I won the lottery and was so excited to get the cash… but there was a catch and now the money’s all gone within a year
A YOUNG woman who won £40K on a scratch card has revealed a certain catch meant she walked away with considerably less… and it was all gone within a year.
Content creator Sydney, who goes by Sydney Kidney Bean online, won big over a year ago on a scratchy gifted by her mum.
But the 23-year-old’s fortune was slashed thanks to a hidden rule.
Where Sydney is from means she had to pay tax on her “wildest dream” winnings.
Tax rules cut her winnings by £12,000 and she only walked away with £28,000.
The content creator had to visit her local lottery office in Idaho, US to claim her winnings – which is where she learnt about the tax options.
She said: “My immediate thought was this is too much money to get from the gas station.
“There’s no way they have this in their registers.”
Sydney recalled the man working in the office authenticating her ticket and then talking her through her tax options.
She explained: “He goes to draw up some tax forms.
“I have two choices: to take all of the winnings now and then pay my taxes later on my own, or they can take the taxes out of it now.
“And I chose that option, I wanted the taxes immediately gone because I didn’t want to spend money that I didn’t have.”
Sydney revealed that she knew she wanted to buy a house with the money as soon as she won it.
Hilariously, the lottery office gave her a large ‘cheque’ to congratulate her which she has still kept till this day.
Sydney shared her story on Tik Tok but people weren’t impressed with the tax catch.
One viewer said: “That’s a lot of tax, jeez.”
Another penned: “$15K in tax?
“Wow, that’s ridiculous.”
Tax occurs on lotto winnings because they are treated as income in the US.
According to The Lotter, any lottery prize above $600 will be taxed the same as your wages or salary and the state lottery will automatically withhold 24% for federal income tax.