Taxes have to be paid on American lottery winnings and you could use this simple calculator to get a general feel about how much money will be left over for you in the end.
First, starting with federal tax, the prize claim office will normally hold back about 30% of your winnings for federal tax. Now, that doesn't mean that you will pay exactly 30%. When it comes time to do your tax return, you could end up having to pay more than the 30% that was withheld or you might get some of that 30% refunded back to you. That's why you need to get a good accountant to do your return when you win a lotto jackpot. With that said, 30% is a good approximation of what you will pay on the federal portion of your lottery tax.
Next, you have to concern yourself with the state portion of the tax. Every state is different, but it is usually less than 10%. The following is a list of state taxes for lottery wins:
Arizona: 5%
Arkansas: 7%
California: No lotto tax
Colorado: 4%
Connecticut: 6.7%
Delaware: No lotto tax
Georgia: 6%
Idaho: 7.8%
Illinois: 5%
Indiana: 3.4%
Iowa: 5%
Kansas: 5%
Kentucky: 6%
Maine: 5%
Maryland: 9.25%
Massachusetts: 5%
Michigan: 4.35%
Minnesota: 7.25%
Missouri: 4%
Montana: 6.9%
Nebraska: 5%
New Hampshire: 10%
New Jersey: 10.8%
New Mexico: 6%
New York: 8.97%
North Carolina: 7%
North Dakota: 5.54%
Ohio: 6%
Oklahoma: 4%
Oregon: 8%
Pennsylvania: No lotto tax
Rhode Island: 7%
South Carolina: 7%
South Dakota: No lotto tax
Tennessee: No lotto tax
Texas: No lotto tax
Vermont: 6%
Virginia: 4%
Washington: No lotto tax
D.C.: 8.5%
West Virginia: 6.5%
Wisconsin: 7.75%
Now, you need to understand that tax rates are subject to change, so the above figures may not be exact as of the date you won the lottery. With that said, you could see from the above table that some states don't even have a lottery tax (Although you're still on the hook for federal taxes).
So, with the lottery tax calculator, you can see that, for most people, about 30-40% of the money that you won will go to paying taxes.
