Business Expense Gift
February 19th, 2007
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Question: Gift cards and taxes?
Hi. I kinda fell into a side gig unrelated to my current work. I am already self-employed. I was willing to do the work for free, but the person whom I’m doing the work for wants to pay me money. I don’t really want to add more income onto my self-employment taxes so I’ve asked them for a gift card(s) instead. Do I have to claim income from a gift card? Is there a limit to the amount the gift card can be? Can they still deduct the gift card as a business expense when doing their taxes? The “work” would be regular so could they continue to “pay” me with gift cards throughout the year?
Would it make a difference if the gift card was from a family member? She approached me to do a favor, I told I would. She asked me how much and I told her I’d do it for free. I did the work but now she insists on paying me. I’d rather get a gift card as a thank you vs having to claim the income. Oh well.
Answer: A gift card, or anything else of value, that you receive in return for work is treated as income. If they just took you out to dinner or something though, you could probably just ignore it as income.
Bernie's Files For Bankruptcy
Bernie's, the 15-store electronics and appliance chain based in Enfield founded in 1947, filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy today.
No Competition (TurboTax Rap)--see also "Y.O."
Posted in 
Tags: