First and Foremost Congratulations on the Win! To answer your question yes you must declare those winnings in your Tax Return.
In most circumstances there will have been a Federal Withholding on the amount of money that you won. This withholding will be paid and reported to the IRS by the issuer of the prize. Winnings are usually reported with form W-2G for gambling, lottery or raffle winnings and other contest winnings or prizes as such are reported with 1099-MISC. In your case you should receive a 1099-MISC for your prize winnings from the issuer.
In order to accurately file your Tax Return we recommend that you wait to receive this document from the issuer if you have not already received it. Once you have the 1099-MISC you will be able to enter this income in TurboTax by following the instructions below:
1. Log into your TurboTax Online Account and enter your Tax return through Tax Timeline
2. From the uppermost Main Tab select and click on Federal Taxes
3. In the next screen and Secondary tab select and click on Wages and Income
4. In this screen scroll down and find Other Common Income and click on Show More
5. In the dropdown you will click on the Start button next to 1099-MISC.
The program will walk you through entering all of the information from your 1099-MISC for winnings. It is very important that the Dollar amount you enter is from Box 3 of the 1099 that is labeled as Other Income. This will keep that income in the proper section of your 1040.
