I have a client that won a 7 figure California lottery in December of 2020 off a scratcher.
The California lottery took a while until they could finalize their payment and the money was issued to them in January of 2021. The forms from California all state the issue date is January of 2021. The check date from California says January of 2021.
Client says that the funds were not available to them until January, but the interview checklist was completed in December.
Which year would I include the gambling income? Would it be considered constructive receipt in 2020 or 2021?