Lottery Winnings Tax in Asia

How lottery prizes are taxed across Asia

There is no single Asian rule for lottery winnings. Each jurisdiction treats prizes its own way, and the differences are large enough to change what a big win is actually worth.

Broadly, the countries in this guide fall into three groups. China, Vietnam, South Korea and the Philippines tax prizes directly, each with its own rate and threshold. Thailand skips income tax on government lottery prizes and instead collects stamp duty when you claim. Japan leaves public lottery prizes untaxed, though other kinds of gambling winnings are not so lucky. Taiwan and India sit in between, with withholding at the point of payment.

The other big question is who does the paperwork. In most of these countries the lottery operator or claim office deducts the tax before handing over the money, so you never file anything yourself. That is worth understanding before you claim a prize, and we cover it in the next section. If your question is broader than lotteries, our guide to tax on gambling winnings in Asia covers casinos, racing and sports betting too.

Withholding at the counter: who takes the tax

In almost every jurisdiction here, the tax on a lottery prize is taken at the point of payment, not through an annual return. You walk in with a winning ticket, the office calculates the tax, deducts it, and pays you the rest.

• In China, lottery agencies and sales outlets are responsible for withholding individual income tax and filing on the winner's behalf. For a CNY 100,000 instant lottery win, the agency withholds CNY 20,000 and files the return for you⁷.
• In South Korea, tax is withheld before payout. For Sports Toto and boat racing payouts, other income tax of 20% plus resident tax is withheld when the payout rate is 100 times or more, or when the refund on a single bet is KRW 2,000,000 or more⁸.
• In Thailand, stamp duty is collected from prize recipients at the claim office⁹.
• In the Philippines, prizes above PHP 10,000 up to PHP 60,000 are paid in cash net of the 20% final tax¹⁰.
• In India, the organizing state must ensure income tax on prizes, wherever applicable, is deducted at source and the prize money credited to the winner's bank account¹¹.
• In Taiwan, winners of the uniform invoice lottery's third prize or above have 20% income tax withheld by the prize-issuing unit¹².

The practical effect is the same everywhere: the number on your ticket is not the number that reaches your pocket. For more on how this works, see our page on withholding tax on winnings.

China: 20% on each win over CNY 10,000

China taxes lottery winnings as incidental income at a flat 20% rate, charged on the full amount of each winning¹. The saving grace is the exemption: a single winning of CNY 10,000 or less is temporarily exempt from individual income tax, a preference that continues under the current rules¹.

The moment a single win crosses CNY 10,000, the whole amount is taxed, not just the excess. A CNY 10,001 win is taxed on CNY 10,001; a CNY 100,000 win is taxed on CNY 100,000, producing CNY 20,000 of tax⁷.

What counts as a single win matters a lot here. For computer lottery games, all prizes the same person wins in the same draw of the same game count as one single win. For instant scratch cards, one ticket's prize is one single win⁷. So two CNY 6,000 wins on two different scratch cards are two exempt wins, but two CNY 6,000 prizes in the same draw of the same computer game add up to one CNY 12,000 win that is fully taxed.

The lottery institution handles everything. It withholds the tax and files for you, and for computer lottery payouts over CNY 3,000 it registers the winner's real-name identity and redemption information, so bring your ID when claiming⁷. For sports lottery prizes over CNY 10,000 on a single bet, the institution withholds and remits the personal income tax¹⁴.

Redemption comes with its own paperwork. For computer lottery payouts over CNY 3,000, the winner's real-name identity and redemption information must be registered, and winners are expected to cooperate with the registration¹⁵. Prizes are claimed at a designated location, and unclaimed prizes are treated as abandoned and go into the lottery public welfare fund¹⁶.

Vietnam: 10% above the threshold

Vietnam taxes prize winnings at a flat 10% under the full-rate schedule, but only on the part of the prize above a threshold². The calculation is simple: taxable income times 10%².

The threshold has just changed. Under Circular 111/2013/TT-BTC, the taxable income from a lottery win was the entire prize value above VND 10,000,000 on one ticket in one draw, before any expense deduction². From July 1, 2026, under the Personal Income Tax Law 2025, the threshold rises to VND 20,000,000 per win¹⁷.

A worked example shows the difference. On a VND 50,000,000 prize under the old rule, tax was 10% of VND 40,000,000, or VND 4,000,000. Under the new rule, tax is 10% of VND 30,000,000, or VND 3,000,000².

Two details are worth knowing. First, the threshold applies per ticket per draw, so several smaller winning tickets each under the threshold each escape tax. Second, the rules apply to both resident and non-resident individuals, so a visitor winning a Vietlott prize is taxed the same way as a local². Vietlott's own prize claim terms point winners to Circular 111/2013/TT-BTC for the tax treatment¹⁸.

Thailand: stamp duty instead of income tax

Thailand takes a different approach: government lottery prizes are not hit with income tax at all. Instead, when you claim a prize, you pay stamp duty at THB 1 for every THB 200 of prize money, or fraction of THB 200³. That works out to half a percent, deducted on the spot at the claim office⁹.

The charity lottery is different: prize money from both ordinary and special charity lottery tickets has 1% income tax withheld at payment, and it is not included in the annual personal income tax return¹⁹. A THB 6,000,000 government lottery prize, by contrast, loses THB 30,000 to the 0.5% stamp duty withheld when you claim.

