If you ever do, talk to your accountant about it before you accept the prize, especially large winnings.

I've always known the rule of thumb to be to take cash up front, deal with taxes an invest to offset depreciation. (as opposed to over time)

I won a birthday cake once. :ugh2:

Was it your birthday?

don't ferrari dealers have a running joke on how many kilometres new ferrari owners will manage to drive away from the dealer before crashing their new cars?

For those of us without an accountant wouldn't a tax attourney be just as good?

Not sure actually, but they can probably help they just may bill you more. ;)
The breakdown you need to really look at is, cash v. item, after that determine what the taxes will be on each. For cash you get two options usually, lump sum or payment plan. Lump sum will be a higher tax rate, but you can invest and the money will not lose value from inflation. Payment plan you pay less in taxes, money may devalue over time.

The way I usually look at it is at my younger age I would probably do the payment plan, keep me in a low tax bracket, can use the extra money to supplement rent/car/school, but if I was my parents age I would take the lump sum and spend all of it quickly.

I didn't realize Jay Leno is the only person in the country willing to buy a Lambo.

This dude could have just sold it, paid the tax, and still had enough left for a 911, R8, or something along those lines.



PS. Tax attorneys are generally better but more expensive than accountants

I wish I win something :ugh2: