JJ Spaun produced one of the great moments in US Open history when he holed an incredible 64-foot putt to win the title.
That handed him his maiden Major title as well as plenty of other perks, one of which was a check for $4.3m. However, while that boosted his official career earnings to over $22m, he will only get to keep a percentage of it due to taxes on the winnings.
Per online casino and sportsbook review platform AskGamblers, Spaun is facing a tax bill of $1.7m of his prize money, with 40.07% going towards federal and state-based tax.
The US Federal tax rate is currently 37%, while the state rate in Pennsylvania, where the tournament was held, is 3.07%. That means he will pay $1,591,000 to the US Government and $132,010 to the state of Pennsylvania, bringing his total bill to $1,723,010.
It’s not just Spaun who will need to pay substantial taxes, with those further down the leaderboard also subject to taxes on their prize money. For example, Robert MacIntyre, who is now fancied to win The Open following his runner-up finish, earned $2,322,000 at Oakmont, but will be hit with a tax bill of $930,450.40, while Viktor Hovland, who finished third for a prize of $1,445,062, will need to pay $579.036.34.
In total, $8,615,050 in tax is expected to be paid from the $21.5m in prize money distributed throughout the field, with $7,955,000 going towards the US Government’s Federal tax, and $660,050 to the state tax.
Spaun’s tax obligation has similarities with a hefty bill handed to Talor Gooch after his win at the 2023 LIV Golf Adelaide tournament. The American won $4m that week, but he was taxed 47.5% of the prize money, meaning he only saw around $2.1m of it.
At the time, he admitted that had come as a shock, telling Fore the People podcast: “It was a little bit disheartening seeing 47-and-a-half percent because Australian taxes [do] not enter the account. It comes, you know, almost it sometimes it’s like 48 hours, but it’s usually 24 hours after the direct deposit hits. It was a big one this last week, but yeah, it sucked that 47-and-a-half percent was withheld for Australian taxes, unfortunately. I am by no means complaining, but the four [million dollars], once you cut it all up, let’s just say that it’s lot less than four.”
Of course, it’s not just the tax obligations that Spaun will need to consider. He is also expected to pay his caddie Mark Carens 10% of his prize money, which would see another $430,000 leave his account.
