With April 15th looming on the horizon, it is important to find out all you can about the costs of gifts and how they can be written off as part of your business expenses. The Internal Revenue Service has a number of guidelines that you need to be aware of around tax time to get the maximum refund you and your business deserves.

The IRS has a limit on how much you can deduct for gifts. The limit is $25 per person for each tax year, and the gifts can either be given directly or indirectly. Now the trick is here to figure out what constitutes a person. If for example, you give a gift of a food buffet to members of the sales department of a company, those persons who received the gift are considered the recipients, and not the company as a whole.

If you give a gift to a family member of a customer, that gift will be considered an indirect gift to your customer. But, if you have a business relationship with that person and that gift is intended only for the family member, that rule does not apply.

If you and your spouse both give gifts to a person or a company, you are considered one tax paying entity. The same concept applies for people who are in business as a partnership. Costs such as custom engravings on gifts, wrapping costs, and mailing costs are not considered part of the $25 limit by the IRS.

Items that are under $4 in cost such as pens, tote bags, and golf balls can be excluded from the $25 total. Gifts such as tickets to an entertainment event are a bit more complicated. If you also attend the event it is considered an entertainment expense. If you do not attend the event it is considered either a gift expense or an entertainment expense, and you’d have to do some research to find out which is the more logical deduction for your individual case.

Use these as a guideline, and it is much less likely you’ll get that dreaded letter in the mail from the IRS notifying you that an audit is in order for your business.

-Pete

The title of this post may be a little misleading as what I’m about to presentwould be a great men’s gift idea for a ton of different occasions. Birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, you name it. However, we are entering wedding season and we have personalized groomsmen gifts on our mind!

Now, I’ve never been a huge proponent of the gift card. To me, its just cash that you can only use in one location. For example, a gift card to The Home Depot is basically a gift of money that you can only use at one store, The Home Depot. That being said, I have to change with the times and accept that gift cards are a hugely popular gift for men, women and children.

So here’s my gift idea. You have 6 groomsmen with 6 different interests, tastes and likes. How do you get them something that has a common theme without most of them being disappointed. Moreover, how do you get them personalized groomsmen gifts that will show you took the time to add a personal touch while still managing to get them all something they’ll use. Simple, a personalized money clip wallet with a gift card to their favorite store or restaurant!

For the builder, you get him a gift card to Lowes or The Home Depot. For the drinker, how about a gift card to TGIF or a local watering hole. Is one of your groomsmen a lover of fine cuisine, how about a gift card to a local watering hole? Whatever the venue of choice is for each of your buddies gift cards, tuck it neatly in a monogrammed leather wallet, money clip or money clip wallet. They’ll use the wallet/money clip forever and as long as you chose a gift card from a venue they love, they’re sure to get their use out of that too!

Or you can get them a football helmet they can eat popcorn out of. I’m sure they’d love that too. That’s called sarcasm.

-Pete

For some people on your list, the gift card seems like the perfect present, particularly for those folks who seem to have everything, or are magnificently picky.

There is research, however, which suggests gift cards can actually end up costing the
recipient money. Apparently, shoppers usually end up spending 140% of the face
value of their gift card, which means that someone who has received a $50 gift card
will probably end up spending $20 of his or her own money.

I think this research suggests you should ask yourself a few questions before
deciding on a gift card as a present:

1. Does the recipient usually stop at the store in question? If so, even though she
might spend extra cash on top of the gift card, she’ll still be saving money because
she’d be shopping there anyway.

2. Does the recipient have some extra cash to spend at the store in question? If the
person isn’t struggling financially, spending an extra 20 bucks isn’t going to hurt,
but if times are tight, you might not want to put him in a position where he might be
tempted to spend money he doesn’t have.

-Pete

We found this article in the The Ledger exploring the issue of Holiday gift exchanges at work. While the article doesn’t offer all that much in the way of answers, it does ask the right questions. Questions like:

• Do I have to buy gifts for everyone in the office?
  
• What is the etiquette on buying gifts for my boss?
  
• What if someone gives me a gift and I didn’t get one for them?

All great questions and important ones too. Gift giving in the office is a very delicate issue and one that you’ll want to handle thoughtfully and correctly. Us? We thank you can’t go wrong by spending just a few dollars and getting your co-workers personalized business card holders or desk accessories. Maybe we’re partial but that’s how we feel!

What are you thoughts on this issue?

-Pete

We found this article on Small Business Trends that lists seven great gifts for your customers, clients, coworkers and anyone else that you’re giving a business gift to.  Some notable gifts include business card holders, customized books, laptop stations and gift baskets.  All great ideas and sure to be appreciated by the recipient.

We feel that for business gifts,  personalized gifts are definitely the way to go.  While you’ll definitely want to put some thought into the gift itself, a personalized message on any gift will give it a special touch.   You can find relatively inexpensive items online from a variety of websites and often have the engraved for free.  (Word of advice; if you can’t have something engraved for free, move on to the next website).

Some other great business gift ideas include inspirational desktop sculptures, engraved pocket watches, flask gift sets and personalized clocks.  Put some thought into your business gifts and you’ll be rewarded with respect and gratitude from your peers and coworkers.

-Pete