Claiming is straightforward but time-limited. Government lottery prizes must be claimed within 2 years of the draw date; charity lottery prizes within 10 years. After that, the money goes to state revenue⁹. Prizes under THB 20,000 are paid in cash, THB 20,000 and above by check, with bank transfers available up to THB 2,000,000 per transaction through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, Siam Commercial Bank and Krungthai Bank²⁰.

Because there is no income tax on the prize, nothing from a Thai government lottery win goes into your annual tax return. The stamp duty at the counter is the whole story.

South Korea: withholding tiers on payouts

South Korea withholds tax on lottery prizes at the moment of payment, in three tiers⁴:

So a KRW 100,000,000 Lotto 6/45 jackpot is paid out after 22% has been taken off the top. The deduction happens before you see the money, and you do not file anything yourself.

Other Korean betting products work slightly differently. For Sports Toto and boat racing refunds, other income tax of 20% plus resident tax (10% of the income tax) is withheld when the payout rate is 100 times or more, or when the refund on an individual bet is KRW 2,000,000 or more⁸. Korea's travel lottery withholds 22% on prizes worth over KRW 50,000, borne by the winner²¹.

Japan: tax-free takarakuji, taxed betting

Japan is the friendliest jurisdiction in this guide for lottery players. The Act on Public Lottery Tickets states plainly that no income tax is charged on public lottery prizes, so a takarakuji win of any size reaches you intact⁵.

Other gambling winnings are another matter. JRA horse racing betting payouts can be subject to income tax under comprehensive taxation²². The exact bill depends on progressive rates and any other income you have, so a large payout can shrink noticeably by the time the tax return is settled.

Two traps catch Japanese winners. If you distribute prize money to family members, the recipients face gift tax on what they receive⁵. And if a company buys lottery tickets, any prize is included in income and subject to corporate tax⁵. So the tax-free treatment belongs to individual winners only, and only if the money stays with them.

Philippines: 20% final tax on lotto prizes

The Philippines withholds a 20% final tax on prizes from sources within the country, with two carve-outs: prizes of PHP 10,000 or less, and Philippine Charity Sweepstakes and Lotto winnings, which the tax code historically exempted²³. In practice today, under the TRAIN Law, PCSO applies a 20% withholding tax to prizes above PHP 10,000⁶, and prizes above PHP 10,000 up to PHP 60,000 are paid in cash net of that 20% final tax¹⁰.

Where you claim depends on the size. Prizes from PHP 20 up to PHP 10,000 can be claimed at any authorized lotto outlet or branch office. Prizes from PHP 10,001 to PHP 300,000 go to your area branch office or the main office. Prizes above PHP 300,000, including jackpots, must be claimed at the PCSO Main Office on Shaw Boulevard in Mandaluyong City⁶.

Bring the right documents: sign the back of your winning ticket with your name and signature, and bring two valid government-issued IDs with photo and signature⁶. Tickets cost PHP 25 as of February 2025, up from PHP 20⁶.

Macau and the mainland tax

Macau runs its own tax system, separate from mainland China's. The mainland's individual income tax on lottery winnings applies to prizes from mainland welfare and sports lotteries, classified as incidental income taxed on the amount of each receipt²⁴. A prize won in Macau is not a mainland lottery win and does not enter that tax net, so mainland Chinese authorities do not tax a Macau lottery or casino win as such.

That said, bringing money home is a separate question from tax. Cash declarations and cross-border transfers have their own rules, which we cover in taking winnings home.

Taiwan and India

Taiwan's best-known lottery is the uniform invoice lottery, the receipt-based draw that runs alongside everyday purchases. Winners of the third prize or above have 20% income tax withheld by the prize-issuing unit before payment¹². Smaller prizes are paid without withholding.

India's state lotteries deduct tax at source. Under the Lotteries (Regulation) Rules 2010, the organizing state must ensure income tax on prizes, wherever applicable, is deducted at source and the prize money credited to the winner's bank account¹¹. Claim deadlines are short, so check the rules of the specific state lottery as soon as your ticket wins.

Common questions from first-time winners

What happens if I don't claim in time? The prize is gone. Deadlines vary: Korea's Lotto 6/45 gives you one year from the payment start date before unclaimed winnings are forfeited to the fund¹⁵. Elsewhere, unclaimed money goes to state revenue or lottery welfare funds. Check your tickets right after each draw.

Do I pay tax at home on a prize won in Asia? Quite possibly. Many countries tax residents on worldwide income, and a foreign lottery prize can count. Whether you owe anything depends on your home country's rules, any treaty, and whether tax was already withheld where you won. Our pages on home-country tax on winnings and double taxation go through this.

Is the tax on the whole prize or just part of it? It depends where you are. China taxes the full amount once a single win passes CNY 10,000¹. Vietnam taxes only the part above its threshold². Korea taxes the whole payout once it passes KRW 2,000,000⁴. See how taxable winnings are calculated for the full picture.

Do I need to file anything myself? Usually not. In China, Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand and India, the tax is deducted at the point of claim⁷. Japan's public lottery prizes need no filing at all⁵.

What if I split the ticket with friends? Be careful in Japan, where giving winnings to family triggers gift tax for them⁵. In China, a group's combined prizes in the same draw of the same game count as one single win for one person, which affects the exemption⁷. Our page on declaring gambling winnings covers the reporting side.