Have you ever won a vaction from a game show?
 

On game shows like The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune, they often have prizes for vacations. Just wondering if any Fodorite has been lucky enough to win one.

I haven't, but a good friend won an MTV contest in which she got to take 10 people to Toronto for a weekend to see a rock concert -- everything covered including private jet. <BR>Guess who showed up later that year? The TAX MAN. IRS hit here with a tax bill equaling 28% of the value of the trip. She had to go around to the 10 people and ask them to chip in to pay the taxes. <BR>Moral: MTV giveth, but the IRS taketh.

In the same vain , I have turned down a contest prize of a trip after I found out what the declared value of the prize was and learned what my tax hit would have been. First class airfare was based on cost of last minute purchase , limo at airport on the minimum 4 hr rental , hotelroom at an exorbinate rate , etc. Sometimes you do have to look a gift horse in the mouth to avoid the bite.

When did game shows start giving away Vactions? I've been looking for a vaction for years! (Sorry, couldn't resist)

No, but my sister won a trip to Tahiti,from a radio station travel show. It was a trip for ONE, all the airfare paid for, and NO HOTEL. However, I went with her (paid for by me) and we did have a great time!

I always watch in amazement when the shows such as Price is Right or Wheel of Fortune tell you the value of the prize. Those prices are definetly overinflated.

The tax you pay on a prize is based on the prize's fair market value NOT on the value the game show places on it. If anyone tries to tell you any differently, they are wrong. Call the IRS and ask.

I did not win the vacation on a tv show but won a trip for 2 in a Catholic school raffle 4 years ago. It was all airfare, Marriott village townhouse apt. and some transfers for 1 week in Orlando, Fl at any time of year also. I took my daughter who never gets to travel and we had a 3 bedroom townhouse with pool and shuffle board court to ourselves. The tax downside was not bad considering all we got for it. The only thing that got a little old quickly was that we needed a ride to get to the gate in an establishment this fancy, and there was endless tipping expected because of this. It didn't bother me to do that but I did tell the authorities at the school that this kind of vacation is not affordable for many people when there are such exclusive features. Ironically this is the only time I got upgraded to first class- and was kicked to death from the rear by a screaming 4 year old all the way home. His parents stuck him in first class and they went to coach. He actually flipped his dinner at the flight attendant.

I remember seeing someone posting this here before, maybe someone else can help with the details. <BR> <BR>A few years back a Raleigh radio station had a contest to win a trip somewhere (details are fuzzy, and I don't listen to that radio station). Someone did win the contest but the travel agent embezzeled the money and the poor guy never did get his trip. <BR> <BR>The radio station's response was something like sorry dude, you got screwed.

That's why we have small claims court. Probably could recover by suing the radio station.

The travel agent was convicted, but since she had spent all the money there was nothing for him to recover.

No, you don't sue the travel agent (although you certainly could). You sue the radio station. They promised a trip. If no trip was provided, and they picked the thieving travel agent, they're responsible.

I won a trip at the local casino/river boat and had to declare it on my taxes. In addition, wife's cousin was the grand prize winnner on Price is Right and had to sell the sale boat to pay the taxes to cover that and the other stuff he won along the way (pool table, camping gear, etc.)

Amy , You may indeed be right but I was advised at the time that I would have to contest this with the IRS at tax time and refute the value submitted by the provider to the IRS. If it makes any difference contest won not with a game show but a nonprofit. I would have to refute their values of how airline fares were computed , what rack rate to use for hotels , etc, etc. All their prices were possible but far from the cheapest way to do it. "Fair market value" isn't always easy to agree upon or at least I wasn't interested in the possible hassel with the IRS over it since there seemed no way to finalize this before accepting and using the prize.

I've actually won a couple of vacations from quiz shows, one to Mexico and another to New Orleans. Both times the trips were wonderful. I did have to book ahead, and there were blackout dates, like Mardi Gras in New Orleans, but they weren't restrictive. The air portion was covered and I even managed to insert a 4 day stop over in Guadelehara (sp?) on my way to the beach at Puerto Vallarta. Now, with the IRS I simply looked around for the lowest, most off season, cheapest hotel, package tour and told them this was the true market value and they never said a thing! And, because these air tickets were rather rare, the passenger service agent even went ahead and gave me miles!!!

I won one once on Jeopardy as <BR>the 2nd prize. It was to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I didn't take it because the <BR>California taxes, my home state taxes, <BR>round trip air fare from my home town <BR>to Los Angeles (where the Malaysia trip originated) and a couple of extra hotel nights in LA would all have been at my own expense and just made it not seem <BR>worth it at the time. I might decide differently now, not sure.

Elaine, you got on Jeopardy and actually did well? I worship you. That is so cool. What was the experience like?

I won a trip as one of the prizes while on an old show, The Jokers Wild. <BR> <BR>What do you want to know? <BR> <BR>The trip was booked by some agency; we paid taxes (actually taken out before I left CA, as at the time I set a record for winnings) <BR> <BR>I could have done a better job planning the trip, even in my arrogant youthful age.

Taxman-I know it's too late for you, but for any other winners out there... when you do your tax return, you will be filling in the value of your trip/prize. Don't remember off the top of my head if you have to enclose whatever document the awarding company gives you valuing the prize. If you do, simply do your own research and provide support on what the REAL value is. If you don't have to include any documents, again, research what the prize is really worth, and make sure you keep the documentation on file in case of an audit. Then just write in on your return the real value of the prize.

Hey,ncgrrl and x, that was me. G-105 (based in Raleigh) gave away eleven trips to various destinations. I won a trip to Switzerland for four days. The travel agent, the Chapel Hill branch of Travel Agents International, was the agency responsible for the trips. What happened was that the travel agency went bankrupt. The young guy who was running it for his father, who owned this particular franchise outlet, was a real jerk (his wife was easier to work with, but it turns out they were also breaking up). From the beginning, even before the bankruptcy, I could not get him to return my calls for information about the trip, until my wife actually was able to go by one day and demand that he call me while she stood there. Until the bankruptcy, the radio station was helpful. Afterwards, the station offered everyone $500 instead of the trips, for which apparently the station had already paid the agency. I told the station this was completely unacceptable. The station raised it to $1,000 and would go no higher no matter how many hours we discussed it. The trip had been valued at $1,800 (which was significantly under-priced). By then, another franchise owner in Durham, who was very helpful, had taken over the Chapel Hill store temporarily in thoughts of turning it around and buying it. She soon decided against that because it was just in too much trouble. She did suggest raising the amount for the trip to about $2,300 to make it more inline with real costs, but this all fell through when she decided not to buy the other store. What I got out of it was this: $1,000 from the station, but I had to agree not to sue (that was a very tough decision, as I was quite angry over it) and another $300 the Durham agency had paid to reserve the trip it was booking me. Since, I had planned so long for the trip, I decided to just take the money as it was getting close to time to go. If I had taken it to court, I couldn't have taken the money when I did. We ended up spending a few days in Switzerland and a week in Paris (which we added to the trip we won). From what I was told, only one other person actually went on a trip. The lucky Australia winner took the trip before the bankruptcy stuff came up. My wife was actually only one or two callers away from winning that trip (you had to be 15th caller on Friday and answer questions based on geography questions from earlier in the week). We had a wonderful trip, and I have never sweated about it since. However, I have not listened to that radio station once since (4 years). I did contact a local tv consumer rights show about it at the time, but I never heard back. I did talk to the lawyer for the radio station, but it seemed certain aspects of the case made a successful lawsuit difficult. I could not sue Travel Agents International or get them to take care of it (I called them) because it had no real control over its franchises. So, there you have the whole scoop.