On Tue, 09 May 2006 15:39:06 GMT, "John‰]*
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wrote:

In article .com,
Boothbay wrote:

I've been watching these shows..such as Selling your home and etc, both
with DIY and Home and garden. I tried to get info on how they choose
there 'clients' or do the clients ask them for their services. Last
show on DIY showed this segment of a couple updating their cottage to
sell. All for the price of $2000. ..which is amazing to me, for the
work that was done. They do not include the salaries the experts that
they send over to do the estimating and work. I know the owners pay the
$2000, but what about the cost of those workers? Is that gratis on the
part of DIY and HG? A new front door in this case was quoted at the
price of $184...in my area, the installation would cost almost double
that. I also noticed that these homes are in rural areas. I would love
for them to come to my house and fix it up for $2000. What are those
chances?

Be sure you understand the tax consequences of these shows beforehand.

Some(but not all) are able to write off the expenses of fixing up your
home by calling it a "contest". As they walk out the door they hand
you a 1099 and a big fat tax bill for the full retail value of the
prize you "won". That's how they are able to write it off as a
"promotional expense".

Very good point. All those things people win on prize shows are
taxable as regular income. Some people have to sell the prizes
because they need money to pay the taxes. IIremember tax law, the
only prizes that are not taxable are those that one does nothing to
win. If you do anything to enter, prize winnings are taxable. Things
like Nobel and Pulitzer prizes are not taxable because even though you
had to do something, you did not do them to win the prize. Someone
else nominates the potential winners.

If they wanted to just give you the money, a personal gift can be 5000
dollars a year from a person to each and every member of your family.
But I don't know what corporations can give.

Rember that in the Millionaire, John Beresford Tipton gave a million
dollars but that was after Mr. Tipton paid gift taxex on the total
amount, and the difference was a million.