Everyone wants to win the Christmas jackpot, but the 50,000 euros of the third prize in the Christmas Lottery are not a bad consolation either and can help fix more than one family economy. Before making planes with the money, you should know that the Treasury will collect part of the prize in taxes.
However, as with the Gordo and the second prize, you will not receive 50,000 euros in your checking account, but a little less. The Christmas lottery taxes are to blame, which also affect the third prize. In other words, there is a part of the money that will go to the Tax Agency (AEAT).
How much taxes are paid for the third prize in the Christmas lottery
The Christmas Lottery also pays taxes. In fact, its taxation is exactly the same as that of other State Lotteries and Apestas raffles. In other words, it is taxed the same as the Eurodreams or EuroMillions draw. This means that the first 40,000 euros of the prize are exempt from taxes and a fixed rate of 20% is applied to the rest, regardless of the import.
The Treasury does not care if you have won the 400,000 euros of the Gordo de Navidad, the 50,000 euros of the third Christmas prize or the 15 million euros that EuroMillions distributes. Lottery taxation is always the same.
How much does the Treasury get from the third prize?
The previous calculation is used to find out when you will actually receive money if you win the third prize in the Christmas lottery. Each tenth is awarded 50,000 euros, although you will only earn 48,000 euros.
This is how third prize taxes are calculated:
Of the initial 50,000 euros there are 40,000 euros for which you will not pay taxes. Thus, the first thing will be to restore that amount to the prize, which leaves a total of 10,000 euros, which will be taxed. On those 10,000 euros, the Treasury will apply a fixed rate of 20%, which is equivalent to 2,000 euros. That is the amount that the Tax Agency will keep. To find out how much you have left, you just have to subtract the 2,000 euros in taxes from the prize and it will give you the figure of 48,000 euros.
If you want, here you can see how much taxes are paid for El Gordo de Navidad.
How to collect the third prize of the Christmas Lottery
Lottery administrations can only pay cash prizes of less than 1,000 euros and 2,000 euros can be paid through Bizum. To collect the rest of the winning tickets and draws, you must go to an authorized financial institution. Most large banks are collaborating entities, so you can collect the prize at any branch.
To receive your money you only need to go with the winning tenth and the entity will be in charge of making a transfer to your bank account. Of course, if you do it through your own bank, everything will be faster.
How the third Christmas prize is declared
Lottery prizes are declared when collected and payment to the Treasury is immediate. When depositing the tenth in the bank and ordering the transfer, the bank will already apply a withholding of 20% of everything that exceeds 40,000 euros.
This withholding will automatically be sent to the AEAT. Thus, you will receive the third prize money less the corresponding taxes, which is equivalent to 48,000 euros.
What happens if the tenth is shared?
The taxation of the third prize is the same for shared tenths, although it is applied to the total import of the prize. The 40,000 euros exempt from tax do not apply individually to each person, but to the entire prize.
The financial institution itself will be in charge of making the calculations, dividing the exempt limit and applying the corresponding taxes to each person who shares the lucky tenth. As an example, if it is shared between four people, each one will receive 12,000 euros.
To avoid problems, it is important that all people who share the tenth go to collect or designate a representative. This is the bank’s way of confirming that the tenth is shared and who the beneficiaries are.
If this is not done and only one person collects it and then transfers the money to the rest, the Treasury may understand that it is a donation. In that case, people who have not gone to the bank will also have to pay gift tax on that money.