PURPOSE:      

To provide guidelines and clarification for the appropriate payment of monetary prizes and   awards to employees for holiday gifts, employee achievement and/or recognition.

DEFINITION:

Taxable Gift -  any cash and cash equivalents including gift certificates (e.g. American Express, restaurant and store gift cards, movie tickets, tickets for sporting events, flowers, or similar items given as a gesture of goodwill, appreciation, or in recognition of, or in connection with a holiday season, or some other purpose not specifically related to regular job performance.  

Extraordinary performance or contribution - achievement that is outside the bounds of what is ordinarily expected in the position, examples include successful cost savings suggestions or effort, goal attainment, successful one time project completion or accomplishment.

De Minimis factors - any products or service that the cost of it is so small such as, University coffee mug, turkey, ham, or other item of nominal value at Christmas or other holidays.

Maximum Dollar Amount -   Awards to a single employee may not exceed a total of $1,000 (gross) in value, per employee, per fiscal year; $250 per quarter.

Eligible Employees:  All regular full time and part time University employees are eligible for cash and cash equivalent gifts and awards as described in this policy,

Frequency of Gifts - Cannot exceed one gift per quarter.

POLICY:

In accordance with federal tax laws and regulations, it is the policy of the University to properly report and withhold for tax purposes all gifts, prizes and awards made to employees. Therefore, gifts must be in the form of cash, paid through the DHRS (Payroll) System.

The University of Miami supports the recognition of outstanding employee contributions through the use of gifts, prizes and awards. This policy provides guidance regarding the tax implications of gifts, prizes and awards made to employees

All gifts and awards to employees are considered compensation subject to federal withholding and reporting on Form W-2 unless specifically exempted by the Internal Revenue Service.   A gift or award may be exempt from federal withholding and reporting if the gift/award is a long service or safety award. Gifts to employees in the form of gift cards, gift certificates are not permitted.

Non-cash promotional gift  items (with UM logos) are considered de minimis factors and are not subject to withholding and reporting but must   have a valid university   business purpose, and are subject to the policy restrictions above and to all University Purchasing and Business Expense policies. Other non-cash gifts are not permitted.

All requests will be reviewed by the applicable Human Resources Office and Payroll. Requests not in compliance with this policy will not be processed for payment.

All employee recognition awards, programs, or events are subject to audit, at any time, by the applicable Human Resources Office, Payroll, Internal Audit or external auditors from the state or federal government.

Gifts and awards in the form of cash and non-cash equivalents should not be used to compensate employees for their normal assignment, as compensation for a permanent change to job duties, nor as compensation for extra hours worked (in lieu of overtime or overload pay).                  

PROCEDURE:

Gift payments must be processed via an on-line DHRS document or Personnel Event Form (PEF) through the DHRS (Payroll) System.  Departments are only allowed to process UM logo non-cash gifts and awards through a Business Expense Report Form (BERF) with a valid business purpose. Pcard gift purchases are not allowed.