I saw a gift for dentists on Amazon - a laser-etched crystal block that has a 3-D etched giant tooth diagram inside - and thought it would make a pretty gift for the dental clinic that I go to. Is there any sort of tax implication for them or me if I gift them something, as a patient? Are they allowed to take such gifts? It’s only worth about $25.
Given that every trip I have ever made to a dentist or doctor sees them using a blizzard of promotional medical company branded pens, staplers, stationery, freebies and junk, I suspect that they have reconciled whatever dilemmas their inner moral code had about gift acceptance.
Your tax rules will vary but a sensible tax code would provide for low value gifts [and $25 is pretty modest] to fly below their reporting radar. You never know, you might get a branded Jumbo Bacon-Flavoured Dental Floss Pack they happen to have lying around in return.
In the US, you can give any single recipient up to $16,000 this year without tax consequences.
There are other exclusion categories too. For example, you can give any amount to your spouse without it being taxed.
As to whether they are allowed to accept such gifts, that will depend on their employer’s rules. Government employees have very tight limits on what gifts they are allowed to accept, and large corporations might have similar rules. But if you’re talking about a small dental practice with half a dozen employees, I think they’re unlikely to have implemented such rules.