[Mark]

Get a good lawyer and fight for the full 340 million amount.

[Keith in Iowa]

>>>Get a good lawyer and fight for the full 340 million amount.

Why?

If you elect the annuity payment, you'd get the $340M over time. You'd then owe taxes yearly...

[Extremely Extreme Extremist]

Get a good lawyer and fight for the full 340 million amount.

The amount of money spent on a lawyer fighting Uncle Sam is equivalent to what you would have to pay in taxes anyway. Just pay the taxes and get it over with, you're screwed no matter what anyways.

[Lokibob]

Here is an amazing fact: $340 million is the exact same as $164.4 million (the cash option). How? When the top prize is won, the Powerball operations people go to 25 bond dealers in NYC and get bids on bonds to cover the 25 years of the payouts. In this case, they are estimating it will cost them $164.4 million to cover the $340 million over the 25 year period.

Hiring a lawyer isn't going to do you any good, since you can get the $340 million anyway.