TPiR Lucky $even

[BrandonFG]

Last night, a friend of mine was talking about Lucky $even from TPiR, and how a contestant yesterday bought the car for about $2 or $3, I don't remember since I missed it.

Anyways, he told me that come tax time, a contestant could technically say that they only paid $3 for the car, and receive one hell of a tax break. I argued that that's pretty much impossible, since the $3 is almost like "play money," however, he maintained his position that you could use $3 as the price you paid on the car.

Would a contestant legally have a case against the producers when filing taxes?

[clemon79]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 21 2004, 12:30 PM\'] Would a contestant legally have a case against the producers when filing taxes? [/quote]
 Your friend is an idiot, and I would love to see the reaction from the IRS agent when he tried to whip out that argument.

[rugrats1]

Would a contestant legally have a case against the producers when filing taxes?

I don't think so, especially since the producers have given the contestant $7 to start the game. Most likely, the winner will be on the hook for the full value of the car, plus whatever of the $7 remains at the end.

[Kevin Prather]

Since you pay $1 for the car in Lucky 7, and you would pay $0 for a car in Any Number, Pass the Buck, One Away, etc., I'd say no.

[tyshaun1]

[quote name=\'fostergray82\' date=\'Feb 21 2004, 02:30 PM\'] Last night, a friend of mine was talking about Lucky $even from TPiR, and how a contestant yesterday bought the car for about $2 or $3, I don't remember since I missed it.

Anyways, he told me that come tax time, a contestant could technically say that they only paid $3 for the car, and receive one hell of a tax break. I argued that that's pretty much impossible, since the $3 is almost like "play money," however, he maintained his position that you could use $3 as the price you paid on the car.

Would a contestant legally have a case against the producers when filing taxes? [/quote]
 That's the equivalent of saying the contestants on $ale of the Century who won everything only should claim $750 for their merchandise and $50,000 in cash, since that was the jackpot amount.......in other words, nope.

Tyshaun

[TLEberle]

Besides the fact that you don't 'buy' the car, you win it, just like anything else on the show.  

If you're lucky enough to buy a car for significantly less than blue book value, when you try and change the title, the agent will likely send you off to another agency to prove that you really didn't hose the other guy, and it really is only worth $3,000 instead of the $5,000 quote.

Travis Eberle

[chris319]

You are awarded $7 when you start the game. If you win the car, the value of your prize is the value of the car plus $7, minus whatever money was forfeited in the game, minus one additional dollar forfeited to "buy" the car, for example:

$7 original stake
$4 forfeited during game play
$1 forfeited to "buy" the car
$20,00 - value of car

Your tax liability is $20,002.