Xbox Fan Reveals Why They Can't Accept Lifetime Game Pass Membership
An Xbox fan that recently had the privilege of winning a lifetime membership for Xbox Game Pass has revealed that they had to decline this reward for a rather unexpected reason. For those that are fully invested in the Xbox ecosystem, there's a good chance that they've become accustomed to seeing $14.99 (or $9.99) come out of their bank account each month to remain subscribed to Game Pass. And while a lifetime membership to Game Pass is something that would feasibly save users a lot of money in the long haul, for those in the United States, this "free" prize might be more expensive than you would think.
In a recent post on Reddit, one user by the name of Elvite shared that they had won a lifetime Xbox Game Pass subscription through a sweepstakes with Microsoft Rewards. After initially accepting the prize, they began to fill out paperwork and realized that the lifetime Game Pass membership would be costing them substantially. This money in question wasn't going to be owed to Microsoft, though, but instead would have been owed to the federal government in the form of added taxes. As a result, they ended up having to decline the win completely or risk paying a huge sum of cash.
"I read that I would have $7300 of added taxable income to my 2023 taxes as a result if I claim the prize," the user explained of this process involved after their win. "Per US tax law, that will likely increase my 2023 federal tax bill by $1752 (24% of the prize value). Also, I would have added state income tax, but let's not bother figuring that in. [...] This makes the 'prize' not really a benefit to me until almost 10 years have passed, which is how many years of Game Pass I could buy right now if I spent around $1752. Needless to say, I declined the offer."
In response to this post, many other Reddit users were shocked to learn that the United States government taxes people based on rewards of this type. Others from territories like Australia and the UK stated that prizes in their regions are untaxable, which means that sweepstake wins like this don't come with any added stressors. Whether or not this winner made the right choice is up for debate, but it's clear that this lifetime membership definitely wasn't free like one would expect.
How do you feel about this whole situation involving the lifetime Xbox Game Pass membership? And what would you have done for yourself in this situation? Be sure to let me know either down in the comments or hit me up on Twitter at @MooreMan12.