About Keep the Sweep

Why I Created Keep The Sweep

We can admit that entering free sweepstakes can be fun and rewarding. But what’s so rewarding about winning prizes if you are financially unable to keep them?  Winning prizes comes with tax obligations and there is absolutely no way around it.  Approximately 70 percent of sweepstakes winners end up in debt within a year.

You can either:

Afford to pay the taxes

Apply for a loan

Settle for cash (usually less than half the prize value)

Most sweepstakes recipients choose the latter option because it suits their financial position. But winners are still obligated to pay federal and possibly state income tax with this option.

Keep The Sweep, a crowdfunding platform, was created because the options for sweepstakes winners to keep their prizes are so limited.  

Understanding Tax Implications

The simplest way of understanding tax implications for winning prizes is knowing the differences between sweepstakes and lotteries.  A lottery is determined by a monetary transaction between the contestant and sponsor.  When this occurs, the sponsor is required to withhold a percentage of the total prize value for tax purposes before awarding the prize to the recipient.  This is the reason why taxes are withheld on state lottery wins.  However, sweepstakes are usually free to enter and, therefore, sponsors are not required to withhold any taxes.  With no monetary transactions involved in sweepstakes, tax obligations fall completely on the recipient and are paid during normal tax filings for that year.

The Back Story

Years ago, I worked as one of 300 assemblers in a factory. With co-workers across three shifts, we knew each other and considered ourselves family.  As with all families life happens! Whenever tragedy struck a member of the family, we passed around an old supply box, collecting donations that helped our fellow co-workers and their family.  As a result of everyone’s generosity, that old supply box overflowed with thousands in donations to help navigate the tough times. Keep The Sweep is based off the “old supply box” concept.  Members of the sweepstakes community collectively help one another keep their awarded prizes.

How Keep The Sweep Works

Simply register any online sweepstakes before a winner is ever announced. The registration allows you to not only assist in your winnings but with everyone else who is registered to the platform, even if the claim is for a sweepstakes other than the one you’ve entered. The funds are allocated to the registered claims or reserved for future claims.  Keep The Sweep gives you the best chance to keep your winnings without being forced to sell or forfeit due to high taxes.  WE MAKE WINNING AFFORDABLE!

If you have any questions or comments, we welcome your feedback!  Visit our Contact page for a list of contact sources.  Good luck with your sweepstakes!

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