FARK.com: (2449275) The $25 Piggly Wiggly gift card your employer gave you is now taxable income. Happy Holidays

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(The State.com)		The $25 Piggly Wiggly gift card your employer gave you is now taxable income. Happy Holidays (thestate.com)		125
		More: Asinine

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11283 clicks; posted to Main » on 02 Dec 2006 at 11:31 AM | Favorite | share:

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PopeOnARope		2006-12-02 09:13:29 AM

This is not news..

Silvara		2006-12-02 09:23:20 AM

Er, what PopeOnARope said. Pfizer had a credit card reward system the first few years I worked there. You got taxed on anything you were awarded. It's income, just like bonuses, gifts, etc.

BullsHitter		2006-12-02 09:41:32 AM

We're a little behind the times.

TheChaz		2006-12-02 09:59:12 AM

This is why I'm glad I get a personal gift from my boss, not from the company. My xmas gift is just that a gift from one person to another and NOT taxable as income.

My bonus in February on the other hand... that just hurts when they take 40%.

co-conspirator		2006-12-02 10:09:19 AM

I had to give the gummint three of the hot cocoa packs from my sampler basket.

Silvara		2006-12-02 10:22:11 AM

co-conspirator: I had to give the gummint three of the hot cocoa packs from my sampler basket.

Yes, but were they the ones with mini-marshmallows or plain? Because it's a damn travesty when they take the ones with the marshmallows.

eddyatwork		2006-12-02 10:49:52 AM

Someone call Ric Romero!

floridian62		2006-12-02 11:34:23 AM

of course it is. how could it be otherwise?

thelunatick		2006-12-02 11:35:57 AM

Old and busted.

morbo		2006-12-02 11:36:09 AM

Money from your employer is taxable?!?! Has the whole world gone topsy-turvy?

kentriccubed		2006-12-02 11:37:03 AM

"Hubbard changed her name from Katherine Doucett when she was married recently."

Did I miss something, or is this little detail totally irrelavant?

animalmagnet		2006-12-02 11:37:03 AM

It's only fair that these employees should be able to include their $25 gift cards when they remit their tax payments. The IRS says they're worth $25, right?

BunkyBrewman		2006-12-02 11:37:29 AM

Only if the employer is too cheap to eat the tax himself.

lohphat		2006-12-02 11:38:41 AM

Unearned benefits from your employer are usually taxable in the first place. No new news here.

I shoot friendlies		2006-12-02 11:40:03 AM

I have had employees for years and this has always been the case. We gave out a couple of xbox 360's at a Christmas Party, and we had to withhold for the taxes from the next paycheck. Bummed out the employees. Now we pay the taxes and make the gift net of taxes. Not new news, though.

SwiftFox		2006-12-02 11:40:15 AM

Shiat, next they'll be taxing cash bonuses.

HawthornePDX		2006-12-02 11:40:24 AM

Subby, are you channeling my grandmother? She used to always complain about taxes too.

Don't want to pay the tax? Decline the gift. Simple.

prjindigo		2006-12-02 11:40:52 AM

ah, but if you spend it all on first aid supplies you can itemize!

floridian62		2006-12-02 11:42:25 AM

if you pay the taxes on behalf of your employee that is also taxable income to him, which gets you into a circular equation

Hugh2d2		2006-12-02 11:45:20 AM

Got a $500 bonus gift card.
Over the next four weeks they removed tax on said $500 bonus gift card.
My $500 bonus gift card turned out to be a $300 gift card that I could only spend in a few specific locations.

Thanks.

No, really... thanks.

Glsai		2006-12-02 11:45:41 AM

What is this bonus of which you speak? I've worked at my job for 5 years (just hit my anniversary) and have never received a bonus. So you'll have to excuse me that when your work gives you cash (or a cash equivalent) as a bonus that you have to pay taxes on it like all your other income.

/yeah I'm a bit bitter, can you tell?

Uncle Karl		2006-12-02 11:50:30 AM

Glsai
I suggest a real job. Instead of being angry at us that you work in retail, you could channel that into finding a new job.

ctyt		2006-12-02 11:51:50 AM

I got a $5 Taco Bell certificate from my friend after I helped him push his stalled car. He doesn't eat Taco Bell and got it from work. Do I have to report it?

SkySnake		2006-12-02 11:52:48 AM

Beats getting these every year.

floridian62		2006-12-02 11:53:06 AM

no you do not have to report the taco bell coupon

eno		2006-12-02 11:53:11 AM

"Hubbard changed her name from Katherine Doucett when she was married recently."

Relevance, councillor?

atomic-age		2006-12-02 11:54:26 AM

Won't be a problem.

My employer is so farking cheap that it schedules us for just under 8 hours a day so we are not entitled to two breaks. My job requires that I stand all day--no place to sit, anyway. No breaks can be taken before 12 noon or after 6 pm, regardless of what hours the employee works.

On Sundays, we are allowed only a 30 minute (unpaid) lunch, despite being worked over 8 hours and strongly discouraged from taking breaks.

There will be no Christmas gift, taxed or otherwise. Merry fark you.

Yes, I am actively seeking better employment. Slow going.

InfamousG		2006-12-02 11:54:34 AM

kentriccubed
"Hubbard changed her name from Katherine Doucett when she was married recently."

Did I miss something, or is this little detail totally irrelavant?

It's not relevant to the plot of the story, it is relevent to the quote she gave. At the time she gave it, her last name was Hubbard. Not it's Doucett. Quoting "Katherine Doucett" is saying that quote would be incorrect.

david11982		2006-12-02 11:54:34 AM

"The IRS decided gift cards and gift coupons are the same as cash. Cash equivalents are never "excludable" from taxes. That's tax talk for no taxes due."

