It’s Christmas and even though times are tough, you could still get a gift from your employer or client or supplier, will it come with a tax bill attached?
The answer depends on the value.
HMRC Helpsheet 207 – Non-taxable payments or benefits for employees
The Helpsheet says, certain gifts from third parties are non-taxable if all these conditions are satisfied:
• the gift consists of goods or a voucher or token only capable of being used to obtain goods, and
• the person making the gift is not your employer or a person connected with your employer, and
• the gift is not made either in recognition of the performance of particular services in the course of your employment or in anticipation of particular services which are to be performed, and
• the gift has not been directly or indirectly procured by your employer or by a person connected with your employer, and
• the gift cost the donor £250 or less, and
• the total cost of all gifts made by the same donor to you, or to members of your family or household, during the tax year is £250 or less.
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/helpsheets/hs207.pdf
An employer may provide employees with a seasonal gift, such as a turkey, an ordinary bottle of wine or a box of chocolates at Christmas. All of these gifts can be treated as trivial benefits. . For an employer with a large number of employees the total cost of providing a gift to each employee may be considerable, but where the gift to each employee is a trivial benefit, this principle applies regardless of the total cost to the employer and the number of employees concerned. If a benefit is trivial it should not be included in a PSA (EIM21861).
http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/manuals/eimanual/EIM21863.htm
Will the employer or supplier or client have to account for VAT?
You do not have to account for VAT on business gifts made to the same person so long as the total cost of all the gifts does not exceed £50, excluding VAT, in any 12-month period. To check this it is acceptable for you to adopt any 12-month period that includes the day on which the gift is made.
But where the following apply:
- the total cost of business gifts given to the same person in any 12-month period exceeds £50
- you were entitled to claim the VAT on the purchase as input tax
you must normally account for output tax on the total cost value of all the gifts. How to work out the cost is explained in Notice 700, ‘The VAT Guide’.
steve@bicknells.net
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