If you receive your prize in the form of vouchers, then the prize has been fulfilled by the sponsor. The vouchers did not just come out of thin air. Somebody or some company paid for those vouchers, whether in the form of a "donation" by an airline or hotel (in which case they will likely write-off the value when they file their taxes, in order to get the benefit of their marketing expenses) or actually purchased by the sponsor (in which case they will want the benefit of writing off the marketing expense, as well).
I agree that checking with one's own personal tax advisor would be the best advice. If you call the IRS, even on seperate occasions, you will almost be guaranteed to not talk to the same person each time and will be given different advice, depending on who you talk to at that moment.
I've won 7 trips, 3 of them awarded in the form of vouchers. The taxes were due on them as the sponsor fulfilled the prize to me for me to use. Even if I had not used those vouchers, the prize was still fulfilled to me, and was in my possession. If I chose not to use them, that doesn't excuse my tax obligations. The sponsor awarded them in good faith to me.
I have, at this moment, 4 Airtran vouchers in my possession. No where on them do they state that they have no monetary value, nor have I seen that disclosure on previous vouchers from AA or NWA. If they have no monetary value, why do so many vouchers appear for sale on eBay and people actually "buy" them? If there was no value in them, why would sponsors use them at all? It's kinda like a dollar bill...yes, it's just a piece of paper (like a voucher), but it cost somebody or some entity something to print it.
For all of my trips, I have gathered my own documentation as to the actual costs involved and that amount is what I use for tax purposes. Some instances, I was able to convince the sponsor to adjust the 1099, some times not. I have not had a problem in reporting my actual costs. This is representative of my own personal situation/experience.
To the OP, I highly suggest you consult your own tax advisor/consultant, who would be willing to represent you in the event any info given here or anyplace else is not correct for your own personal situation.
If that's what you want to believe and pay taxes on worthless pieces of paper that's your decision. I have already checked this with the IRS.
The prize is airline tickets not the vouchers. The vouchers are like a promissory note to use to fulfill the prize. If you don't use the vouchers, the prize is not fulfulled; and, therefore, no prize was ever purchased, paid for, or received. Once the vouchers are exchanged for the tickets, the sponsors pays the cost of the tickets per the voucher number.
Paying taxes on unused vouchers would be like paying taxes on money you never received for doing work for someone for an agreed amount and then they decided to refuse you payment. No one in their right mind would pay taxes on money they never received.
Plus, how could you pay taxes on vouchers without knowing what the airline tickets themselves would cost. The ARV is in no way a reflection of the actual cost(s). As I said above, ARV's are just approximations. On trips, they're usually greatly over-inflated. Why would you pay taxes on an approximation.
The sponsor does not pay for anything up front not even vouchers. These are not like consumer gift cards. On trips, all costs are paid at the time the prize(s) is used/fulfilled. Everything included in the prize is worked out beforehand with the other companies/suppliers and paid afterwards, at the time the prize is actually being used/fulfilled.
If that weren't true, then the rules would reflect the actual costs instead of an approximation which would be impossible to do; and if that weren't true, the sponsor would never readjust the amount on the 1099's. All our trips ended up costing less than half of the stated ARV, and most sponsors readjusted it accordingly on their own.
