Every November, businesses of every size sit down with a list of names. Yours might be a few clients who stuck with you, the realtor who keeps sending referrals, or the crew that showed up all year. It may also be a hundred clients and everyone on staff. Either way, you want to thank them without spending a week on it, and it’s worth knowing whether the business can write it off.
Here’s how it works in 2026, and why a bag of coffee fits the rules well.
Gifts to Clients and Customers: The $25 Rule
The IRS lets a business deduct up to $25 per person per year for gifts to clients, customers and referral partners. That limit was set in 1962 and hasn’t changed, so it still applies in 2026.
A few things worth knowing:
- It’s per person, not per order. An order of twenty bags can come to well over $300 and still be fully deductible, as long as each person’s gift is $25 or less.
- It doesn’t average out. If one client gets a $40 gift, only $25 of it counts, even if the rest of your gifts cost less.
- Packaging and shipping don’t count toward the $25.
- A gift to a client’s spouse or family counts toward that client’s $25. So does a gift sent to a company but meant for one person there.
- A bag of coffee counts as a gift. Packaged food or drink to take home is treated as a gift. Taking a client out for a meal falls under different rules.
That’s a big part of why coffee works so well here. A 12 oz bag of ours is $15.75 and a 1 LB bag is $19, so either one stays under the limit with room to spare.
Gifts to Your Employees
Employees fall under a simpler set of rules. A small holiday gift like a bag of coffee, a ham or a fruit basket is tax-free for your employee. The IRS calls that a de minimis fringe benefit, and there’s no set dollar limit. The gift just has to be small and occasional, which a bag of coffee easily is. The $25 limit for clients doesn’t apply here.
The catch is cash and gift cards. Those count as wages no matter how small they are, so they have to go through payroll. A bag of coffee doesn’t.
Why Coffee Makes a Good Business Gift
Most people drink it, it won’t end up collecting dust, and it’s easy to get right for a whole list of people at once. We start with specialty-grade beans and roast them by hand in small batches in Palmyra, Virginia, to bring out each coffee’s own flavor. It’s a gift that says you put some thought into it, and it comes from a veteran-owned, family-run business right here in Central Virginia.
Ordering Gifts for Your Business
- Pick a size. We have 12 oz and 1 LB bags, whole bean or ground for any brewer at no extra charge.
- Let us choose, or choose every bag yourself. If you’d rather not decide on every bag, tell us how many you need and we’ll put together a variety of light, medium and dark roasts. Medium makes up most of the mix because it suits the most people. Dark comes next, since plenty of coffee drinkers like it bold, and light rounds it out. If you’d rather pick the coffee for each person, that works too. Just put a coffee next to each name on your list.
- One address or many. If everything’s going to one address, you can order online, and any order of $50 or more ships free. If your list has different addresses, send us the names and addresses through our business gift request form, or email them to [email protected], and we’ll send back one total with shipping to each address included, plus an invoice you can pay online.
- A handwritten note in every box. We’ll gladly write a short holiday note in each one at no extra charge. If you’d like a personal message for a client or customer, add it next to their name on the list you send us.
- Christmas timing. Order by December 13th to have it there before Christmas. December 16th is the last day we can get it roasted and in the mail, but after the 13th we can’t promise it’ll arrive by Christmas.
- Want to talk it over first? Call or text us at 530-227-0864.
Your tax preparer knows your books, so check the details with them, especially if your gift list is long. We’ll make sure the coffee is worth giving!
Sources: IRS Publication 463, Gifts · IRS Publication 15-B, De Minimis Fringe Benefits