PayPal Gift Card Giveaways in the UK
PayPal is the most flexible prize there is: it is money, spendable anywhere PayPal is accepted or withdrawable to your own bank account. Sent to the email address registered to your PayPal account, so the address you enter with is the one it arrives at.
What a PayPal prize card will not cover
A prize sent to an email with no PayPal account attached sits unclaimed and is returned after a set period, so the account has to exist first.
Tax on a prize in the UK
Winnings from a prize draw or competition are not taxed as income in the UK, and there is no capital gains tax on the prize itself. A win is yours in full, whatever it is worth, which is the single biggest difference between entering here and entering in the United States. Tax can still arise later on what a prize goes on to earn: interest on cash you deposit is interest like any other, and if you were to give a large prize away, the usual inheritance tax rules on gifts apply to you as they would to any other gift.
Entering without paying
A prize draw must offer a genuine free entry route. This is not a courtesy in the UK: a draw that can only be entered by paying, or by a premium rate call or text where the cost is more than ordinary, is a lottery, and running a lottery without a licence is a criminal offence under the Gambling Act. When a promotion charges to enter, look for the free route in the rules, usually a postal entry that must be treated equally to the paid one. If there is no free route at all, the promotion is not one to trust with your details.
Questions
- How does a PayPal prize card arrive?
- Sent to the email address registered to your PayPal account, so the address you enter with is the one it arrives at.
- Is a PayPal giveaway win taxed in the UK?
- Winnings from a prize draw or competition are not taxed as income in the UK, and there is no capital gains tax on the prize itself. A win is yours in full, whatever it is worth, which is the single biggest difference between entering here and entering in the United States. Tax can still arise later on what a prize goes on to earn: interest on cash you deposit is interest like any other, and if you were to give a large prize away, the usual inheritance tax rules on gifts apply to you as they would to any other gift.
- Is entering free?
- A prize draw must offer a genuine free entry route. This is not a courtesy in the UK: a draw that can only be entered by paying, or by a premium rate call or text where the cost is more than ordinary, is a lottery, and running a lottery without a licence is a criminal offence under the Gambling Act. When a promotion charges to enter, look for the free route in the rules, usually a postal entry that must be treated equally to the paid one. If there is no free route at all, the promotion is not one to trust with your details.
Open right now in the UK
Before you enter
Check the sponsor page for the UK eligibility, free-entry terms and the exact prize value before entering.
- Named sponsor
- A real giveaway names the company responsible for running it. If the entry page hides the sponsor or only uses a famous brand name with no company behind it, treat it as unsafe.
- Official rules
- The rules should state the prize, approximate retail value, entry period, eligibility, winner selection method and how odds are determined. Missing rules are the strongest reason to walk away.
- Free entry
- A US sweepstakes must be free to enter. No purchase necessary is a legal requirement, not a courtesy. Any fee to enter or claim a prize disqualifies the listing.
