FINRA Rule 3220 Explained: The $300 Gift Limit (Was $100), Retail Clients, and How Gifts Are Valued

We sell a $35 logo mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address, so we have a stake in gift rules. This page quotes FINRA and does not tell you what your firm may give.

Key facts (FINRA Rule 3220 and Regulatory Notice 26-05, re-read October 29, 2026 in the Internet Archive's June 2026 copies; finra.org refuses automated reading):

• The limit: no gift "in excess of $300 per individual per year" to "any person, principal, proprietor, employee, agent or representative of another person" where it "is in relation to the business of the employer of the recipient" (Rule 3220(a)).
• Since when: "The amendments will become effective on March 30, 2026." Before that, the limit was $100, in place since 1992 (Regulatory Notice 26-05; SEC order).
• Retail clients: the rule "does not apply to… gifts from a member or an associated person to individual retail customers" (Rule 3220.09).
• Valuation: "Gifts must be valued at cost, exclusive of tax and delivery charges" (Rule 3220.02).
• Gifts add up: a firm "must aggregate all gifts given by the member and each associated person of the member to a particular recipient over the course of the year" (Rule 3220.03).

Part of our gift rules and taxes section: every rule quoted from the source and dated.

What Is FINRA's Gift Limit in 2026? $300 Per Person Per Year

The rule's verb is give: "No member or person associated with a member shall, directly or indirectly, give or permit to be given".

"No member or person associated with a member shall, directly or indirectly, give or permit to be given anything of value, including gratuities, in excess of $300 per individual per year to any person, principal, proprietor, employee, agent or representative of another person where such payment or gratuity is in relation to the business of the employer of the recipient of the payment or gratuity. A gift of any kind is considered a gratuity."

FINRA Rule 3220(a), the version marked "Mar 30, 2026 onwards", in the Internet Archive's copy of June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

The sentence names who gives ("No member or person associated with a member"), who receives ("any person, principal, proprietor, employee, agent or representative of another person") and the link to business ("in relation to the business of the employer of the recipient"). FINRA's rule page also keeps the old text, under the tab "Dec 15, 2008 - Mar 29, 2026".

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

When Did FINRA's Gift Limit Change From $100 to $300?

On March 30, 2026. Regulatory Notice 26-05 says FINRA "has adopted amendments to FINRA Rule 3220 (Influencing or Rewarding Employees of Others) to increase the gift limit from $100 to $300 per person per year". On why: "This responds to past and ongoing inflation, including the inflation since the gift limit was last raised in 1992."

The SEC's approval order gives the steps between:

Why you still see $100. Pages written before the change still carry the old figure. A SmartAsset article (updated August 7, 2025) says: "FINRA has a set limit, restricting advisors from giving gifts in excess of $100 per client, per year – with some exceptions" (SmartAsset). The figure in Rule 3220(a) is now $300, and .09 speaks to "individual retail customers" (next section).

The amendments did more than change the number. Per RN 26-05, they also "incorporate and substantially codify current guidance and interpretations; and provide for exemptive relief", and "the amendments supersede such guidance and interpretations."

Does Rule 3220 Apply to Retail Clients? What .09 Says

"This Rule does not apply to gifts from a member to its own associated persons, or to gifts from a member or an associated person to individual retail customers."

FINRA Rule 3220, Supplementary Material .09, archived June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

RN 26-05 words it this way: "The Gifts Rule does not apply to gifts from a member or its associated persons to individuals who are not employees of an Institutional Customer, including individual retail customers." And the SEC's order records that "FINRA noted, however, that members may have policies and procedures that restrict or prohibit gifts to individual retail customers."

A recipient's own rules can be much lower than $300. A federal employee, for one, may accept unsolicited gifts of "$20 or less per source per occasion", and no more than "$50 in a calendar year" from any one person (5 CFR 2635.204); see gifts to government employees.

State insurance laws set gift caps of their own, some as low as $25 (the state texts are quoted on insurance agent client gifts). See also the advisor page, financial advisor client gifts.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

How Are Gifts Valued? Does Shipping Count?

