Employee Gifts/Gift Cards/Appreciation/Travel PerDiem

Employee Gifts/Gift Cards/Appreciation/Travel PerDiem

NFI's Guidelines:

Updated 10/12/2023

NFI recognizes that sites have events at their locations that include raffle prizes and/or gifts to employees to show appreciation and recognition for dedication, hard work and/or participation in an event.

GIFT CARDS
NFI does not authorize the purchase of Gift Cards, or other cash-like items, for employee awards, travel or for any other reason. 
This includes for gifts, raffle prizes, expressions of "thank you", or in recognition of an anniversary or holiday. The IRS considers the giving of a gift card with a cash value as actual cash, requiring it to be reported as income/compensation on an employee's W2 and taxed accordingly. 

HIGH VALUE ITEMS
Any big ticket item, such as TVs, Gaming Systems, Electronics, Appliances, Fashion Accessories, etc., are also considered compensation and must be reported on an employee's W2 and taxed accordingly.
When giving out gifts or prizes, sites should be cognizant of their value.  If your site is providing an individual with a holiday gift or gifts with a value in excess of $100, this may be taxable.  If you are concerned that an item may be taxable, reach out to the payroll department for clarification on reporting and clarification.

See below for examples of what is allowed vs what is not.
Examples of what is allowable:
Gifts or prizes in the form of a traditional holiday ham, turkey, fruit basket, flowers or similar perishable item of small value are not considered taxable income to the employee.
  1. Vouchers are allowable so long as they do not have a cash value - they are only good for a single good (such as the holiday Turkey vouchers). 
    1. Info on the Butterball Voucher Program can be found here: https://nfipurchasing.zohodesk.com/portal/en/kb/articles/butterball-turkey-voucher-program
  2. Programmatic holiday and anniversary gifts are allowable (so that it is sent to everyone and has no appearance of being any kind of compensation - ex: Gift basket, NFI Swag).
Examples of what is not allowed:
  1. Visa/Amex Gift Cards
  2. Store Gift Cards/eGift cards (Amazon, department stores, online stores/websites). 
  3. Restaurant Gift Cards

PER-DIEM TRAVEL EXPENSES
For Per-Diem travel expenses,  a process was implemented via Payroll as of 12/2021. Please see that policy here:



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