A XBOX player recently turned down the offer of a lifetime membership to Xbox Game Pass.
Lifetime Game Pass memberships are given out periodically as part of the Microsoft Rewards scheme.
Xbox Game Pass wasn’t the offer this gamer was hoping for.
These are points you can gain by using a number of different Microsoft products.
Games and add-ons, purchased for Xbox or PC via the Microsoft Store, count towards rewards.
As well as using Microsoft branded software such as Bing search, or by playing games on Xbox.
However, when one person was offered their ‘lifetime’ Game Pass subscription they had to turn it down.
The lifetime Game Pass membership is valid for 40 years, giving it a value of around £5.3k ($8.2k).
In some countries like the US, prize winnings are eligible to be taxed, meaning that the winner would need to pay tax on the total amount.
On Reddit they explained their predicament, and how the offer would see them out of pocket for the next 10 years.
The recipient would need to pay back almost a quarter of the total amount in tax, and all of that would need to be paid in 2023.
This is because it’s the year they earned the prize even though they won’t see the rewards for some time.
The winner would have to pay out around $2k in taxes which is roughly the same as 10 years worth of Game Pass membership.
While they would start to make money after the first 10 years, there is no guarantee Game Pass would even last this long.
Companies frequently change up their subscription services and offers, which could mean that the lifetime subscription would becomes void.
This one winner worked out that it wasn’t worth redeeming the prize if they meant they’d be out of pocket.
The prize is still worth taking in most regions, you just need to check whether your country applies taxes to prize winnings.
Written by Georgina Young on behalf of GLHF.
