What we calculate
For any prize, the calculator estimates two things: what the lottery withholds when you claim, and the tax you would finally owe for the year. They are different, and confusing them is the most common mistake in lottery tax estimates. The rules themselves are explained in plain language in taxes on lottery winnings.
Withholding when you claim
Federal: 24% of the winnings minus the ticket price, when that amount is over $5,000 (IRS Instructions for Form W-2G). State: the rate each state lottery or tax agency publishes, applied to the same base, from the prize level each state sets — most follow the federal $5,000, while Iowa, Illinois, Missouri and Oregon start lower. When several people share one ticket, whether a prize crosses these levels depends on the whole ticket's prize, not each person's share, as the IRS instructions require; New Jersey's $10,000 exemption works the same way. Where we could not confirm a state's rate on an official page, we say so instead of guessing.
Tax you finally owe
Federal tax is figured with the 2026 brackets and standard deduction for your filing status (IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32). We treat the prize as extra income on top of any other income you enter: tax on (other income + prize) minus tax on other income alone. State tax uses the same approach with each state's 2026 brackets. New York City uses the city rate schedule; Yonkers adds 16.75% of New York State tax.
Annuity
Both Powerball and Mega Millions pay 30 payments over 29 years, each 5% larger than the last (Powerball, Mega Millions). The first payment is the jackpot × 0.05 ÷ (1.0530 − 1). Each payment is taxed as income in its own year. “Today's money” discounts each after-tax payment at the rate you choose (4% by default).
Break-even return
The annuity results also show a break-even return: the yearly rate at which the after-tax annuity payments, discounted to today, equal the after-tax lump sum. It is found numerically and leaves out tax on investment returns.
Gambling winnings
The gambling winnings tax calculator adds a year's winnings to your other income and allows min(winnings, 90% × losses) as an itemized deduction from the 2026 tax year (IRS Publication 505). It uses the larger of the standard deduction and entered itemized deductions, with and without gambling. State tax is estimated on winnings without loss deductions; New York and Georgia standard deductions are included, but other state deductions, state credits and local taxes are excluded. High-income federal itemized-deduction limits, AMT and credits are not modeled. Other itemized deductions should be entered as an already-eligible amount, after any applicable limits.
Lottery odds
Odds come from each game's official prize chart. The expected value of a ticket on the lottery odds page adds up every prize times its probability, counts the jackpot at its cash value and Mega Millions prizes at the average multiplier, and ignores shared jackpots.
The widget's second figure taxes only the jackpot, for a single filer with no other income or state tax; smaller prizes remain before tax. Power Play, California's pari-mutuel prizes and jackpot sharing are excluded. Mega Millions multiplier weights are normalized from the rounded official odds. For distinct combinations in one drawing, the jackpot probability is tickets ÷ total combinations; duplicates do not cover more outcomes.
Lottery pools
The lottery pool calculator divides the whole cash prize into equal shares, then runs your share through the same tax engine as the main calculator using your income, state and filing status. Withholding and prize-based exemptions are tested against the whole ticket. It estimates one member's result; other members can have different tax bills. The agreement template must be adapted to the group's state and claim rules.
Recalculate a $1 million prize yourself
Assume a single U.S. resident, no other income, no state tax and the 2026 standard deduction. Start with $1,000,000 cash and subtract the $16,100 deduction: taxable income is $983,900. Each slice is taxed once at its own rate.
| Income in this bracket | Rate | Tax on this slice |
|---|---|---|
| $12,400 | 10% | $1,240.00 |
| $38,000 | 12% | $4,560.00 |
| $55,300 | 22% | $12,166.00 |
| $96,075 | 24% | $23,058.00 |
| $54,450 | 32% | $17,424.00 |
| $384,375 | 35% | $134,531.25 |
| $343,300 | 37% | $127,021.00 |
The slices total $320,000.25, rounded to $320,000 in the calculator. Subtract that from the cash prize for $680,000 after federal tax. The 37% rate applies only to the top slice. Initial withholding is a separate prepayment; it does not change this final tax calculation.
