The Federal Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (P.L. 115-97) signed into law on December 22, 2017 changed the taxability of some non-cash and other gifts and achievement awards provided to employees. If a gift or award (or portion of a gift or award) is taxable, applicable income tax withholding and FICA taxes will be deducted from the employee’s paycheck. See Understanding the Taxability of Employee Non-Cash Awards and Gifts for a summary of tax treatment by award/gift type, item and amount/value that you should use to determine if an award or gift given to an employee is taxable.

Departments who chose to present a taxable award or gift to an employee are required to submit the Taxable Employee Non-Cash Award or Gift Reporting Form. The form must be submitted within 30 days of the employee’s receipt of the taxable award or gift. This reporting form is required for all taxable employee awards or gifts regardless of whether the award or gift was purchased directly from a supplier using BearBuy or procurement card (P-card), reimbursed using MyExpense, or obtained using any other method. 

Although use of the form is preferred, you can also report taxable employee non-cash awards or gifts by sending an email to the Controller's Office at  [email protected] that contains all of the information required in the form.

See UC Policy G-41, Employee Non-Cash Awards and Other Gifts for definitions and more details including unallowable forms of gifts and awards, and additional requirements for certain forms of gifts. Note that UC Policy G-41 is currently in review and does not yet reflect the tax act changes. The next revision of UC Policy G-41 may include other changes in addition to those required by the tax act.