Mega Millions: How much money will you actually get if you win the jackpot?

The Mega Millions jackpot is up to $1 billion. Many are dreaming of that big payday, the  one where you wave adios to the job and drive down the freeway throwing $20s out the car window.

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Not to be a buzz killer, but if dream becomes reality, you may want to roll the window back up and put your wallet back in your pants.

When it comes to winning a jackpot, there  are more hands in the pot than those that belong to all the long-lost relatives you suddenly have. The greediest one, except perhaps for that one aunt who is never satisfied, belongs to an uncle. Uncle Sam.

Just to get this out of the way, $1 billion is an enormous amount of money. If you were to win that amount in Friday's Mega Millions drawing and take the lump sum option, your winnings would be $565 million.

However, once you claim your prize, that’s where the rubber meets the road when it comes to how much you get to keep.

Here's what would happen if you take the $565 million lump sum option.

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First, the federal government takes 25 percent off the top. In fact, you never even get to see it because they take it out before you are given the check. In this case, you may want to sit down for this part, the 25 percent comes out to $141 million.

That will leave you with $424,000,000.

Unfortunately, the taxes don’t stop there. Of the $424 million, you will still owe more federal  taxes for the year you won the jackpot, (the government takes the 25 percent as part of the tax bill you owe for that year), and the rate at which you will be taxed is the highest one the government charges – 39.6 percent.

The tax owed on $424 million, taxed at 39.6 percent, is nearly $168 million.

If you have breathed a sigh of relief thinking you’re taxes are paid, you’ve forgotten on thing – that’s only the federal tax. Unless you live in California, Delaware, Florida, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Washington or Wyoming, you’ll also owe state taxes. Those 10 states do not tax lottery winnings.

Cox Media Group