Source: IRS 2026 brackets and standard deduction. This illustration excludes credits, itemized deductions and other taxes. Enter other income to calculate the difference between tax with and without the prize.
Checked against official payouts
Some state lotteries publish exactly how much a winner took home after withholding. We recalculate each one. Every case matches to within $1, or to the rounding of the press release where it gives a rounded figure (marked ≈). Most cases come from North Carolina because the North Carolina Education Lottery reports the take-home amount in its winner announcements; few other states do.
| Where and when | Game | Prize | Official take-home | Our result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| NC · 2026-01-22 | Powerball (lump sum of a $209.3 million jackpot) | $95,300,000 | ≈ $68,600,000 | $68,625,531 | press release |
| NC · 2026-03-19 | Powerball | $2,000,000 | $1,440,201 | $1,440,201 | press release |
| NC · 2026-08-18 | Powerball | $1,000,000 | $720,101 | $720,101 | press release |
| NC · 2026-02-25 | Powerball | $1,000,000 | $720,101 | $720,101 | press release |
| NC · 2026-08-14 | Powerball | $1,000,000 | $720,100 | $720,101 | press release |
| NC · 2026-01-12 | Powerball | $150,000 | $108,016 | $108,016 | press release |
| NC · 2026-05-20 | Powerball | $100,000 | $72,011 | $72,011 | press release |
| NC · 2026-06-25 | Powerball | $100,000 | $72,011 | $72,011 | press release |
| NC · 2026-07-27 | Powerball | $100,000 | $72,011 | $72,011 | press release |
| NC · 2026-03-03 | Mega Millions | $100,000 | $72,011 | $72,011 | press release |
| LA · 2017 | Powerball (cash value of a $191.1 million jackpot (2017)) | $119,492,685 | $83,644,879 | $83,644,880 | press release |
These are withholding checks, using the rates in force when each prize was claimed: 24% federal plus North Carolina's 3.99% in 2026; 25% federal plus Louisiana's 5% in 2017. The 2017 case predates the 2018 cut in federal withholding from 25% to 24%.
These published payouts do not validate final tax liability. Approximate announcements use a $50,000 test tolerance; exact figures use $1. Separate final-tax regression checks use the 2026 New York worksheets for all three filing statuses, phase-in boundaries, NYC, Yonkers, annuity payments, the Ohio base tax and Georgia standard deductions.
Final-tax worksheet examples
These are synthetic check cases, not claims about a real winner’s return. Each assumes a single resident, no other income, no credits and a cash prize equal to the income shown. New York and Georgia use the modeled standard deduction; Ohio excludes personal exemptions. The expected values below were calculated from the cited rules independently of the calculator.
| State and cash prize | Expected state tax | Rule being checked |
|---|---|---|
| New York · $200,000 | $11,328 | ($200,000 − $8,000) × 5.9%, completed first recapture |
| New York · $1,000,000 | $67,952 | IT-2105-I worksheet 8; includes $567 + $2,047 recapture |
| New York · $255,700,000 | $27,870,428 | ($255,700,000 − $8,000) × 10.9% |
| Ohio · $1,000,000 | $27,116 | $332 + ($1,000,000 − $26,050) × 2.75% |
| Georgia · $1,000,000 | $49,152 | ($1,000,000 − $15,000) × 4.99% |
Rounded to whole dollars. Cases checked October 18, 2026; official rule links follow. New York’s estimated-tax schedule uses rounded base amounts; this calculator does not reproduce the separate low-income tax-table ranges or credits used on a final return.
