Have you become the owner of a lucky ticket and finally won the lottery? Now you are faced with quite logical questions: “Where and when do you need to report your lotto winnings in order to collect them?”, “What tax on lottery winnings do you need to pay in order to avoid problems with the law?” and “Is it possible to avoid paying tax on a lottery prize at all?”
In this article you will receive answers to the most pressing questions about tax deductions in Russia that your prize in a promotion, Stoloto or any other lottery may be subject to.
Play the best lotteries in Russia
Differences in tax on lottery and share
The percentage charges on lotto winnings and the promotion prize charges will differ significantly. Agree, there is a difference in giving the state 35% of the amount of a lucky ticket or only 13% of the lotto prize.
If you win a promotional prize from a chip manufacturer, cigarette manufacturer or hardware store, this will be considered a promotional win. In this case, the tax percentage will be 35% of the total value of the lotto winnings.
Additionally, the promotion is often referred to as a “sweepstakes incentive.” Participation in it can be absolutely free or almost free. You don't have to pay extra money to participate in a drawing from a chip manufacturer if you've already bought a pack of it.
Personal income tax on lottery winnings, unlike promotions, is only 13%.
IMPORTANT! If you are unable to pay interest to the state for too expensive and “suddenly fallen happiness,” you have every right to refuse to receive the “big jackpot” in favor of its cash equivalent.
You can read more about tax rates in clauses 1.2 of Article 224 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation.
How Russian lotteries work
In 2014, non-state lotteries were banned in Russia, and the founders of these lotteries from that moment on were the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Sports. This significantly increased the level of public confidence in them (it is no secret that in the 90s many were wary of them), the number of participants and the size of the prize funds.
Russian lotteries are divided into instant and draw. In the first, the player finds out the result immediately after erasing the security code. In the second type of lotteries, the result is determined by a drawing that is held at a certain time. A lottery machine or random number generator is used to determine the winner. All this equipment is certified, which eliminates the possibility of obtaining the “right” results.
In the vast majority of lotteries, the prizes are money, but in some advertising drawings you can win an apartment, a car, a plot of land and more.
The state is interested in citizens taking part in lotteries, winning and paying taxes on their winnings.
Is it possible to reduce the tax?
Even though any winnings are considered “income” by law, you can still avoid paying taxes on your lotto prize.
You will not have to pay tax on lottery winnings if the winning amount is 4,000 rubles per year or less.
In other words, if you played the lottery several times a year and won in total less than 4,000 or exactly 4,000 rubles. in lotto, you don’t have to pay fees. If the winning amount is 4001 or more, then the prize is taxed.
Amount of alimony payments
One of the main issues in the process of collecting alimony is its size.
As a general rule, the amount of the benefit must be no less than the limit established by the state - the subsistence minimum for the maintenance of minors. If the parents have amicably agreed on payments or entered into a voluntary agreement, then there should be no questions or disputes about the amount. The court makes a decision based on various factors: the financial situation of both spouses, the standard of living of the child in the family, the marital status of the parents and other circumstances. Considering that both parents must take care of the children, the process of making a court decision considers information about the capabilities of both spouses, as well as the needs of the children. According to the law on the amount of alimony that can be assigned by the court, the limits of payments for each child from the total income of the payer are established: from a quarter to half of the payer’s income, depending on the number of common children. The amount of such payments may be reduced if the payer has children in another marriage, dependents, health conditions deteriorate, or there are relatives who will require additional costs to provide for them.
If these funds are not enough to provide the child with a minimum level of maintenance, then the court has the right to order payments in a fixed monetary equivalent. The reasons for such a decision may be unofficial employment, inconsistent earnings, or receiving income in foreign currency.
Based on the legislative acts of the Russian Federation, every worker has the right to earn money. Collections from wages cannot exceed half the amount, but if we are talking about alimony payments, then their amount in some cases increases to 70% in accordance with the legislative norms of the Labor and Family Codes.
Tax up to 15,000 rubles
In cases where you win an amount from 4,000 to 14,999 per year in the lotto, you need to pay the interest yourself in the form of personal income tax. The amount of such collection will be 13%.
The tax return in this case is submitted in the same way as when paying any other income of an individual.
If you have never encountered the problem of paying personal income tax on your own, and before winning the lotto, your employer solved all the technical difficulties for you, you can simply come to the tax office at your place of residence to receive detailed instructions.
