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ICACW BEST BEST & KMEGER 3 ATTORNEYS AT LAW Under the law, an employee who receives a gift may also return it, pay for it, or donate it to charity or a government agency. This should also be documented. In either case, while creating a paper trail or record is not necessarily a legal requirement, it is a recommended "best practice" and will help to demonstrate that there was no intent to use any gift for personal use, protecting employees from potential violations of the Political Reform Act. Unless these types of gifts are to be utilized for a business purpose, there is no need for the agency to complete any of the FPPC 800 series forms for reporting gifts to the agency. Here is a step-by-step guide Step 1: Determine to whom the gift is addressed: • If the gift is addressed to the agency, or a department of the agency, then the gift does not belong to any individual. It should be referred to management. Management will determine its use. If the gift is put in employee areas for sharing, then no employee should take the gift or $50 or more in value from the gift. Employees should not keep gifts that are made to the agency. • If the gift is addressed to an employee personally, then the employee is the recipient and must decide what to do. Go to Step 2. Step 2: Determine the value of the gift: • If the gift is valued at less than $50, the employee may keep the gift and may not have to report it on the Form 700 if the employee received no other gifts from the same source that would total $50 or more during the calendar year. (Most gift baskets will have a value of more than $50.) • If the gift is valued at $50 or more, the employee may keep the gift if permitted by agency policy, but must report it on the Form 700 if from a reportable source of the employee. • If the gift is valued at over $460, then the value exceeds the annual gift limit under state law and, if from a reportable source, the employee has 30 days to take corrective action to pay the difference between the value of the gift and the $460 gift limit, or more, or other actions described in Step 3. 2 93939.0020E\22607484.3