# Client Gifts for CPA and Bookkeeping Firms: December or After April 15, Who Gets One, and the $25 Rule

A common pattern among CPA and bookkeeping firms on Reddit: a holiday card for every client and a gift for the top tier only; one firm says about 10% get one. December is the default; a gift timed for the week after April 15 skips the December pile. For attest clients, the AICPA test is "reasonable in the circumstances."

*We sell a $35 logo mug gift box, printed, packed and shipped to each person's address. This guide covers the other options too.*

**Key facts**
- **Personalized Gifts Delivered:** $35 per box, delivered, no minimum, each box shipped to its own address in the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now.
- **AICPA:** if a covered member offers an attest client a gift that is "not reasonable in the circumstances", the Code says "independence would be impaired" (ET 1.285.010.04, [AICPA Code of Professional Conduct](https://pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct/ethicsresources/et-cod.pdf)). It names no dollar amount.
- **IRS:** you can deduct no more than $25 per recipient per tax year, and a partnership and its partners are "treated as one taxpayer" ([IRS Publication 463](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463)).

This page is part of our guide to [client gifts by profession](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/professions).

## December or After April 15? When CPA Firms Send Client Gifts

We found no study comparing December client gifts with other timing; what follows is practitioners' experience.

The case against December is that everyone else sends then. A managed IT provider on [r/msp](https://www.reddit.com/r/msp/comments/jwq2p3/) (2020) moved the gift to July because clients "get SO much stuff in December from their other vendors/etc, it's hard to stand out." The commenter calls it "anecdotal", but reports "a *lot* more 'Thank you's'" in July than in December.

A tax practice has its own off-season moment: the week after April 15. For clients not on extension, a box that lands April 16–23 thanks them for the season they just went through with you.

| When it arrives | Why it works | Watch for |
|---|---|---|
| Thanksgiving week (Thanksgiving is Thu, Nov 26, 2026) | Arrives before the December rush; "thank you" fits the holiday | Order by Mon Nov 16 |
| Early to mid December | Expected; pairs with your holiday card | Crowded. [USPS](https://www.usps.com/holiday/holiday-shipping-dates.htm)'s recommended Ground Advantage send-by date is Dec 17; our order-by is Tue Dec 15 |
| First week of January | A "thank you for the year" after the rush | Lands as tax season starts. Order by Mon Dec 21 |
| April 16–23, 2027 | Thanks clients for the season just finished, away from the December pile | Chocolate and warm weather in the South and West (below) |

A split works too: a card in December and the box after April 15.

One caution for spring: "exposure to heat and humidity can cause the chocolate to bloom or melt," says [Lake Champlain Chocolates](https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/shipping-chocolate), which adds insulation and ice packs "during the summer months and year-round to warm weather destinations." The earlier in spring the box travels, the better for clients in the South and West.

## All Clients or the Top Tier? One Firm Cards Everyone and Treats About 10%

Accounting and bookkeeping threads describe the same structure:

- "We send all clients a holiday card and about 10% get a treat as well. We order Kringle and have it delivered to their home or office" ([r/Accounting](https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/1m1giwr/), 2025).
- Another firm's gifts are "definitely tiered based on client size. Range from card and chocolate to gifts worth thousands of dollars." It adds: "The chocolate always seems to be the biggest hit though." (same thread)

**Some clients read a big gift as a sign they're overpaying.** In an [r/Bookkeeping thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookkeeping/comments/1mkuug4/) (2025), one client wrote: "As a client, I actually don't like getting gifts because I think you're overcharging me." Further down the same thread: "a perceived expensive gift makes me question how much I'm spending." That commenter once got "a BUCKET of Lindt truffles" from a bank when applying for a business loan, and asked the bank to lower the fee and take the chocolate back. Four truffles in a box is a thank-you. A bucket is a line item.