The process of collecting alimony payments and methods of paying them
If the process of paying benefits for the maintenance of common children is confirmed by agreement of the parties, then all issues regarding them will be determined personally by the parents (meaning regularity, amount, form, penalty, etc.). Filing a lawsuit complicates the process. After the issue of benefits is considered in court, a decision is issued, on the basis of which the recipient of the payments draws up a writ of execution. This document must be submitted to the executive authorities, where it will be entered into the register. Next, enforcement proceedings are opened, which are reported to the payer and recipient. Afterwards, if the payer is officially employed, the document is sent to the place of work, and payments are already transferred from the salary by the organization’s accounting department. Unofficial sources of income are studied by bailiffs, their total amount is determined, and then child support payments are withheld in accordance with the law.
The payer can use several ways to transfer funds to the recipient:
- to a bank account or personal card, which are indicated in the enforcement proceedings;
- by postal transfer. All costs and expenses are paid by the payer, the amount is not included in the total amount of alimony;
- by other acceptable means.
Transfers must be officially confirmed, so it is necessary to keep all checks and receipts, as well as a receipt if alimony is transferred personally.
If the regularity of alimony payments is violated, resulting in a debt, then a penalty is charged to the debtor. Penalties in the amount of 0.5 percent of the funds unpaid by the payer are added to the benefit daily. If the payment process is not followed, the bailiffs may seize real estate or other property, which may go to the recipient in exchange for repaying the debt. Other types of penalties may also be applied: deprivation of a driver’s license, ban on leaving the country, etc.
Tax equal to or higher than 15,000 rubles
If you are a little luckier, and the value of the lotto prize is more than 15,000 rubles, government fees are paid by the lottery organizer himself. Keep in mind that sometimes the organizers of the draws promise a high win in advance so that you receive a “clean” round sum after paying all the fees.
Therefore, if the company running the incentive lottery paid you 1 million instead of the promised 1.5 million, there is no point in accusing it of fraud.
Everything is exactly the opposite - the organizer made sure in advance that in the future you would not have to suffer and draw up declarations yourself. Thanks to the efforts of such an organizer, you can safely spend the amount you win in the lottery at your discretion.
Using a simple example, how to calculate the net amount of lotto winnings that you will receive in your hands:
If you received a prize worth 40,000 rubles, only 36 thousand of the entire amount will be taxed. Next, 36 thousand needs to be multiplied by 0.13, you get 4680 rubles. This is the amount of the payment that must be subtracted from 36 thousand.
As a result, you will receive an amount of 31,320 rubles.
Who transfers personal income tax from lottery winnings to the budget and in what order?
The size of the winning amount is determined by who will transfer personal income tax to the budget:
- Amount less than 4000 rub. — There is no need to transfer personal income tax, since para. 8 clause 28 art. 217 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation exempts this amount from tax. However, if in a year a person is lucky enough to become the winner of several lotteries and the total amount of winnings exceeds the specified threshold, then the personal income tax will have to be paid independently.
- Amount over 4,000 and up to 15,000 rubles. inclusive - income tax is paid by the gambling enthusiast himself (subclause 5, clause 1, article 228 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation) for the next year after winning by July 15 at his place of residence/registration.
- Amount from 15,000 rub. - in this case, personal income tax is calculated and transferred to the treasury by the tax agent, who is the organizers of lotteries, gambling, sweepstakes, etc. (Article 214.7 of the Tax Code of the Russian Federation). The money is transferred to the winner minus tax.
NOTE! It is not the entire amount of gambling winnings that is subject to income tax, but minus the bet made.
Let us note that if an individual becomes the owner of a valuable prize, then in any case he will have to pay the tax himself.
Where and when should I report my winnings?
The 3-NDFL declaration must be submitted to the tax office that is closest to your place of residence.
Today, you can submit an application remotely via the Internet in the taxpayer’s personal account. To do this, you need to go to the “Income from sources in the Russian Federation” section or to the “Income from sources outside the Russian Federation” section. Focus on your personal situation.
Now you know how to pay interest fees on winnings in Stoloto state lotteries and any other similar lotteries.
How do legal bookmakers in the Russian Federation work?
If previously sports betting was little regulated by the state, and huge tax amounts did not fall into the Russian budget, then in 2021 the situation has changed dramatically. In accordance with the law, in order to legally accept bets, each bookmaker must obtain a license from the Federal Tax Service, conduct operations through the Center for Information and Accounting Services, and become a member of the SRO of bookmakers.
