Gorgo7, on 06 April 2016 - 07:41 AM, said:
Perhaps instead the winners could wait to cash said cheque and consult a tax accountant before disbursing said funds. Hell! Open an account in Canada and disburse from there. After some due diligence of course. Remember ALL participants are Adults.
or
They could hire you a to consultant for a *small* fee, you would feel better and so would they...
Or ... they could cut a cheque to each player of the winning team, splitting the prize money and distributing the tax burden. There is no need to give ALL the money to one person ... who is then taxed on that whole amount ... and then has to distribute some part of the winnings to other players who then may also be taxed.
Since all the players on each winning team will be present in Vancouver when the contest is one ... it is EASY to divide the prize money and cut a cheque to each individual. Doing anything else is really asking for trouble since the team captain is under no obligation to distribute funds at all ... and if they will be on the hook for a large tax bill, there is far less incentive to split any of it.
P.S. In Canada, as far as I know, lottery winnings are not taxed which is a significant difference from the US ... however, that is no reason for PGI to be ignorant of the fact and likely negative impacts on their winners of how they choose to distribute funds. (Bottom line is to make your team captain Canadian .. and then distribute any funds privately ... if PGI sticks with the current distribution plan).