How the firms in these threads tier, with the costs their posts give:

| Tier | Who | What they get | Cost, where a source gives one |
|---|---|---|---|
| A | Top clients by annual fees, plus the best referral sources | A gift and a personal card | A gift vendor on [r/Accounting](https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/1m1giwr/) says firm tiers "often range from $50–$150" (a vendor's figure) |
| B | Long-time clients below the cut | A card, sometimes a small shipped treat | One bookkeeper ships local candy: "the bags with shipping runs around $25" ([r/Bookkeeping](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookkeeping/comments/qgfvag/)) |
| C | Everyone else | A holiday card | A card and a stamp |

The tiers are a budget tool, not a rule: with no minimum, a box for every client is simple arithmetic (at $35 delivered, 40 clients come to $1,400). Inside a tier, send everyone the same gift and make the card personal (a Personalized Gifts Delivered card greets each client by first name): givers who shop for several people tend to "overindividuate" and pass up the gift recipients would like more ([Steffel & LeBoeuf, 2014](https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/publications/overindividuation-in-gift-giving-shopping-for-multiple-recipients/)). The full method: [which clients get a gift](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/client-gifts/which-clients-get-a-gift).

## Can a CPA Give a Gift to an Audit Client? The AICPA Test Is "Reasonable in the Circumstances"

The AICPA Code sets no dollar cap. The test appears in the Integrity and Objectivity Rule's gifts interpretation (ET 1.120.010) and, for attest clients, in the independence interpretation (ET 1.285.010).

> "Threats are at an acceptable level when gifts or entertainment are reasonable in the circumstances." The examples of relevant facts include "The cost or value of the gift or entertainment" and "The nature, frequency, and value of other gifts and entertainment offered or accepted" (ET 1.120.010.04).
>
> "If a covered member offers a gift or entertainment to an attest client that is not reasonable in the circumstances, the threat to the member's compliance with the 'Independence Rule' would not be at an acceptable level and could not be reduced to an acceptable level by the application of safeguards. Accordingly, independence would be impaired." (ET 1.285.010.04)
>
> Source: [AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (PDF)](https://pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct/ethicsresources/et-cod.pdf), updated through September 2026; read October 29, 2026.

What is reasonable for a given client is your independence or ethics partner's call. The client's own policy counts too: the Code presumes a member lacks integrity when a gift violates "the member's or client's policies or applicable laws, rules, and regulations" and the member "knows of the violation or demonstrates recklessness in not knowing" (ET 1.120.010.03). Financial, insurance and government clients' gift rules: [client gift limits by industry](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/gift-rules/client-gift-limits-by-industry).

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or check your state's version of the rule) before you send.

## The $25 Rule Your Clients Will Ask About (and Why Your Partners Share One $25)

Clients ask you about this rule for their own gifts. In the IRS's words, with its partnership line:

> "You can deduct no more than $25 for business gifts you give directly or indirectly to each person during your tax year." "If a partnership gives gifts, the partnership and the partners are treated as one taxpayer."
>
> "A cost is incidental only if it doesn't add substantial value to the gift. For example, the cost of gift wrapping is an incidental cost. However, the purchase of an ornamental basket for packaging fruit isn't an incidental cost if the value of the basket is substantial compared to the value of the fruit."
>
> Source: [IRS Publication 463](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463), for use in preparing 2025 returns; read October 29, 2026.

Whether a gift box counts as incidental packaging depends on the facts; that judgment belongs to your tax professional. Our walk-through quotes the publication line by line: [are client gifts tax deductible?](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/gift-rules/are-client-gifts-tax-deductible)

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or ask your tax professional) before you send.

## Referral Partners All Over the Country: Something That Ships, and FINRA's $300 Line

A tax practice's referral sources are attorneys, advisors and bankers, often in other cities. One preparer asked [r/taxpros](https://www.reddit.com/r/taxpros/comments/1k5af3i/) (2025) for gifts to "other professionals (CPAs, Financial Advisors, Lawyers…) who sent referrals" when "they are all over the nation so has to be something easily shipped". One reply pushed back on logos: "I strongly discourage sending branded stuff. That's not a thank you - that's marketing."

