<prompt> Human: My wife won a prize for the voteplz.org sweepstakes. The prize is either 25k cash or up to 50k student loan forgiveness. She has around 30k in student loan debt, so we opted for that option.What should we be prepared for in terms of taxes? Should we get a financial advisor to help? Were very excited and skeptical but want to make sure we do the right thing.  <response>: I assume its a 50k payment towards you student loans. Voteplz is not in a position to forgive loans. They should issue you a 1099 for the money at tax time. She will owe taxes on the money. Depending on your state tax, you can expect about 30 to go to taxes. She can request a payment plan for at least the federal tax portion and pay the tax debt over time. She just needs to make sure she files a timely return and gets that set up, if necessary. 