A couple years ago I won a basket full of items including 2 bottles of alcohol and a nice brief case at a national meeting. Much (and I do mean MUCH) to my surprise a 1099 was turned in with an extremely inflated value for the basket. Obviously the company running the meeting had a huge mark up on those 'gift' items.

This was before the current TSA rules. I was able to take the liquor, but not the actual basket home as it was too big to be a carry on item and too fragile to be checked.

Had I known I would have declined the basket. I ended up paying taxes on the inflated value.

Lesson learned!