TsUPIS (Center for Accounting for Transfers of Interactive Bet) is a financial organization that acts as an intermediary between bookmakers and players. It sends all information about client deposits and payments to the tax office.
Photo: 1cupis.ru
For this reason, in order to play bets at each bookmaker’s office, a new user needs to go through identification in TsUPIS (possible in different ways depending on the bookmaker, including remotely).
The registration algorithm in legal bookmakers in Russia is approximately similar, but the identification procedure may differ. For example, here you can find out how registration for the Betting League takes place with subsequent confirmation of identity in the Center for Information and Accountability.
There is a market for illegal offshore bookmakers in Russia, but recently they have been losing popularity. Not the least reason for this is the blocking of illegal bookmaker sites and the ban on transactions by many Russian banks.
When is alimony not collected from winnings?
Sometimes draws and games are held without the purchase of lottery tickets and the direct consent of the participants. This often happens in shopping and entertainment establishments to increase the loyalty and involvement of potential customers.
For example, in a shopping mall there was a game under the terms of which a cash prize in the amount of 10,000 rubles should be received by the buyer of any product if the last digits in his receipt are ones. The winner of the game was the buyer R. Timofeev. However, since he did not purchase a lottery ticket and did not become a participant in civil legal relations with the administration of the shopping center, his winnings cannot be called income. Therefore, he is not required to pay alimony.
Another case when it is impossible to collect alimony is if the lottery winnings are expressed not in cash, but in kind (an apartment, a car, a tourist package, etc.). According to Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 841, alimony payments are withheld only in cash, and not from income in kind.
But if desired, parents can enter into a written agreement on the transfer by the parent of material assets into the ownership of the child for alimony payments. More information about this possibility can be found in the articles “An apartment instead of alimony” and “Agreement on the payment of alimony by providing property.”
How to find out that the child's father, husband, won the lottery?
Of course, it is impossible to track the results of all lotteries operating in the Russian Federation. You can accurately find out about the alimony-obligee's winnings in the lottery only if the recipient of the alimony knows about the purchase of a lottery ticket for a specific lottery and a specific draw, since the results of the drawing are published.
Cases of receiving a large win, and even more so a jackpot, are always quite resonant, and it is very difficult for the recipient to conceal such a win. However, if you receive a relatively small win, it is much easier to hide information about it.
Therefore, the best source of information is the environment of the alimony obligee: members of his family, friends, acquaintances. From them you can learn about the debtor’s unexpected financial receipts, major acquisitions, etc.
In addition to alimony, the recipient of the winnings is required to pay personal income tax on it. If this income is declared by him, the tax authorities may notify the bailiff service, which conducts enforcement proceedings to collect alimony forcibly. However, this is only possible if the person voluntarily submits a tax return.
In any case, there is no guaranteed way to find out about the debtor's winnings in the lottery - one can only rely on his good faith and responsibility to the child - the recipient of alimony.
What types of income are alimony paid from?
The legislative framework states that deductions for child support are made from all possible types of parental income, although there are a sufficient number of exceptions. A specific list of activities for which alimony is charged is specified in government regulation No. 841 of 1996.
Based on the list of the resolution, we can conclude that types of income-generating activities can be divided into official earnings and additional sources of income.
The first income option includes:
- salary from all jobs;
- salaries of civil service employees, military personnel and law enforcement officials;
- all types of fees for workers in theater, cinema and other creative professions, as well as the media;
- rewards for service or excellence;
- bonuses;
- income for processing and more.
In addition, alimony payments are possible from pension benefits and bonuses to it, student scholarships and income for all possible achievements in the field of science, unemployment benefits, disability benefits, etc.
Alimony payments are also levied on income for leasing real estate, selling securities and providing all types of services based on a concluded agreement. Even those material payments that are due to the payer for food during work (if any are provided) are subject to withholding of alimony.
Alimony payments are not collected from the following types of income:
- funds that were accrued as compensation for harm caused to the health of the payer;
- material payments received by the paying employee in the event of an injury at work;
- benefits for recovery after natural disasters.
To this list you can add amounts paid for the restoration of tools that are necessary for work, and, accordingly, permanent income.
Pensions received due to the loss of a breadwinner and humanitarian assistance are income from which alimony is also not collected.
In addition, alimony is not collected from the allowance issued by the company for business travel purposes. Payments received by parents who are on parental leave are also not added to income.
