Successful Meetings - March 2009 - (Page 17)

racks, and other promotional material qualify, as long as they are to be used on the recipient’s business premises. Employee achievement awards are treated differently from business gifts and have separate legal requirements. An employee achievement award is defined as an item of “tangible personal property” that an employer gives to an employee for length of service or safety achievement. The award must be given as part of a meaningful presentation and under such conditions that it does not amount to disguised compensation. If certain other statutory conditions are met, an employer may deduct the cost up to $400 of employee achievement awards given to the same employee in any year. If the employee achievement awards are given under an employer’s qualified plan, the $400 deduction limitation is increased to $1,600 per employee, as long as the average cost per employee of all achievement awards does not exceed $400. If an award has nominal value, it is excluded from the calculation of the total amount of incentive awards given under established written plans in any year. Although the employer may deduct the cost of employee achievement awards, they are not taxable to the employee. A length of service award can be excluded from an employee’s income only if it is received by the employee after his first five years of service with the employer, and then only if the employee has not received another length of service award from his employer for at least five years. An award for safety achievement can be excluded from an employee’s income only if that employee is full-time, and then only if during the taxable year all other employee awards for safety achievement have previously been made to 10 percent or less of the employer’s eligible full-time employees. An employee achievement award can- not qualify for preferential tax treatment if it is in the form of cash or a gift certificate (other than a non-negotiable certificate that entitles the holder the right to receive tangible personal property only). Any certificate that may be converted to cash is not tangible personal property and cannot qualify for preferential tax treatment. Other items that are not tangible personal property include travel, vacations, meals, lodging, tickets to theater or sporting events, and stocks, bonds, or other securities. SM George B. Delta, Esq. is a general counsel to the Incentive Federation Inc. He can be reached at gdelta@garyreg.com or (703) 848-2828 We’ve Got all the Pieces. KNOXVILLE CONVENTION CENTER Puzzled about your next meeting location? The Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation, the Knoxville Convention Center and a host of complimentary services are the perfect “ﬁt” for your meeting needs. THE Contact Us Today About Your Next Event! SuccessfulMeetings.com I March 2009 I SM I 17 http://www.knoxville.org http://www.knoxville.org http://www.SuccessfulMeetings.com

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Successful Meetings - March 2009 Contents Editor's Letter News Update Education Management Matters Meetings Law Mouth for Sale Visionaries And the Award Goes to... Taking Green Initiatives to the Top Events of Presidential Proportion It's a Small World After All Places + Spaces Big Island Supplement-Insert NYC Metro Houston Oahu The Bahamas Memphis Passport

Successful Meetings - March 2009

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