I thought there waas automatic withholding of 20% on
"prizes". Casinos do this. Winning Survivor is not a game
"prize"?

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Phil Marti wrote:
- quote -

Right,Phil. And this argues that he did fill out a W9 form
attesting to the fact that he was not subject to B/U w/h.
And that' show they got his SSN.

And I hope he gets what he deserves.

I never even watched the program, but from the news accounts
of it decided that he was a real ... uh.. 'pill".

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Sat 22 Jan 2005

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"Paul A Thomas" <taxman[at]negia.net> writes:

- quote -

Backup withholding only applies when there's been a previous
relationship and some sort of compliance problem, either
providing a correct TIN or failing to report or pay. I
don't think there is any required withholding from prizes,
just from gambling winnings.

Phil Marti
Clarksburg, MD

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hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net (Harlan) posted:

- quote -

Here's the full story, starting with the latest update
(gleaned from a "humor" group):

______________________________________
1/18 UPDATE: Hatch agreed to plead guilty to two counts of
tax evasion in a non-binding agreement filed in Rhode Island
federal court today. Prosecutors say they will recommend a
reduced sentence for the "Survivor" winner as long as he
does not opt to change his plea to not guilty. IRS says
"Survivor" winner didn't report his million dollar prize.

~~~~
JANUARY 18--Richard Hatch, the first winner of CBS's
"Survivor," was charged today with failing to report his $1
million reality TV windfall to the Internal Revenue Service.
The below two-count criminal information, unsealed today in
U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, charges Hatch with
filing a false 2000 tax return that omitted his seven-figure
"Survivor" winnings.

The nudity enthusiast, 43, is also charged with filing a
false return for 2001 (he allegedly did not report $321,000
paid to him by a Boston radio station). If convicted of the
felony charges, Hatch could face a maximum of five years in
prison for each count and could be hit with a $250,000 fine.
Hatch is scheduled to be arraigned on the charges in
Providence federal court January 24.

Bill

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"Paul A Thomas" <taxman[at]negia.net> wrote:

- quote -

The way I understand it, he was issued an 1099 not a W2. Is
withholding required for issuing a 1099? I thought the
million dollar check was just for promo purposes. I
remember when Rupert won the America's tribal council, Jeff
P wrote the check on the spot.

dennis

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"Paul A Thomas" <taxman[at]negia.net> wrote:

- quote -

Since the income was reported on a 1099, it had to be
reported as a Prize or Award (Box 3) or, as I suspect, as
nonemployee compensation (Box 7). Routine tax withholding,
like the 20% withholding on lump sum distributions, doesn't
apply to either type of income.

BWH is a compliance program. BWH applies when IRS imposes
it for noncompliance, not filing and/or underreporting. It
also applies when the taxpayer fails to furnish a valid tax
ID number. I suspect that neither the IRS nor the Survivor
guy (forgot his name) told CBS to BWH. Even if they did, I
don't think BWH applies to nonemployee compensation. I
don't know if this is true or not, but someone told me years
ago that BWH was Bob Dole's idea.

Barney Byrd

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"Harlan Lunsford" wrote:

- quote -

Richard Hatch,

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"Harlan Lunsford" <hlunsford[at]bellsouth.net> wrote

- quote -

His excuse, so I hear, was that he put the 1099 in his
pocket on his way back from the mail box.....hasn't worn
those pants since.

I do find it strange though, that the production company
didn't withhold. Is there some exception because the prize
was awarded out of the country maybe? Or did they just not
do back-up withholding as required?

--
Paul A. Thomas, CPA
Athens, Georgia
taxman at negia.net

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Apparently nothing was withheld, as he has been charged with
tax evasion on both full amounts.

At last report, he was plea bargaining to lessen a potential
six figure fine and up to five years in the slammer on each
count.

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several years back was a guy whose name I don't recall right
now, even though I saw it just several hours ago. Anyway,
this obnoxious nudist was the Survivor winner on some TV
show to the tune of 1,000,000$. I can only assume "they"
took out some federal tax before his net check.

So what happens? He did NOT report it on his 2000 tax
return. Nor did he report another 321,000$ next year paid
by a New England radio station.

Can you imagine that?

ChEAr$,
Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Tue, 18 Jan 2005

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