Avoid tax trap built into holiday gift cards for employees

In today’s inflationary economy, employees will probably be thrilled to receive gift cards redeemable for merchandise or—even better!—gasoline. Who wouldn’t like 25 or 50 extra bucks during the holidays? However, employees’ excitement may dim when they realize the value of those gift cards counts as taxable income. That’s because giving gift cards to employees is the plastic equivalent of giving them cash—and cash is always taxable.