EuroMillions is a single game with one shared jackpot, but there is no such thing as a single EuroMillions tax. What you actually keep depends entirely on which country sold you the ticket — because each participating country taxes prizes under its own rules, applied at source. Two people can match the same numbers in the same EuroMillions draw and take home very different amounts. Spain and Portugal are the two countries where that difference bites hardest, so they're worth understanding in detail.
Spain: 20% above €40,000
Spain applies a special tax on lottery and betting prizes (the gravamen especial), introduced by Law 16/2012. The rule is straightforward:
- Rate: 20%, flat.
- Tax-free threshold: the first €40,000 of a prize is exempt. This figure has risen over the years — it was €2,500, then €10,000, then €20,000, and has been €40,000 since 1 January 2020.
- What's taxed: only the portion above €40,000.
- How: the operator (Loterías y Apuestas del Estado, SELAE) withholds the tax at source — you receive the net amount, and generally don't need to file anything.
A worked example on a €1,000,000 prize:
- Exempt: €40,000
- Taxable: €960,000 × 20% = €192,000 withheld
- You receive: €808,000
So a Spanish millionaire winner keeps a bit over 80% of a seven-figure prize — considerably better than an American winner, but a real bite compared to the UK's zero.
Portugal: 20% above €5,000
Portugal taxes prizes through stamp duty (Imposto do Selo) rather than income tax, and its threshold is far lower than Spain's:
- Rate: 20%.
- Tax-free threshold: the first €5,000 is exempt.
- What's taxed: only the portion above €5,000.
- How: the operator (Santa Casa da Misericórdia de Lisboa, which runs EuroMilhões and the other state games) withholds it at source. The prize isn't subject to income tax and doesn't affect your annual return.
A worked example on a €20,000 prize:
- Exempt: €5,000
- Taxable: €15,000 × 20% = €3,000
- You receive: €17,000
Because the threshold is only €5,000, Portugal's tax reaches far more winners than Spain's — even a modest mid-tier prize is taxed. (Separately, there's also a small 4.5% stamp duty built into the ticket price at purchase — a purchase tax, not a prize tax.)
The full EuroMillions tax map
Spain and Portugal are the exceptions in a game that's mostly tax-free at the point of payment. Across the nine EuroMillions countries:
| Country | Prize taxed at source? | Rate | Threshold |
|---|---|---|---|
| United Kingdom | No | 0% | — |
| Ireland | No | 0% | — |
| France | No | 0% | — |
| Belgium | No | 0% | — |
| Luxembourg | No | 0% | — |
| Austria | No | 0% | — |
| Spain | Yes | 20% | above €40,000 |
| Portugal | Yes | 20% | above €5,000 |
| Switzerland | Yes | 35% | above ~CHF 1 million |
Switzerland is the third taxed country and the steepest: a 35% federal withholding tax applies to winnings above roughly CHF 1 million (an indexed threshold, in force since 2019). That withholding is reclaimable from the cantonal tax office, but the taxable portion then faces federal and cantonal income tax. Wins below the threshold are tax-free.
The six tax-free countries share a consistent pattern: the prize itself is untaxed, but ordinary taxes still apply afterward — income tax on the interest and investment returns the money earns, wealth tax in countries that levy it (France's IFI), and inheritance or gift tax when you pass the money on. Tax-free at the point of payment doesn't mean tax-free forever.
The practical point
The single most important thing to understand is the one that surprises international players: your EuroMillions prize is taxed under the rules of the country where you bought the ticket, not where you live or where the draw is held. There's no EU-wide lottery tax to appeal to.
So the identical €1,000,000 win is:
- £0 tax if the ticket was bought in the UK or Ireland,
- €192,000 tax if bought in Spain,
- taxed from just €5,000 up if bought in Portugal,
- 35% on the excess above ~CHF 1 million if bought in Switzerland.
If you're a resident of one country buying a ticket in another — a tourist, a cross-border worker — you'll be taxed under the purchase country's rules at source, and you may then face further obligations at home once you transfer, invest, or gift the money. For how the shared game fits together across all nine countries, see EuroMillions: How It Works Across 9 Countries; for the tax-free end of the spectrum, UK Lottery Winnings and Tax.
None of this is tax advice, and thresholds do change — Spain's has risen repeatedly — so confirm the current figures with the relevant tax authority before relying on them. But the shape is dependable: in Europe, where you buy your ticket decides what the taxman takes.