Legal Question in Business Law in New York

Generally speaking, the answer is yes! One can offer a financial reward for a customer who can meet a challenge. However according to FTC rules, guidelines by the NY attorney general and being prudent about liability such offers should be subject to carefully crafted official rules of the promotion/contest.

I'll give you one simple example: by giving away the $5k, you should collect the receiver's SS# so you can issue them a W9 to satisfy IRS tax rules. This should be clearly noted in the rules so that people entering this contest know in advance that they will need to provide a SS# or tax ID#. As you can see this also raises a bunch of issues about the receiver having legal status to legally be able to receive compensation etc...

I have drafted quite a number of promotion/contest rules in the past so please contact me directly. Your promotion/contest seems to be straight forward, so drafting should be straight forward as well and relatively low cost.

Roman R. Fichman, Esq.

www.TheLegalists.com │ @TheLegalist

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You're couching this as a contest/sweepstakes. I'm not so certain that is the case, but it makes sense to consider that. If, however, the offer is to be extended to residents outside of NY it will get a lot more complicated because these laws are governed state by state and they are not uniform.

Before you jump in, I suggest that you consult with a lawyer in private and discuss your objectives in more detail. You can start by calling around to several for a free phone consultation, get some insights then pick the best fit to work with.

If you would like to discuss further over a free phone consult, feel free to contact me anytime that is convenient.

Our firm is now referred by the American Bar Association (see under the New York section):

http://www.americanbar.org/groups/delivery_legal_services/resources/programs_to_help_those_with_moderate_income.html

Kind regards,

Frank

www.LanternLegal.com

866-871-8655

[email protected]

DISCLAIMER: this is not intended to be specific legal advice and should not be relied upon as such. No attorney-client relationship is formed on the basis of this posting.