Coolest coworkers ever share $1 million with only employee who opted out of lotto pool

[Jim Lane]

10. Good story, bad math

A team with 12 members wins a jackpot of $1,000,000. That means that each receives $83,333.33 and must then pay taxes on that income. The linked article states, "After tax, that comes out to just over $83,000 a piece." Unfortunately for the winners, that's wrong. Their after-tax haul will be well below $83,000.

Math errors aside, their generosity to their co-worker may create a tax problem. Will the IRS treat them each as having income of $83,333.33 and then making a gift to Maldonado? I hope the IRS recognizes that the reality is that the generous workers are not receiving the full amount and shouldn't have to pay taxes on it, but I don't know if that's how such situations are actually handled.