1. "All applicable taxes, license and fees are the responsibility of the winner based on the retail value of the prize. Federal law requires the deposit of 25% of such value to be applied toward the winner’s tax liability before the prize can be released." Thus, assuming a value of $120,000.00, the winner has to come up with $30,000.00 to obtain the release of the car from the VCA. Then the winner would have to pay any applicable sales tax, titling fees and registration fees separately. The $30,000 dollars is not the total tax. It would depend on the tax bracket of the winner. Assuming maximum bracket, the federal income tax could be as much as $42,000.00. If someone had no other taxable income ( For instance they are living on non AMT municipal bond income ), the $120K would be taxed at a lower rate. Of course this does not count any additional state or local income other tangible personal property taxes that might apply.
2. As to Canada, the road to the answer is a little complicated. There is a US/Canadian income tax treaty. It contains a provision to avoid double taxation. An analysis would need to be done to determine whether a raffle prize win is covered by the treaty. Also, although the income ( raffle prize ) is US source income, it is not periodic and you are not engaged in a trade or business in the US by buying raffle tickets, so a little analysis would need to be done to see whether it is properly taxable in the US. Assuming that it is, you should receive a foreign tax credit against any Canadian tax due on the win, if any, for any US taxes paid.. ( I am assuming that the FMV of the prize from an extraterritorial ( US ) raffle win is taxable in Canada. I am also assuming that Canada has a foreign tax credit similar to that found in the Internal Revenue Code. You should check with your Canadian accountant for the precise and correct answers.) Lastly, Assuming the treaty applies to a raffle win, you would analyze the situation under the treaty to see if the result improves. I know, before you say it, the complexity seems ridiculous but the concept of national sovereignty and the meshing of two different and independent tax systems leads to the complexity.
3. The bottom line is that if someone does not have at least $35,000.00 or so laying around doing nothing plus the cost of the raffle tickets, they should probably stay out of the raffle. It is a fantastic vehicle. Thank goodness the folks at ASC did not have a clue as to how to market it. If they had posted it in our classified section, it would have probably been gone in a couple of days. If they had, in addition, moderator permitting, posted it in both the GTS and SRT forums with a minimum bid, a bidding war would have probably immediately commenced. Their loss, the VCA's gain.