"Gifts must be valued at cost, exclusive of tax and delivery charges" …

"If gifts are given to multiple recipients, members must record the names of each recipient and calculate and record the value of the gift on a pro rata per recipient basis, for purposes of ensuring compliance with the $300 limit in paragraph (a) of this Rule."

FINRA Rule 3220, Supplementary Material .02, archived June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

"Members must aggregate all gifts given by the member and each associated person of the member to a particular recipient over the course of the year for purposes of ensuring compliance with the $300 limit in paragraph (a) of this Rule. In addition, each member must state in its procedures whether it is aggregating all gifts given by the member and its associated persons on a calendar year, fiscal year, or on a rolling basis beginning with the first gift to any particular recipient."

FINRA Rule 3220, Supplementary Material .03, archived June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

What the two passages say, question by question:

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

Logo Items, Life Events and Bereavement: What .04, .05 and .06 Say

"(a) Gifts of a de minimis value (e.g., pens, notepads, or modest desk ornaments) or promotional items of nominal value that display the member's logo (e.g., umbrellas, tote bags, or shirts) are not subject to the restrictions in paragraph (a) of this Rule or the recordkeeping requirements in paragraph (c) of this Rule, provided that the value of the gift or promotional item is substantially below the $300 limit."

FINRA Rule 3220, Supplementary Material .06, archived June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

Supplementary Material .04 and .05, which come just before .06 in the rule, address two other kinds of gifts:

• Personal gifts (.04): the paragraph opens "Gifts that are given for infrequent life events (e.g., a wedding gift or a congratulatory gift for the birth of a child)" and then sets out the conditions for such a gift. Read it in full in the rule.
• Bereavement gifts (.05): "Bereavement gifts that are customary and reasonable are not considered to be in relation to the business of the employer …"

The rule gives no dollar figure for "substantially below the $300 limit".

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

What Records Does a Firm Keep?

"Subject to Supplementary Materials .04 through .07, a separate record of all payments or gratuities in any amount known to the member, the employment agreement referred to in paragraph (b) and any employment compensation paid as a result thereof shall be retained by the member for the period specified by SEA Rule 17a-4."

FINRA Rule 3220(c), archived June 29, 2026. Re-read October 29, 2026.

Note the words "in any amount" and the opening "Subject to Supplementary Materials .04 through .07". A gift log (our suggestion) has one row per recipient: name, employer, date, what was sent, its cost and how delivery was treated, and who sent it.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

Questions to Bring to Your Compliance Officer

1. Is this recipient an employee of an institutional customer or another firm, or an individual retail customer?
2. Does our firm aggregate by calendar year, fiscal year or on a rolling basis?
3. How do we value a gift bought at one delivered price, given "exclusive of tax and delivery charges"?
4. Has anyone else at our firm already given this person something this year?
5. Is this a logo item "substantially below the $300 limit", or a gift that counts toward it?
6. Does our firm's own policy limit gifts to individual retail customers?

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your firm's compliance officer) before you send.

What to Know Before You Order

• One delivered price. Each box is $35, delivered: the mug, the treats, the gift box, the card, the packing and the shipping, in one figure. We make no claim about how a firm values it under Rule 3220.
• Other rules. Some employers and industries cap the gifts their people may accept; the limits, quoted from their sources: client gift limits by industry. RESPA Section 8, quoted from Regulation X and the CFPB: RESPA Section 8 and gifts.
• The treats. LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels.
• Where we ship. The lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now. No Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, other US territories, APO/FPO or international. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out.

What Personalized Gifts Delivered Gives Your Gift Log

The gift log above starts with who got what, when, and what it cost. Personalized Gifts Delivered ships a logo mug gift box to each client's own address from one address list. When the boxes ship, you get one email with a spreadsheet of recipient, ship date, carrier, tracking number and $35 per box: one row per person, ready to copy into your firm's log, where you add the employer, the sender and how delivery was treated.

What's in the box and what the price includes: our FAQ. Each gift: an 11 oz white ceramic mug with your logo printed small, Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles, a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid, and your printed card, which greets its person by first name. You see the mug and every person's card before you pay. One box is a complete order, at $35 delivered whether you send 1 or 50, with no setup fee.