Sources
- Federal brackets and standard deduction: IRS Rev. Proc. 2025-32 and the IRS 2026 inflation adjustments
- Federal withholding: IRS Instructions for Forms W-2G and 5754 (01/2026)
- State brackets: Tax Foundation, 2026 State Income Tax Rates and Brackets, which compiles each state's statutory rates
- State withholding: each state lottery's or tax agency's own page, linked in the lottery tax by state table
- New York State and New York City: 2026 IT-2105-I, pages 2–7 and 10; Yonkers surcharge: IT-201 instructions
- Ohio: ORC 5747.02(A)(3); Georgia: 2026 Department of Revenue updates. These three state calculations were checked October 18, 2026.
- Additional primary rate checks: Illinois, Michigan, Virginia, October 18, 2026. These confirm the rates; they do not mean every state deduction or credit is modeled.
- Game rules: powerball.com and megamillions.com
- Current jackpots and cash values: the New York Lottery's published estimates for the next drawing, checked automatically every day
Assumptions and limits
- You bought the ticket in the state where you live. Buying in another state can mean tax in both states, usually with a credit.
- New York uses the 2026 IT-2105-I standard deductions, filing-status schedules and high-income benefit recapture. New York City uses the same modeled taxable income; Yonkers uses incremental state tax. Georgia includes its 2026 standard deduction. Other state deductions, personal exemptions and credits are excluded. Outside New York, head-of-household filers use single-filer state brackets.
- County and city income taxes are not included, except New York City, Yonkers and Maryland. Because the calculator does not ask for your county, Maryland uses the average of the 24 county rates (3.06%; the actual rate is 2.25% to 3.3%). Residents of Indiana, Ohio, Detroit and other Michigan cities, and the Portland area of Oregon may owe more.
- The annuity assumes today's tax brackets apply in every future year.
- Lottery estimates use the standard deduction. The separate gambling calculator considers entered itemized deductions, but excludes high-income deduction limits. Both exclude credits, alternative minimum tax and net investment income tax.
- Most state brackets come from the Tax Foundation compilation. New York, Ohio, Georgia, Illinois, Michigan and Virginia have linked primary rate sources; the first three include the additional calculation rules described here. Ohio includes the statutory $332 base tax above $26,050, but excludes personal exemptions. Other income means income before the modeled deductions; state-specific adjustments are not entered separately.
- Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands are not covered.
Corrections and changes
Found a number that does not match an official source? Use “Report an error” under any result or email hello@jackpotcalculator.com with a link to the source. We check every report and record changes here.
- October 18, 2026 — Corrected New York high-income benefit recapture and added its standard deductions and head-of-household schedule; NYC and Yonkers estimates now use those corrected bases. Added Ohio’s $332 base tax and Georgia’s standard deductions. Added independent worksheet regression checks and reproducible examples. Clarified that published winner payouts validate withholding only, not final tax liability.
- October 6, 2026 — Added a press page with current figures for journalists, and a “Cite this table” box with a CSV download under each payout-by-state table.
- October 5, 2026 — Correction: Georgia's 2026 income tax rate is 4.99%, not 5.19%. Georgia cut the rate in HB 463, retroactive to January 1, so results for Georgia overstated state tax until this date. Illinois (4.95%) and Ohio (2.75%) lottery withholding are now confirmed from official sources. Added lottery tax pages for 10 states.
- October 2, 2026 — Added the gambling winnings tax calculator with the 2026 90% limit on losses and the new $2,000 Form W-2G threshold; a lottery odds and expected value page; a guide to what to do if you win, with 46 official state-law and lottery sources for anonymity; a lottery pool agreement template and share calculator; and a break-even return in the annuity results.
- October 2, 2026 — Corrections after an audit: added New Jersey's 10.75% bracket for joint filers over $1 million, which was missing; shared tickets now test the federal $5,000 withholding level and New Jersey's $10,000 exemption against the whole ticket's prize; Iowa, Missouri, Oregon and Louisiana now use their own state withholding levels; Maryland now includes an average county tax.
- October 1, 2026 — First version: 2026 federal and state rates; withholding checked for 35 jurisdictions; 11 official payouts reconciled. Added the largest jackpots list (amounts from official Powerball and Mega Millions sources) and a daily record of upcoming jackpots.