In a 2013 Technical Interpretation, CRA was questioned about door prizes received by all attendees at a company social function.
CRA commented that their tax-free $500 gifts and awards policy would apply to all attendees including the employee, the employee’s spouse, and all other non-arm’s length individuals that received a gift.
It was suggested that gift cards might be given as door prizes. CRA stated that these near cash gifts would not be included in the $500 gifts and awards policy. Instead, the near cash gifts would be taxable benefits to the employees. Additional details related to CRA’s gifts and awards policy are available at www.cra.gc.ca/gifts.
After graduating from the University of Calgary with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, Gerald joined KPMG (Formerly Thorne Riddell) as a Computer Accounting Customer Service representative. In this position, Gerald installed accounting systems in over 200 different small to medium sized companies over a 6 year span. In 1989, Gerald left KPMG to continue to work with small business clients in his own corporation installing computer accounting systems. While in this role, he was engaged by the DeVry Institute of Technology in Calgary to teach various courses. In time, Gerald moved up through the ranks of DeVry until he attained the position of Director of Finance for the Calgary Campus. He also acquired his Masters of Business Administration from City University of Seattle, Washington in 2001. Gerald’s career has always been focused on small business, accounting and education.
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.