Gifts Given

As a dynamic institution of higher education, RIT engages with its community of faculty, staff, students, families, and guests in many ways.  In some interactions, RIT may provide monetary, tangible, and intangible gifts to our community members.  While these “gifts given” are typically small, there may be tax reporting requirements based on the type, value, and frequency of the gift, in addition to the tax profile of the recipient.

While there are many opportunities for the university to provide a gift to a community member, here are some of the most common examples:

• Contest Prize
• Achievement Award
• Length of Service Award
• Retirement Gift
• Employee Recognition
• Raffle
• Program Award
• Volunteer Recognition
• Survey / Research Participation
• Required Early Move-In
• Visiting Professors / Researchers
• Orientation

A gift from the University to a community member can take many forms, here are some of the most common examples:

• RIT Dining Dollars
• RIT Tiger Bucks
• Amazon Gift Cards
• Other Gift Cards / Gift Certificates
• RIT Housing Benefits
• RIT Parking Benefits
• Event Tickets
• RIT Branded Items
• Apparel / Housewares
• Electronics / Software
• Flowers
• Baskets

Generally, under the provisions of Internal Revenue Code §61, gross income is defined as any accession to wealth less applicable exceptions and exclusions.  Accordingly, gifts given by RIT to the community are covered by these same provisions, exceptions, and exclusions.

Amounts that are determined to be taxable income to the recipient  will be reported to the IRS and the recipient on Form W-2 for employees, Form 1099 for non-employees, and Form 1042-S for nonresident aliens. RIT’s Tax Department is responsible for the collection, analysis, determination, and required reporting of gifts given by RIT to the community.

Based on the nature, intent, form, quantity, and frequency of gifts given at RIT, the Tax Department has adopted the following reporting guidelines:

• Only gifts exceeding a fair market value of $100 are to be reported to the Tax Department.  That applies to all gift reasons, gift types, and gift recipients.
• For items with a stated monetary value such as RIT Dining Dollars, RIT Tiger Bucks, and cash and cash equivalents, the fair market value and the cost are the same.
• For tangible items such as flowers, books, plaques, RIT apparel, event tickets, etc., the fair market value is the amount by which an item would sell on the open market, assuming a willing buyer and a willing seller, neither under pressure to act, and both possessing reasonable knowledge of relevant facts.  This is particularly important for tangible gifts like RIT branded items, whose cost (materials plus branding,) is likely different than the fair market value to a recipient outside of the RIT community.
• Like tangible items, intangible items such as housing and parking may also have a different cost and fair market value.
• Gifts to nonresident aliens are subject to withholding at a rate of up to 30%.

With the onboarding of the of Tax Department to the RIT Service Center, all gifts given reporting is now processed via RSC requests.  Submissions of gifts given information by any other medium or method are no longer accepted.

Note:  Any gifts given that have been initiated through the RSC’s Dining Funds Request, DO NOT need to be reported to the Tax Department. These gifts are already captured in the Dining Funds Request process.

There are two ways to submit gifts given information through the RSC:

1. Completing the request manually.
2. Uploading a spreadsheet to the request.

To help users choose the most appropriate method, the RSC provides a Gifts Given Order Guide. Please use the link below to submit your gifts given data to the Tax Department.