Are gifts for employees tax deductible?

employee gifts blog header

Do you like gifts?

And do you love treating others from time to time, to show you appreciate them?

Now, a bit more of a business-related question …

Do you also like saving yourself some VAT & tax?

What if I told you that you could do all of the above in one move?

Here’s how you can do it – Trivial Benefits.

 

Each of your employees, and directors, out of the goodness of HMRC’s hearts, can receive little gifts, up to the value of £50 per time, which are VAT & corporation tax deductible!

These little gems are known as ‘trivial benefits’ – but if you’ve ever received an expected box of brownies or bottle of wine in the post, you’ll know there’s nothing ‘trivial’ about it!

These little pick-me-ups throughout the year can be a great way to say thankyou to your staff, or to help you out along the way too.

Being HMRC, of course, there are some rules, but they’re not too complex;

  • Each ‘gift’ has to be less than £50 including VAT each time, and for directors, the total value throughout the year cannot exceed £300
  • It cannot be money, or any voucher that can be exchanged for money
  • It cannot be in lieu of pay, or anything considered a bonus, or commission, as per an employment contract

 

So, how can you do it?

 

Well, if you’re a director, essentially, you can pop some treats through the business throughout the year, and, provided they cost less than £50 a pop, and you provide us with the correct receipts, you can enjoy the VAT & tax savings too.

In terms of your staff, you could use this to send out end of year gifts, or periodic thank yous. Alternatively, you could arrange a staff night out, and, so long as the cost doesn’t exceed £50 per head for each person, this can be put through the business as a trivial benefit.

 

If you didn’t know about this, you can bet there are other nifty tax-saving tricks you didn’t know about either! Book in your Discovery Call with us today to see how we can help further!