Guidelines for rewards and gifts

Purpose and scope of guidelines

The purpose of these guidelines is to ensure a uniform practice for gifts and rewards to employees at UiO in accordance with regulations for gifts and rewards in employment. The guidelines apply to all UiO employees. The guidelines are commensurate with the rules for gifts and rewards in employment.

Tax exemption

• Gifts with a value not exceeding NOK 4 000 are exempt from taxation. This upper limit applies to the most common anniversaries, like birthdays (50, 60 and 70 years), marriage and retirement or resignation for other reasons after a minimum of 10 years of employment at UiO.
• Special rules apply for anniversaries related to length of service at UiO. For more information, see Assessment ABC and the topic "Gifts and contributions in employment relationships" (skatteetaten.no) (Norwegian).
• Prize rewards are taxable if there is such a close connection between the taxpayer's work/economic activity and the prize reward that it must be considered earned by the work/activity, cf. Taxation Act Section 5-10 letter a (lovdata.no) (Norwegian). This applies for example if the work or economic activity has been carried out to obtain the prize, e.g. at competitions or the like. Then the award is a predictable consequence of the work or the economic activity. Read more about taxation of prize rewards in Skatte-ABC (skatteetaten.no) (Norwegian).

UiO's gifts and profiling items

The University offers various gift and profiling items. Depending on local guidelines, these may be used to mark anniversaries of staff members. If possible, it is recommended to take the employees wishes into consideration when selecting the gift and event form.

Practical guidelines and financing

It is up to the faculties, departments and corresponding units to issue practical guidelines on how rewards and gifts should be administered. Means for rewards and gifts are part of the faculties' overall budget.

Note: Gift vouchers may not be used by local units as an incentive or thank-you gift to UiO staff for ordinary work contributions such as lectures/guest lectures, research dissemination or scientific publications.

Units with own guidelines

• Museum of Cultural History (Norwegian)
• Natural History Museum (Norwegian)

Which purposes warrant rewards?

Anniversaries

Funeral (current/previous staff members)

Wreath/flowers according to local custom. An equivalent amount may alternatively be donated to charity.

Special instances

The dean/museum director/director/head of department may, based on extraordinary reasons put forth by the department/union or others, assess rewards that are not covered by these guidelines. These must be presented to the University Director for approval.

Disposition of amount

It is up to the departments/units to decide what gifts they wish to award on which occasions. If the unit wishes to give a gift voucher or a travel stipend, this may be given in the form of an Universal Gift Voucher (presentkort.no) (Norwegian), a gift voucher from gavekorttorget.no (Norwegian) or a gift voucher from a travel agency etc. Cash payments are not allowed. Gift vouchers must be ordered by the affected unit directly from the provider.

Calculation of number of employment years

The same rules apply as for calculating public service seniority.

Storing gift vouchers

When storing purchased gift vouchers, it is the individual unit's responsibility to ensure that the cards are stored properly locked and that records of the receivers (amount, name and address) are kept so that distribution of gift vouchers can be traced.

Guidelines of 20 March, 2017, discussed with the unions on 9 March, 2017.