Art of Accounting: Tax season staff appreciation gifts

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Tax season is almost over and you've made it this far, so congrats. Now is certainly not the time for me to write a column with lofty ideas for the future, so I am providing a few short tips for ways to show your appreciation to your staff in the closing days of tax season. Each is a way to thank your staff for their hard work. 

1. Send a plant or bouquet of flowers to their spouse or family with a thank-you note. 
2. Give your staff a generous gift certificate for a meal for two at an upscale restaurant they usually would not go to.
3. Give each staff person five crisp $100 dollar bills as a "gift" (and do not put it on their W-2 and do not deduct it).
4. Give your team a day to "chill out" by closing your firm on April 16.  
5. Arrange for an ice cream truck to be parked outside your office one afternoon and let everyone know about it and tell them they can also have their family come.
6. Give your staff a $100 or $200 credit to buy firm logo clothing of their choosing at a well-known vendor. The staff will appreciate this and each time they wear it, and they become a walking billboard for you. 

These are suggestions of showing appreciation and should not be in lieu of compensating anyone for their tax season work. The method of compensation should have been worked out long ago. These are not "cheap" or inconsequential costs. However, in the totality of tax season none of these is that costly, and I feel each is a good way to show appreciation. Also, anything you do should be done this week or on April 15 and not delayed beyond then.
A caveat is that once you start something like this, it likely would become expected in the following year. So what! Your business could not function without your staff working as hard as they do. Look at this as an investment, in addition to being a way to show appreciation and doing something unexpected and nice.

If you read this and feel your staff does not deserve anything extra, perhaps you need to start a serious introspective on your current staff and how you intend to move forward if they are not people you are appreciative of. That could wait until after April 15, like for April 16. This is your future.

Do not hesitate to contact me at emendlowitz@withum.com with your practice management questions or about engagements you might not be able to perform.