As an incentive for employee participation, departments occasionally hold raffles for door prizes or present gifts for employee participation in events and surveys. Employee prizes and gifts cannot be used to reward an employee for performance.

Prizes and gifts must be:

• Tangible, personal property
• Non-cash or non-cash equivalent (such as a non-negotiable gift card or gift certificate)
• $75 or less in cost

Approval: Department heads have the authority to approve transactions. A Signature Authorization form needs to be filed with Disbursements to provide the organization information for the approval authority.

Exceptions: Gifts and awards that exceed the per-person limit must be approved by the Director of Disbursements and Travel. See how to request an exception.

Taxability of awards and gifts: When UCSD policy is followed, non-cash awards and gifts are not taxable to the employee. See limits.

Funding sources: Use non-state and non-federal funds. For any non-state or non-federal funds used, the individual fund guidelines must allow prizes and incentive gift expenditures. If a fund's guidelines are more restrictive than UCSD policy, the fund policy prevails.

Payment: For either reimbursement or direct payment, please see How to Pay for Prizes and Other Gifts. For the purchase of gift cards for use on campus, see How to Pay for Various UCSD Gift Cards.

Note: Prizes provided by an outside vendor to an employee must be reported by the vendor on Form 1099 if the amount is $600 or more.

Questions? Contact Robin Posner.