Lottery prizes are exempt up to 40,000 euros

If you have purchased a ticket for the National Lottery Christmas draw, do not forget that prizes awarded by Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, autonomous communities, ONCE, the Spanish Red Cross and similar European entities are taxed at a fixed rate of 20%.

For this purpose, the recipients of these prizes are subject to a withholding of this percentage by the body paying the prize, i.e. the Sociedad Estatal Loterías y Apuestas del Estado (SELAE).

However, this taxation only affects prizes whose full amount exceeds 40,000 euros, which are taxed on the amount exceeding this limit (up to 40,000 euros, they are exempt).

This exemption is applied separately for each winning lottery ticket, fraction or lottery coupon or bet. Thus, in the case of shared prizes (group of friends or relatives, clubs, brotherhoods…) in which the prize is shared among all the participants, the exempt 40,000 euros must be distributed among all the beneficiaries in proportion to their percentage of participation.

For example, if you and a friend play a half-share of a Christmas Lottery ticket today that wins 50,000 euros, you will each be entitled to 25,000 euros, of which 20,000 euros will be exempt. In this case, their individual taxation will be 1,000 euros: (25,000 – 20,000) x 20% (the net amount received by each of them will therefore be 24,000 euros).

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