Are MrBeast giveaways considered a gift from him or taxable gambling winnings?
So I've been watching a ton of MrBeast videos lately and wondering about the tax implications if I ever got lucky enough to be in one of his videos. Some of his challenges seem like they'd definitely be taxable income since contestants have to do something to win the money. But what about when he just randomly approaches someone in public and hands them a briefcase with like $75,000 in cash? Would the IRS consider that a gift from him personally (and therefore not taxable to the recipient) or would it be considered gambling/prize winnings that I'd have to pay taxes on? I'm just curious how this works from a tax perspective since these videos are so popular now.
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Natasha Orlova
Tax professional here! Great question about MrBeast giveaways. The IRS generally considers ANY prize or award as taxable income regardless of whether you had to compete for it or it was randomly given to you. This falls under IRC Section 74 which covers prizes and awards. Even if MrBeast just walks up and hands you a briefcase of cash, that would be considered taxable income to you, not a gift. For something to be considered a true "gift" for tax purposes, it must be given out of "detached and disinterested generosity" with no expectation of something in return. Since MrBeast is filming these giveaways for his YouTube channel (which generates significant revenue), the IRS would likely view this as business promotion rather than personal generosity. The recipient would typically receive a Form 1099-MISC for prizes over $600 and would need to report this income on their tax return.
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Javier Cruz
•But what if he never asked for my name or social security number? How would they even report it to the IRS? And what if it was under $600?
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Natasha Orlova
•Even if he doesn't collect your information for a 1099, you're still legally required to report all income on your tax return. The $600 threshold is just for when the payer is required to issue a 1099 - it doesn't determine whether the income is taxable. All prize winnings, regardless of amount, are technically taxable income. For smaller amounts under $600, while you wouldn't receive a 1099, the tax law still requires you to report this as "Other Income" on your tax return. The reality is many people don't report small prizes, but that doesn't make it legal to exclude them.
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Emma Wilson
Hey everyone, I actually ran into this exact situation last year and thought I'd share my experience. I was struggling with figuring out how to classify this weird "found money" on my taxes when a friend recommended a service called taxr.ai (https://taxr.ai) that helped me sort it out. I uploaded a screenshot of my situation and within minutes got a detailed explanation about how prize winnings work tax-wise. They pointed me to the exact forms I needed and explained how to report it properly so I wouldn't have issues with the IRS down the road. Saved me from making a mistake that could have led to an audit!
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Malik Thomas
•Does taxr.ai work for other weird tax situations too? I do some crypto mining and never know how to report that properly.
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NeonNebula
•I'm skeptical of these online tax services. How do you know they're giving accurate advice and not just telling you what sounds good? Did you verify the information with an actual CPA?
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Emma Wilson
•It definitely works for crypto situations! I actually used it for that too. You can upload statements from exchanges or screenshots of your transactions and it helps categorize everything correctly for tax reporting. Super helpful for mining income especially. As for accuracy, I actually did double-check with my accountant and she confirmed everything was correct. What I like is that they cite the specific IRS publications and tax code sections so you can verify everything yourself. They're not just giving random advice - it's all backed up by actual tax regulations.
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Malik Thomas
Just wanted to follow up - I tried taxr.ai for my crypto mining question and it was super helpful! I uploaded screenshots of my mining pool payouts and they explained exactly how to report it as self-employment income vs. hobby income depending on my situation. They even pointed out some deductions I could take for electricity costs that I had no idea about. Definitely using this for all my weird tax questions from now on.
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Isabella Costa
If you ever do win one of those big MrBeast prizes and need to contact the IRS with questions about how to report it, good luck getting through to them on the phone! I spent WEEKS trying to talk to someone about a prize I won (not from MrBeast, but similar situation). Finally found this service called Claimyr (https://claimyr.com) that got me through to an actual IRS agent in under 45 minutes when I'd been trying for days on my own. They have this cool demo video showing how it works: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c The IRS agent confirmed that yes, those kinds of winnings are fully taxable and explained exactly how to report them. Worth the time saved instead of calling over and over again!
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Ravi Malhotra
•Wait how does that even work? Doesn't everyone have to go through the same IRS phone system? How can a service possibly get you through faster?
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NeonNebula
•Sounds like a scam. There's no way to "skip the line" with the IRS unless you're paying for a CPA or tax attorney to call on your behalf using their practitioner priority line.
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Isabella Costa
•It's not about skipping the line actually. The way it works is they use an automated system that continuously calls the IRS and navigates through all the phone prompts until it actually reaches the hold queue. Once it gets through, it calls you and connects you directly. So you're still waiting in the same queue as everyone else, but you don't have to waste time with busy signals and dropped calls. No, it's definitely not a scam. The service just handles the frustrating part of continually redialing when you get disconnected or hitting busy signals. I was skeptical too, but it absolutely works and saved me hours of frustration.