Are people who read this paper really so stupid they need a word like "excludable" dumbed down for them?

dogfat		2006-12-02 11:55:56 AM

Frantic Freddie		2006-12-02 11:57:45 AM

Waaay back when I worked in retail,for a nat'l chain (not Walmart),they'd give the employees a $25 bonus check.After the IRS got done chewing on it,we'd end up with about $12 & some odd cents.BFD.

flsprtsgod		2006-12-02 12:00:19 PM

My favorite was the "Grand Prize Drawing" held for those who donated to the United Way this year. Prize: two club seat tickets to an NFL game valued at $300. "Here is the IRS from you have to sign, the tax is about $90."

ragingchihuahua		2006-12-02 12:01:01 PM

Ok, fine.

If gift cards are cash-equivalent, I guess the IRS won't mind if I pay my taxes with them, right?

/Oh, that would be fun to take to court!

SL5M7		2006-12-02 12:05:42 PM

Gift cards are NOT cash, nor or they in my opinion worth face value. I think many of them say "no cash value"

/dont work for SCOTUS

Manfred Richthofen		2006-12-02 12:07:25 PM

This greenlit has taken the whole "no news" thing to a whole new level.

puffy999		2006-12-02 12:10:27 PM

Boohoo. I got something for free, that was an added bonus... and it's taxed.

Telekinesis Kyle		2006-12-02 12:12:39 PM

SkySnake

If the donation was made in your name, you should find out the amount donated - this can probably be reported as a deductable.

/probably have to report the amount as income, too
//net gain = 0
///nevermind

Manfred Richthofen		2006-12-02 12:13:47 PM

SL5M7: Gift cards are NOT cash, nor or they in my opinion worth face value. I think many of them say "no cash value"

What the card says is irrelevant.

They have substantial cash value, but not quite equal to the face value. That's why the taxable amount is the "fair market value."

Mr. Nesbitt		2006-12-02 12:15:01 PM

Exactly which law says I must pay tax? Show me the law in ANY copy of the Federal Register. Then show me how the gift is taxable as "income."

DonnaDMK		2006-12-02 12:15:15 PM

countvonbob		2006-12-02 12:16:38 PM

co-conspirator, I just want to say thank you.

I came in here guessing the hot cocoa sampler box would be in the first five comments, and I wasn't disappointed. That is all.

dognose4		2006-12-02 12:17:03 PM

"This is not news.."

No, it's Fark.com

kronicfeld		2006-12-02 12:18:15 PM

This is why I'm glad I get a personal gift from my boss, not from the company. My xmas gift is just that a gift from one person to another and NOT taxable as income.

Laughably incorrect. If looks at all like a straw man transaction, it certainly is taxable income.

chumboobler		2006-12-02 12:27:41 PM

No one in America should pay income tax at all according to this film.

http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-4312730277175242198&q=america+freedom+ to

MindStalker		2006-12-02 12:38:28 PM

floridian62: Lucikly there is an easy way out of that circle. You pay the employees one payment of tax+estimatetaxontax. As one lump sum. Any more taxes due because of the taxontaxontax the tax payer can just pay themselves, it won't be noticed.

Rodeodoc		2006-12-02 12:45:53 PM

6 years ago, my employer started holding annual "sales conferences" in places like Phoenix or Vegas. We would meet for a couple of hours each morning to discuss business, then golf or gamble away the rest of the day. It was 5 days of fun in the sun, although some work was accomplished. Then we hired a new CFO who had previously been with the IRS. What a dumb farking move. He announced that those meetings were now taxable benefits, and the value of them was about $5,000 per person. So when the next meeting came around, I told my boss I wasn't going. He insisted. I said if you order me to go, it's not a taxable benefit, it's company business. I started a minor revolt in the company, and about 45 of the 50 people who were supposed to go announced they would not attend because of the tax situation. That year's meeting was cancelled. Within 6 months, the CFO was urged to go explore other career options. Now we are all back where we belong, basking in the sun on the company dime. Sometimes, life is good.

But the corporate christmas party has been cancelled this year in lieu of the Turkey's R Us certificate. Whooppee. Give mine to someone who can make good use of it.

codasco704		2006-12-02 12:47:17 PM

This is bullshiat. I work in retail grocery and can tell you for sure that gift cards have NO CASH VALUE whatsoever. Basically, the way gift cards work, is that by paying $25, you receive a card that allows you the privledge of taking 25 dollars worth of stuff from the store...it is not a direct form of payment. When you use a gift card, the stuff you buy was paid for when the card was purchased (that's how we make money off of them...people either don't use the entire card, or let it expire). That's why you can't return a gift card for cash, nor use it at any other store.

If the IRS is claiming that gift certificates are cash equivalent, then we should be able to exchange them for cash, be able to use your Piggly Wiggly card at Kroger, and pay taxes with your kids' Toys R Us card.

MindStalker		2006-12-02 12:51:56 PM

codasco704: I don't know man, walmart card are about equivenlent to cash. Its kinda like being paid in a foreign currency.

/Yea these arn't walmart cards.

//If the IRS let this slide I would totally let my employer replace a good percent of my paycheck with some grocery store card, and then save a lot in taxes... See the loophole there?

macdaddy357		2006-12-02 12:52:45 PM

Don't like this? Write to your Congressmen. They can change the law if enough people demand it. A law that says gifts worth, oh lets say, less than $200 are not taxable income would solve this problem.

Great Caesar's Toast		2006-12-02 12:56:33 PM

macdaddy357: Don't like this? Write to your Congressmen. They can change the law if enough people demand it. A law that says gifts worth, oh lets say, less than $200 are not taxable income would solve this problem.

Please shut up, thnx

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