Topic: NEAR-Fest Door Prize Giveaway Procedure and Policy

[W1RC]

On the subject of Door Prizes:

NEAR-Fest XXXI Friday Prize Draw Winners:

Grand Prize: Yaesu FT-891: Paul Gayet, AA1SU. Essex Jct VT.
Second Prize, SDRPlay DX SDR Dave McGaw, N1HAC, Canaan NH.

Saturday Winners:
Grand Prize: Yaesu FY-891: N1NUG, Rob Zielfelder, Jr, Ellington CT
Second Prize: SDRPlay 1A:  N2MMV, Erl Svendsen, West Chazy, NY.
VNA Antenna Analyzer:
$50 HRO Gift Certificate: John Corini, KE1IH, Clifton Park NY.

We are made some important changes to our door prize giveaway procedures effective April 2022.

In the past our grand prizes were valued anywhere from $1,000.00 to $1,600.00.  Over the years we gave away many ICOM IC-7300s, Elecraft K3s, KX3s, KX2s, etc, and people loved it.

But now there is  an issue.  We are required by the IRS to issue a 1099-MISC (now called a 1099-NEC) tax reporting form we must file to any prize we give away that is valued over $600.00. 

This kinda takes some of the fun out of it; the joy of winning has now become a tax liability for the winner because all prizes that are won are considered as income by Uncle and should be declared at tax time. Issuing 1099s is also a real PITA for us as well.  Plus, as of next January going forward, you are going to see a lot more if them, thanks to the American Recovery Act of 2021.

HOWEVER .... if we can manage to keep the value of our grand prize under $600 we are not required to report it (and whether you do or not is your business).  With this in mind our Prizes Committee has decided to so this so we will not trigger a 1099-NEC.  The good news is that we can now have two grand prizes instead of one.

At NEAR-Fest XXXII  our grand prizes are a YAESU FT-891 with the second grand prizes being an SDR (Software Designed Receiver) from SDRPlay of England.  These are both truly wonderful items.  By having TWO grand prize drawings, one on each day we will have four happy people will taking home a significant prize from Deerfield.

The Friday prize drawing will be held at 5:00 PM in the Relaxation Area and the winner will have to be present to claim his or her prize. If a winner does not come forth after five draw attempts we reserve the right to defer the drawing to another time.   As always the Saturday prize draw will be held at the closing ceremony at 2:00PM and this time the winner need not be present to win.

We want to thank DX ENGINEERING for helping us get our hands on a couple FT-891s dor NEAR-Fest XXXI when they were virtually unobtanium everywhere else along with Steve KI5ENW and HAM RADIO OUTLET for doing the same with the SDRPlays.

See you all at the Fester!

73,

MrMike, W1RC
May 5th, 2022.

Yaesu FT-891 Info.       https://www.yaesu.com/indexVS.cfm?cmd=DisplayProducts&ProdCatID=102&encProdID=DF4DB262968932E999EAF928B5B6A1A7&DivisionID=65&isArchived=0

SDRPlay info.     https://www.sdrplay.com/products/