Tax bite makes
contest winner
tune outGary Momohara won a radio station's
By Rod Ohira
grand prize, but calculated it would
cost him $1,000 in taxes
Star-BulletinGary Momohara was a happy contest winner until he realized what his prize would cost him in taxes. "If it's over a certain dollar amount, Uncle Sam will be waiting," said the 44-year-old Momohara, who won 108 tickets yesterday to Saturday night's oldies concert at Blaisdell Arena from radio station KGMZ-FM 107.9.
The concert tickets are worth $35 each, so when Momohara figured out that state and federal taxes would cost him more than $1,000, he decided to return the prize.
"This is the first time in all the years I've been in radio that a grand-prize winner ever said no," said Austin Vali, KGMZ-FM general manager. "There's a line in all prize rules that states the winner will be responsible for taxes."
Vali noted that KGMZ-FM's sister station, KRTR-FM, has given away two $20,000 cash prizes. In those cases, however, taxes can be deducted from the winnings.
Momohara, however, is not walking away empty-handed.
Since only prizes over $600 are taxable, the station offered Momohara 17 concert tickets worth $595, which he gladly accepted.
"I'm grateful to be going to the concert," Momohara said. "Winning was very exciting and it was really a good experience."
The remaining 91 tickets will be given away by the station, Vali said.
Shortly after Tom Moffatt announced the grand-prize winner at 8 a.m., Momohara's telephone began ringing.
"A lot of people wanted tickets," Momohara said. "But one of my friends told me I might have to pay taxes on it so I started thinking about it."
When the radio station called him at about 10 a.m. to obtain information for a Form 1099, Momohara decided to return the prize.
"I enjoy the music they play and I don't think there was anything wrong with the contest," he said. "But if I knew about the tax, I wouldn't have entered."