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NeonNebula
I need to eat my words about Claimyr. After posting my skeptical comment, I decided to try it myself since I've been trying to reach the IRS about an issue with my stimulus payment for literally months. Got connected to a real person in about 35 minutes when I'd previously spent hours getting disconnected. The agent was able to resolve my issue completely, and I'm getting a refund check for the missing amount in 4-6 weeks. Never would have gotten this resolved without finally getting through to them. Sometimes being proven wrong is a good thing!
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Freya Christensen
One thing no one's mentioned yet - MrBeast sometimes gives away houses, cars and other non-cash prizes. Those are even more complicated tax-wise because you have to pay taxes on the fair market value even though you didn't receive cash. My cousin won a car on a game show and ended up having to sell it just to pay the taxes!
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Oliver Schulz
•Wait seriously? So if MrBeast gave someone a $500k house, they might have to sell it just to pay the taxes on it? That seems crazy. How much would the tax bill be approximately?
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Freya Christensen
•Exactly! If someone won a $500k house, they'd have to report that $500k as income on their tax return. Depending on their tax bracket, they could owe anywhere from $100k-$175k in federal taxes alone, plus state taxes if applicable. Many winners of big non-cash prizes face this exact dilemma. The show "The Price is Right" is notorious for this - contestants win cars and trips but then can't afford the tax bill. That's why you'll sometimes see winners on these shows jumping up and down with excitement only to decline the prize later when they realize the tax implications.
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Omar Farouk
I'm curious about the gift tax side too. If MrBeast is considering these as gifts rather than prizes, wouldn't HE have to pay gift tax on amounts over $17,000 per person? Does anyone know if he handles it this way?
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Natasha Orlova
•You raise an excellent point! If these were truly considered gifts, then yes, MrBeast would potentially be subject to gift tax reporting requirements. For 2025, any gift over $17,000 to a single person would require filing a gift tax return (Form 709). However, I'm fairly certain MrBeast's company treats these as business expenses/promotional costs rather than personal gifts. The company would deduct the giveaways as business expenses, and the recipients would receive 1099s for the income. This approach makes more sense from both a business and tax perspective since these giveaways are clearly part of his content creation strategy.
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ShadowHunter
This is such a fascinating topic! As someone who's always wondered about the tax implications of these viral giveaway videos, I really appreciate all the detailed explanations here. One thing I'm curious about - has anyone seen any official statements from MrBeast or his team about how they handle the tax reporting side of things? I imagine they must have a whole system in place given the volume of prizes they give out. It would be interesting to know if they automatically collect tax information from winners or if it's left up to the recipients to figure out on their own. Also, for the people mentioning the difficulty of reaching the IRS - I had no idea there were services to help with that! The phone system is absolutely brutal when you actually need to talk to someone. Good to know there are options besides spending entire days on hold.
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Brady Clean
•Great question about MrBeast's official process! I haven't seen any public statements from his team about their tax reporting procedures, but given the scale of his operations, they definitely must have something systematic in place. From what I understand about similar content creators and game shows, they typically work with tax professionals to handle the 1099 reporting requirements. They probably collect winner information (name, address, SSN) either during filming or shortly after to ensure proper reporting to the IRS. What's really interesting is that his company (MrBeast LLC) likely treats all these giveaways as legitimate business expenses for content creation, which actually makes the tax situation cleaner from an accounting perspective. The recipients get the income, the business gets the deduction, and everyone's obligations are clear. And yeah, the IRS phone situation is genuinely terrible! I've been there myself trying to get through about a simple question. It's wild that we need third-party services just to talk to our own tax agency, but here we are in 2025 I guess.
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GalacticGuru
This whole thread has been super educational! I never realized how complex the tax situation gets with these big YouTube giveaways. One angle I haven't seen mentioned yet is what happens if you're a minor when you win one of these prizes. Like, MrBeast sometimes gives money to kids in his videos - do the parents have to report it on their tax return? And what about international winners? I've seen him give prizes to people in other countries in some of his videos. Also, reading about all the phone troubles with the IRS makes me wonder if there are other government agencies that are similarly hard to reach. Seems like a systemic problem that really needs fixing when taxpayers can't even get basic questions answered without using third-party services. The whole non-cash prize situation with houses and cars is honestly terrifying from a tax perspective. Imagine being handed keys to a dream house only to realize you now owe six figures in taxes you don't have! Really makes you think twice about entering those kinds of contests.
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