Another reply said financial advisors "can't accept a gift greater than $100 in value or they can be found in violation of Finra Rule 3220." Rule 3220 itself begins: "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 …", and FINRA raised the limit "from $100 to $300 per person per year", "effective on March 30, 2026" ([Rule 3220](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/3220); [Regulatory Notice 26-05](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/26-05)). An advisor's firm may have a gift policy of its own, so ask. More in [FINRA Rule 3220 explained](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/gift-rules/finra-rule-3220-gift-limit). Lawyers have their own rule on referral thank-yous: see [law firm client gifts](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/professions/law-firm-client-gifts).

Your own Code has a referral rule too:

> "Any member who accepts a referral fee for recommending or referring any service of a CPA to any person or entity or who pays a referral fee to obtain a client shall disclose such acceptance or payment to the client." (ET 1.520.001.04)
>
> Source: [AICPA Code of Professional Conduct (PDF)](https://pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct/ethicsresources/et-cod.pdf), updated through September 2026; read October 29, 2026.

Whether a thank-you gift counts as a "referral fee" is a question for your ethics partner, not for a gift seller.

This is information, not legal or tax advice. Check the current rule (or check your state's version of the rule) before you send.

## Can a Firm Pack and Ship Its Own Client Gifts?

Yes: a firm can assemble and ship client gift boxes itself, and by our estimate 25 logo mug gift boxes take about 9 hours of hands-on work (about 3½ of them packing, at about 8 minutes a box), plus a week or more waiting for supplies from about 8 separate orders. Per box, it comes out about even: about $38 with USPS counter postage and about $34 with commercial postage, with $1,192.84 paid up front for the mugs, the retail supply packs and 25 postage labels ([our DIY cost comparison](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/compare/diy-mug-gift-box-vs-ordering), prices as of Oct 29, 2026).

A mug packed without a foam collar can break at the handle and must be bought, packed and shipped again, and a typo on 25 printed cards means printing 25 again. With Personalized Gifts Delivered, you upload a logo, write one message and add one list. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address.

## What to Know Before You Order

- **Where we ship.** The lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now; no Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO or international. The order page flags any row we can't ship to, so you can fix it or take it out.
- **The treats.** LINDOR truffles contain milk, soy and barley malt (gluten); read the labels. More in our [allergy checklist](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/client-gifts/food-allergy-gift-checklist).
- **In April.** The black tissue in every box closes with a gold "Happy Holidays" seal sticker, and the truffles are chocolate (the heat note above); your card carries the season's words.
- **Gift limits.** Each box is $35, delivered. Some employers and industries cap the gifts their people may accept; the limits, quoted from their sources: [client gift limits by industry](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/gift-rules/client-gift-limits-by-industry).
- **One message and one sign-off per order,** greeting each client by first name. A firm whose partners each sign for their own clients places one order per partner; one box is a complete order.

## Where Personalized Gifts Delivered Fits for a CPA Firm's Top Tier

A tier-A list, some of it in other states, thanked in December or after April 15:

- **Each client's own address, from one list.** Put your tier-A list in the [client address spreadsheet template](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/how-it-works/client-address-spreadsheet-template), or paste it; each box ships on its own, with tracking.
- **One gift, finished:** your firm's logo printed small on an 11 oz white ceramic mug, Ghirardelli premium hot cocoa and 4 Lindt LINDOR milk chocolate truffles, in a matte-black gift box with a magnetic lid. Four truffles, not a bucket.
- **A card that greets each client by first name,** previewed before you pay. For example, signed "Mark": "Another April 15 behind us, {first name}. Thank you for trusting us with this season. Put your feet up; the cocoa is on us." More wording: [holiday card messages for clients](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/card-messages/holiday-messages-for-clients).
- **Discreet.** A plain white carton; the return address shows PersonalizedGiftsDelivered.com, not your firm, and your firm's name appears only on the card inside.
- **A record for your gift file.** When the boxes ship, one email brings a spreadsheet of recipient, ship date, carrier, tracking number and $35 per box, an itemized record of what each client got and when.

