Have you started your holiday shopping yet? If you are a business that promotes itself by giving holiday gifts to clients or vendors, the tax law has some very Grinch-like rules about deducting the cost of the gifts you give during the holidays, or at any other time of year.
The IRS publication 463 explains the rules in detail:
You can deduct no more than $25 for business gifts you give directly or indirectly to each person during your tax year. A gift to a company that is intended for the eventual personal use or benefit of a particular person or a limited class of people will be considered an indirect gift to that particular person or to the individuals within that class of people who receive the gift.
If you give a gift to a member of a customer’s family, the gift is generally considered to be an indirect gift to the customer. This rule does not apply if you have a bona fide, independent business connection with that family member and the gift is not intended for the customer’s eventual use.
If you and your spouse both give gifts, both of you are treated as one taxpayer. It does not matter whether you have separate businesses, are separately employed, or whether each of you has an independent connection with the recipient. If a partnership gives gifts, the partnership and the partners are treated as one taxpayer.
Example.
Bob Jones sells products to Local Company. He and his wife, Jan, gave Local Company three gourmet gift baskets to thank them for their business. They paid $80 for each gift basket, or $240 total. Three of Local Company’s executives took the gift baskets home for their families’ use. Bob and Jan have no independent business relationship with any of the executives’ other family members. They can deduct a total of $75 ($25 limit × 3) for the gift baskets.
Incidental costs, such as engraving on jewelry, or packaging, insuring, and mailing, are generally not included in determining the cost of a gift for purposes of the $25 limit. A cost is incidental only if it does not add substantial value to the gift. For example, the cost of gift wrapping is an incidental cost. However, the purchase of an ornamental basket for packaging fruit is not an incidental cost if the value of the basket is substantial compared to the value of the fruit.
There are exceptions to the gift deduction rules. The following items are not considered gifts for purposes of the $25 limit.
- An item that costs $4 or less and:
- Has your name clearly and permanently imprinted on the gift; and
- Is one of a number of identical items you widely distribute (such as promotional pens, desk sets, and plastic bags and cases)
Because the $25 limited is legislative, it is specified in the internal revenue code, the IRS and treasury cannot change the amount and unfortunately congress has failed to do for decades. But if you have any other questions about deducting holiday gift costs, contact the Gray, Gray & Gray Tax Department at (781) 407-0300.