing to do with McDonald's, they send out the 1099 under the Mickey D's moniker. It sure threw me...not to mention my social security number was missing a digit on the 1099...sort of made me wonder if this was legitimate.

Did you take your prize trip already? We're going towards the end of March. Hoping everything will be in order when we go to check in. So excited!

 

[skylynx]

Just got a call from the promotions people...now the story is the McDonald's 1099 was a mistake, and they will be reissuing another 1099 with Disney as the payer. I said I didn't care who sent it as long as it didn't get reported to the IRS twice!

 

[CarolAnnC]

I received the same phone call this afternoon. Ohhh didn't think about the original one maybe already being filed! Hope that is not the case...

We are going in June. Let us know here how your trip goes! Where are you staying? We are at AKV.

 

[skylynx]

The lady assured me the McDonalds 1099 had not been submitted to the IRS yet..better not! We are staying at AKV too...hoping everything is as planned. The lady who set up our plane tickets and reservations assured us we'd be in one of the one bedrooms with the "5th person" sleeper chair, as my two kids are opposite sex teenagers and will not share a bed. If it wasn't one of those rooms, that's fine...I'd bring the air mattress, but I'd really like to avoid hauling that bulk if possible. We also asked for one gift card for each of us as the original award letter indicated rather than one lump sum card a later communication said we'd get, otherwise the kids won't be able to go off on their own with their mad money. I'm entirely grateful for winning this trip, but just want to know what to expect (pack the air mattress or not), need to convert card, etc.

I'll let you know when we get back how smoothly it all went...hard to complain about a bonus trip like this, no matter what happens! We'll be at the 10 am Doorway to Dreams event Feb 21...if you are going to that one I'll look for you!