Add your logo (or type your website and we'll find it), or a photo or a few words for a personal gift; check the preview of your mug and card; add your address list; and pay $35 per box. We print, pack and ship each box to its own address. We ship from New York. Ships within 2 business days of a complete order (your design, your address list and payment). Ships by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, and usually arrives 2–5 business days after it ships. Delivery dates are carrier estimates, not guarantees, and run slower in mid-December.

That is the job our [logo mug gift box with Ghirardelli cocoa, Lindt truffles and a personal card](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/custom-logo-mug-gift-box) does: one box, one address, one card per client, no minimum. Tier-A list ready? [Start your order](https://personalizedgiftsdelivered.com/order): $35 per box, delivered.

## Frequently asked questions

### Should a CPA firm send client gifts in December or after April 15?

A CPA firm can send client gifts in December or after April 15: December is expected and crowded, and the week after April 15 thanks clients for the season, away from the December pile. A split works too (our suggestion): a card in December and the gift after April 15.

### Should every client get a gift, or only the top clients?

Accounting and bookkeeping firms on Reddit describe a holiday card for every client and a gift for the top tier only; one firm says about 10% of its clients get a treat. Some small clients read an expensive-looking gift as a sign they are overpaying. With no minimum, including every client is simple arithmetic: at $35 delivered, 40 clients come to $1,400.

### Can a CPA give a gift to an audit client?

The AICPA Code sets no dollar cap on a CPA's gift to an attest client: its test is whether the gift is "reasonable in the circumstances", and if it isn't, "independence would be impaired" (ET 1.285.010). Check with your firm's independence or ethics partner, and the client's own gift policy.

### How much of a client gift can a CPA firm deduct?

IRS Publication 463 caps the deduction at $25 per recipient per tax year, and a partnership and its partners count as one taxpayer. Whether gift packaging counts toward the $25 is a judgment for your tax professional.

### Who ships a CPA firm's client gifts to clients in other states?

Personalized Gifts Delivered ships a logo mug gift box to each client's own address anywhere in the lower 48 states and Washington, DC, except Texas for now, by USPS Ground Advantage or UPS Ground, with tracking, at $35 per box delivered, with no minimum. It does not ship to Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, APO/FPO addresses or outside the US.

## Sources

1. AICPA, [Code of Professional Conduct (PDF)](https://pub.aicpa.org/codeofconduct/ethicsresources/et-cod.pdf), ET 1.120.010, 1.285.010 and 1.520.001, updated through September 2026; read October 29, 2026.
2. IRS, [Publication 463](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p463), chapter 3 "Gifts", for use in preparing 2025 returns.
3. FINRA, [Rule 3220](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/rulebooks/finra-rules/3220), as in effect from March 30, 2026.
4. FINRA, [Regulatory Notice 26-05](https://www.finra.org/rules-guidance/notices/26-05), February 27, 2026.
5. USPS, [2026 holiday shipping dates](https://www.usps.com/holiday/holiday-shipping-dates.htm) (recommended send-by dates).
6. Steffel, M. & LeBoeuf, R. (2014), "Overindividuation in Gift Giving", *Journal of Consumer Research* 40(6), [profile](https://profiles.wustl.edu/en/publications/overindividuation-in-gift-giving-shopping-for-multiple-recipients/).
7. Lake Champlain Chocolates, [Shipping chocolate](https://www.lakechamplainchocolates.com/shipping-chocolate).
8. r/Accounting, thread on tiered client gifts, 2025: [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Accounting/comments/1m1giwr/).
9. r/Bookkeeping, thread on client gifts and perceived cost, 2025: [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookkeeping/comments/1mkuug4/).
10. r/Bookkeeping, thread on gift budgets for small clients, 2021: [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Bookkeeping/comments/qgfvag/).
11. r/taxpros, thread on gifts to referral sources, 2025: [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/taxpros/comments/1k5af3i/).
12. r/msp, thread on when to send client gifts, 2020: [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/msp/comments/jwq2p3/).