Why did you bother asking since you clearly intend to do what you want to do regardless of the advice you get?
A mug is not fungible and therefore in itself not taxable unless the value exceeds a certain threshold (which I admit I do not remember and which has increased over time). If it did exceed that threshold, it would be imputed income. However, if you were to sell the mug on eBay, the income would be taxable. As you have noted in a different thread, you would choose to ignore the tax law and not report the payment from eBay. So why are you bothering to ask? Maybe you want to create a paper trail so that the IRS can find all of the money that you have failed to report. Remember, the internet is forever.
@johnb974 wrote:
@jgenad wrote:
The IRS considers any remuneration given for providing a service as taxable income (whether in the form of cash, check, gift card, etc.). The restaurant with the two initials in the name says that the gift certificate is reimbursement for your meal. So you should report the gift certificate as income, minus the cost of your meal. For example, I did this shop and paid a total of $52 for the meal plus tip. My total reported taxable income for the shop would be the $5 shop fee plus $48 (= 100 - 52) in gift certificate, i.e. $53.
If it's not on a 1099, I don't include it. I use to work for a company that gave us mugs on holidays, I wouldn't report those as income. That get ridiculous.
Shopping Southeast Pennsylvania, Delaware above the canal, and South Jersey since 2008