Sweepstakes, Contests or instant winner games

I would definitely check with my accountant or tax advisor if I were you, but my general understanding is that under the doctrine of constructive receipt, you would pay tax on the $4500 in the year the funds were made available to you. So, if you could have used the money in 200 7but chose to wait until 2008, then a 1099 for 2007 would be correct. If the funds were not made available in 2007,I would think that you should not have gotten a 2007 1099....but again, please check with your advisor.

If you are sure you correctly requested the free game pieces I'm surprised that you never received them. McDonald's knows fully what their obligations are, and I'm certain they took steps to ensure that free game pieces were available. McDonald's does not want to be seen as conducting an illegal lottery ( requiring purchase to enter). Perhaps there was some kind of problem at the fulfillment house, so I agree with your contacting them. If the fulfillment house fails to respond, I would immediately contact customer service at McDonald's, they should be informed of such an oversight by one of their agencies. and will probably contact their agency to investigate what happened in your instance. This may take a few days but. follow up if you don't get a response from them . If you get no satisfaction ,then the next step would be the Better Business Bureau in you area.
Finally, you could try the consumer protection unit of your state's attorney general office. They will initiate an inquiry on your behalf.

Your promotion is actually a lottery, as it has prize, chance and consideration. It is illegal for you to run a lottery. To turn it into a legal sweeps you must, among other things, allow for a non-consideration method of entry.

Highly suspicious.....As a sweepstakes administration company, we would never send a check to anyone withourt first qualifying that they are entitled to win the promotion. We always give our Company name, a phone number and contact name where potential winners can reach us, and clearly spell out which promotion and who the sponsor is. All of which can be quickly verified by consumers.

There are many scams around involving cashier's checks, and this has all the earmarks of being one.

Just because a bank makes the funds from a deposited cashier's check available does NOT guarantee that the check is good. If the cashier's check turns out to be counterfeit, You personally will be laible any money you paid out(processing fees etc.)
I would contact the sponsor of the promotion if you know who that is, and I would NOT deposit the check before I had someone at CItibank verify that it's legit.
In general, I am very suspicious of any promotion that is from outside the US that you don't remember hearing about,or entering. Especially one that involves sending you a Cashier's check in the initial notification.....Be very careful!!

Our Legal Department's position on this is that text to win promotions do require an alternate means of entry, as not everyone has flat rate plans and therefore pay per message. Although We have seen promotions being run where no alternate is available., we advise our clients that an alternate is required. Just because something is being done doesn't make it right.
Giving cash prizes does not present any particular issues.