Mega Millions after taxes: the jackpot and the top prizes in 2026
The October 20, 2026 Mega Millions jackpot is advertised at $413 million, cash option $170.3 million. What follows is what reaches the winner.
- Cash option
- $170.3 million
- Ticket
- $5
- Federal withholding
- 24 %
- Federal tax on the cash
- $62,978,180
Lump sum after all taxes
$107,321,820
37.0 % of the prize goes to tax: $62,978,180. $40,872,000 is withheld at the claim, the rest is due with the 2026 return.
| Prize this year | $170,300,000 |
| Federal income tax (top rate reached 37 %) | $62,978,180 |
| Florida tax | none |
| Withheld when the prize is paid | $40,872,000 |
| Still to pay with the return | $22,106,180 |
Florida has no personal income tax on a lottery prize.
Compiled by Radif Partners · How we calculate · brackets, state rates and lottery rules read on official sites · estimate, not tax advice
Mega Millions advertises its jackpot as the total of the annuity, $413 million for the October 20, 2026 drawing, but a winner who chooses the cash option receives $170.3 million before tax, the cash in the jackpot pool. On that cash, the federal tax at the 2026 rates is $62,978,180 for a single filer, and the lottery withholds $40,872,000 at the claim, leaving $22,106,180 to pay with the return. In Florida, where there is no state income tax, the winner keeps $107,321,820. In Illinois, with its flat 4.95 % rate, the winner keeps $98,891,970. A New Jersey resident keeps $89,042,869. A Connecticut resident who bought the ticket in New York pays New York as a nonresident and Connecticut as a resident, minus Connecticut's credit, and keeps $88,757,501. Since April 2025 the ticket costs $5 and the top fixed prize reaches $10,000,000 with the multiplier.
Mega Millions cash option after tax
Lump sum after all taxes
$98,891,970
| Prize this year | $170,300,000 |
| Federal income tax (top rate reached 37 %) | $62,978,180 |
| Illinois tax | $8,429,850 |
| Withheld when the prize is paid | $49,301,850 |
The game since April 2025
Mega Millions changed in 2025. The price went from $2 to $5 beginning with the April 8, 2025 drawing, and the $5 ticket includes a built-in multiplier of 2X, 3X, 4X, 5X or 10X for all prizes other than the jackpot (Mega Millions FAQ). The game says there are nine ways to win and that prizes range from $10 to $10,000,000, plus the jackpot. Tickets from the old game, with drawings up to April 4, 2025, follow the old prize table. None of this changes the tax rules, but it changes the size of the prizes the rules apply to.
The jackpot itself works as in Powerball. The cash option "is equal to all the cash in the Mega Millions jackpot prize pool", and the annuity is "an initial annual payment followed by 29 annual payments", each 5 percent larger than the previous one, based on the cash value and the 30-year US Treasury rate (Mega Millions FAQ, How to Play).
Federal tax on the cash option
The prize is ordinary income added to the winner's other income for 2026. The 2026 brackets reach 37 % at $640,600 of taxable income for a single filer and $768,700 for a married couple. On $170.3 million, the federal tax is $62,978,180 single, 37.0 % of the cash. A married couple filing jointly with $120,000 of wages pays a little less on the same prize, because their lower brackets are wider: the difference is a few thousand dollars on a prize of more than a hundred million.
State by state, including the state that sold the ticket
Mega Millions is sold by individual lotteries, and a winning ticket "must be redeemed in the state or jurisdiction in which they were purchased" (Mega Millions FAQ). That lottery withholds state tax under its own rules, and the state may tax a nonresident on the prize. Your home state then taxes its residents and usually credits the other state's tax.
| Winner | Federal | State and local | Kept |
|---|---|---|---|
| Florida resident, single | $62,978,180 | $0 | $107,321,820 |
| Illinois resident, single | $62,978,180 | $8,429,850 | $98,891,970 |
| New Jersey resident, single | $62,978,180 | $18,278,951 | $89,042,869 |
| Connecticut resident, New York ticket | $62,978,180 | $18,564,319 | $88,757,501 |
| Michigan couple, $120,000 of wages | $62,955,611 | $7,237,750 | $100,106,640 |
| Ohio couple, $120,000 of wages | $62,955,611 | $4,683,250 | $102,661,140 |
The Connecticut line shows the two-state case. New York taxes a nonresident on a multistate prize won with a ticket bought in New York, Connecticut taxes its resident on all income, and Connecticut's credit removes the double tax up to its own tax on the prize. Tickets bought in another state and the credit for taxes paid to another state explain the order of the steps.
The two couples at the bottom of the table show the flat-rate states of the Midwest. Michigan taxes all income at 4.25 %, and Ohio's 2026 schedule has a single rate of 2.75 % above its zero bracket, so on a jackpot both behave like a flat tax: $7,237,750 for the Michigan couple, $4,683,250 for the Ohio couple. Both states also have local income taxes, Michigan in some cities and Ohio in many cities and school districts. The official pages read for this site do not say how each of them treats a lottery prize, so the table leaves them out; a winner in Detroit or Columbus checks the city return before counting on the figure.
The top fixed prizes
A match of the five white balls without the Mega Ball pays a fixed prize multiplied by the ticket's multiplier, up to $10,000,000. That top case leaves a Florida resident $6,332,820 after federal tax of $3,667,180. Fixed prizes have no annuity option; they are paid at once and taxed in the year of the claim. Every prize above $5,000 carries the 24 % federal withholding (Form W-2G instructions), and many state lotteries withhold their own percentage too; lottery tax withholding lists them.
Annuity winners
The annuity spreads the $413 million over 30 payments, the first $6,216,243. Each one is taxed in its year, in the state where the winner then lives. The Mega Millions payout schedule lists them with their tax. Whatever the choice, the money arrives from a game of chance, not a plan; free, confidential help exists at 1-800-MY-RESET.