Your Money

Here's the tax bill on the $1 billion weekend Powerball and Mega Millions jackpot wins

Key Points
  • The $570 million Powerball prize will be awarded to a single ticket in New Hampshire.
  • The win comes on the heels of a $450 million Mega Millions jackpot awarded Friday to a single ticket in Florida.
  • The winners could get tax breaks since both states don't have personal income taxes. The ticketholders also may benefit from changes to the federal tax code for 2018.
The Powerball jackpot has reached $900 million by July 17, 2023.
Justin Sullivan | Getty Images

The one winning Powerball ticket that was sold in New Hampshire is good for a $570 million jackpot, capping a weekend lottery jackpot haul of more than $1 billion.

The winning numbers for Saturday's drawing were 12, 29, 30, 33 and 61, plus Powerball 26.

The $570 million Powerball ranks as the fifth largest in the game's history, and the third largest awarded to a single ticket. It's also the seventh largest jackpot in U.S. lottery history.

The Powerball win comes on the heels of another huge jackpot: a single ticket sold in Florida won the $450 million Mega Millions drawing Friday.

That jackpot ranks as the fourth largest in the game's history, and the second largest awarded to a single ticket. At the time it was also the 10th largest jackpot in U.S. history; now it's the 11th largest.

Of course, this weekend's lucky winners won't walk away with the full jackpot amounts. That's just the headline sum.

If the Powerball winner opts to take the $358.5 million lump sum, lottery site USAMega.com estimates the federal tax withholding would be $89.6 million. On the Mega Millions, the $281.2 million lump sum has an estimated federal tax withholding of $70.3 million.

Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots both top $400 million for the first time
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Powerball, Mega Millions jackpots both top $400 million for the first time

Those are just the amounts withheld up front; the final tax burden is likely to be even higher. (See infographic below.)

But the winners may have an extra bit of luck: Neither New Hampshire nor Florida has a state income tax. Compared with other states' rates, that's a savings of up to $24.8 million on the Mega Millions prize and $31.6 million on the Powerball, assuming the holders of the winning tickets live in the states where they bought the tickets.

Lottery winners in 2018 also face a different set of tax circumstances that may affect their final tax bill, including a slightly reduced top tax rate (37 percent, versus 39.6 percent in 2017), and a capping of paid state and local income, sales and property taxes at $10,000 as an itemized deduction.

Winners may also benefit from the tax law's changes to estate taxes. The federal legislation doubles the estate tax exemption from $5.49 million per individual to almost $11 million.

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