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Happy Holidays 2006

When is a gift a tip? Only IRS can say

By JONATHAN ABEL
Published December 16, 2006

Both cards arrived in my mailbox on the same day, three weeks before Christmas.

From my letter carrier, I got a wintry backcountry tableau with the carrier's name signed on the back. The "sanitation engineers" sent a white card with a red holly border wishing me happy holidays.

My first thought was to wonder why neither one of them had paid postage. My second thought was that the holiday season is truly upon us.

Whom to tip? How much? Why?

When Christmas comes around, everyone who does a service for you deserves some type of tip or gift - a little something, you know, for the effort. And for my money, cash always tastes better than cupcakes.

Karen Roman, owner of Heavenly Hair Designs in Spring Hill, said she gets everything from perfume and candy to little pins that say "My Favorite Stylist."

The size of the gift depends on how long she's been cutting your hair. For five years of faithful service, a customer might give her $20 to $40 dollars, she said.

And while your checkbook is out, don't forget to write one to Debbie Intrieri, owner of Clip & Trim Dog Grooming in Brooksville.

"Sometimes it's cash. Sometimes it's gifts. Sometimes it's candy or decorations," she said. "All different things." All things welcome.

Then there's your cleaning woman, your taxi driver, your in-house nurse, your handyman, your kid's favorite teacher, your exterminator, your painter, your mechanic... your librarian?

Get started with gift giving and it's hard to stop - harder still to tell what's too little, what's too much, what happens if you don't tip.

Will your St. Petersburg Times get thrown into a puddle every day for the next year if you stiff your paper carrier?

Somewhere in the madness, there must be rules.

Enter the legal minds from U.S. Postal Service headquarters in Washington, D.C.

In a recent e-mail to all outposts, cheerily titled "Simple Gifts Simplified: Know when to say, 'No, thank you!'" the Postal Service reminded its legions of carriers not to accept cash, money orders or stock. Yes, stock.

"Non-gifts," however, like cookies, coffee, soda and doughnuts are kosher, the e-mail says, as are gifts with "little intrinsic value" such as a plaque, cheap pen, mug or even "an elegant snow globe" - just what every mail carrier wants.

Also allowed are gift certificates to coffee shops, bookstores or department stores, though no gift, no matter what form, may exceed $20 in value.

The key, according to Hernando postmaster Bob Carleton, is that carriers are "absolutely not" allowed to solicit gratuities - even though some of them do.

In 28 years as part of the service, Carleton has seen letter carriers get cats, puppies, Beanie Babies, booze and other gifts. The office has already started to fill up with fruitcakes.

Carleton and his wife simply show their appreciation for their carrier by giving a Christmas ornament with a post office theme.

For the sanitation engineers at Waste Management, which contracts with Hernando County, the rules are different. They can accept gifts under $100, even though they cannot solicit them.

So for the sake of propriety, make sure you don't tape more than five Andrew Jacksons to your trash can - or 10 if you have two haulers.

Waste Management's spokeswoman in Houston, Lynn Brown, said she gives chocolate chip cookies. It's in the holiday spirit.

City of Brooksville garbage haulers, like all Brooksville employees, cannot accept anything worth more than $25, according to human resources director Ron Baker, not that this upper limit is always an issue.

Golf pro Reb Brown, who works at the Quarry Golf Course in Brooksville, said he didn't get a single tip last Christmas, though he did get some candy and snacks. But when he worked at a private course in Tampa, he would take in about $1,800 during the holidays.

Part of that's the difference between private and public courses, he said. Part of it has to do with Hernando County.

"People in Brooksville and Spring Hill are the cheapest people I've ever seen," he said.

Even when they do shell out, there's the question of "tips" vs. "gifts."

It's a distinction that might interest the carolers at the Internal Revenue Service, according to Brooksville bookkeeper Fran Vest.

When Vest does tax returns for her clients, she makes sure they report all of their tips as income. Gifts, on the other hand, are not taxable, she said.

Still, it's hard to know whether that gratuity you get at the end of the year is a tip or a gift.

"If a person is giving money to people who typically get tips," Vest said, "I think the IRS would be inclined to think it's taxable."

Which brings up another question: What do you give your IRS auditor for Christmas?

Jonathan Abel can be reached at jabel@sptimes.com or (352) 754-6114. Story tips only, please. Times policy prohibits all others.

[Last modified December 15, 2006, 20:45:21]