I have a partial season package for Nationals baseball. When I can’t use the tickets, I give them to my staff. Is this in any way a business expense that I can legally claim on my taxes? I don’t need an answer fast, I’m just curious.
Ask your tax accountant.
But in general, any sort of entertainment expense is 50% deductible if you can document a business purpose and who was entertained and when.
Yeah, I plan on asking my account, but this will be for next year’s filing. I’m just curious if there is a clear answer. I can’t really claim that business is being discussed as I just give them to my staff in turn as they become available (well, I assume they talk about how awesome their boss is).
I don’t know the following to be true. It is logical, but sometimes that doesn’t have a lot to do with tax law.
If you use the tickets to entertain customers or clients, then that is a business expense and 50% deductible. That much I know. If you give the tickets to employees (who are not entertaining customers), then the expense may be deductible, but the value might also need to be reported as compensation to the employees. OTOH if you just let them use the ticket, then I assume it is neither deductible nor income.
That was my thought - business giving benefit to employee, it counts as their income. Presumably it’s an employee incentive, “good job, have some tickets!”, so it’s a legitimate expense on your part.
Season tickets (along with memberships, boxes, etc.) are much more limited as an expense. As a result there are some things that would be 50% deductible (if you bought individual tickets for employees) but probably not at all deductible with a season ticket involved.
This is an area where I tend to do a little research each time to make sure I’m navigating the specifics properly.
(Of course, you can always add the value of the ticket to the employees’ W-2 compensation, then deduct it that way. Employees never look at their pay stubs anyway; I say go for it and let them pay the tax. 
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I haven’t taken a tax law class in something like 14 years, but I’d be careful claiming it as a deduction. From the IRS website (in pertinent part):
(There are additional links in the text on the IRS website where they lay out the tests and exceptions.) Note that the entertainment expenses must be “both ordinary and necessary” to your business. The deduction appears to apply to expenses when you’re trying to get clients. They don’t appear to apply to gifts to employees. In addition, there has to be some connection between the expense and the conduct of business. So you can deduct it when you take your clients to ballgames, but only if you discuss business while at the game.
Again, this is just my seat of the pants analysis. As others have suggested, I’d ask your accountant, and trust him/her and not some blowhard on the internet (like me). 
Thanks, I’m not in a position to alter my staff’s W2, nor would I want to. I appreciate the answers though.
IANAA either, I don’t even have to worry about the IRS here, but…
I sense a difference between entertainment as something you and the client or employee participate in together (I take you out and we have a steak dinner and see a show or game) versus simply giving a cash-value item like tickets to your employees.
I read that as saying “you can’t deduct expenses to entertain employees” not “you can’t give employees tickets to events as a bonus”. So if you go along to the event, if you pay for the food and drinks for you and your employees, good luck calling it an expense. Give them the tickets, and the “taxable benefit for them and expense for you” seems logical.
OTOH, if you are splitting up a season ticket into “some games for you, some for me” then the IRS might get picky and say “it’s not just for employees, it’s for you too”.
I agree, the less you get the IRS involved, the better.
But then, even if you just give them to people, doesn’t the IRS have a gift tax for you poor overtaxed Americans?
Only if you give more than $14,000 to one individual in a calendar year, and even then, only if you give that individual over $5.25 million in your lifetime. That’s an awful lot of tickets.
The $5.25 million number is only $1 million in regards to gift tax specifically (the remainder being relevant to estate tax), and it’s a lifetime limit for the giver, not a per-recipient limit. (The $14,000 per year, on the other hand, is a per-recipient limit).
It sounds like you are their boss but not their employer, in which case I think you might have a difficult time construing this as a deductible expense on your personal tax return.
That aside, I think this would clearly be considered a gift, not an entertainment expense, since you aren’t going to the game with them. Here are the IRS rules for deducting the cost of gifts as a business expense.
Thanks, yeah, I’m their boss at a company that I do not own. I was just curious if I could declare any of the cost of the tix I give away.
Small business owner here…I would read that as a no. An “official” reward from the company would be an expense to the company not to you. If the company does not wish to pay for such perks then you are just giving them a gift.
I always ask my accountant, and I’m surprised by her answer about 50% of the time. I’ve also learned not to phrase my query, “Hey, can I get away with . . .” Apparently she’d like to keep up the facade.
As the 2013 tax year is coming to a close, I was looking for tax deduction info regarding my season ticket package - this is what I found out: First you must classify which type of deduction you wish to take. There are 3 types available. 1. Entertainment Expense (allows 50% of FACE VALUE with IRS conditions met- see IRS rules), 2. Gift of Entertainment (allows 50% deduction up to $25 per ticket per person during the year), or 3. Business Gift (allows 100% without the $25 cap ONLY when gifting tickets to a business/department and NOT to a specific individual - otherwise is subject to a $25 cap when an individual is specified). One of the greatest benefits of being a season ticket holder is that you buy tickets in bulk at a deep discount - getting them at cost - otherwise why buy them at all in advance if there is no monetary incentive…right? Since the IRS allows deductions based on the FACE VALUE, you would be receiving the greatest deductions off your ticket plan. Remember to keep a business journal/diary and receipts/used tickets to safe-proof an IRS audit.
Example: I am a small business owner who has a full season ticket package with a professional sports club. I attend all games with business clients and associates. Since I meet all of the IRS requirements, I would be allowed to deduct 50% of the face value with unlimited amount (“Entertainment Expense”). But at times when I don’t feel like attending a game, I simply give my tickets away to a chosen business (or department within) which allows me to deduct 100% of the value as a (“Business Gift”) without dollar limitation. And when I want to bless one of my clients by gifting them a night out with a spouse (“Gift of Entertainment”), I can give them a pair of tickets and deduct 50% of the face value (up to $25 per ticket per person). So, to me it makes more business sense to either attend a game to hopefully generate new business and take the 50% deduction off the highest ticket price or deduct the entire cost/value (100%) of the ticket by giving tickets away to businesses as a “memorable way to promote” my business.
For a more detailed explanation, “google”…How to Deduct Your Fun and download the pdf. Hope this helps! 
Although the previous post doesn’t explain the original poster’s question, however, it may serve as hope to finding that answer. 