Expecting A Year-End Bonus Or Gift From Your Employer? Here’s What You Need To Know - Forbes Expecting A Year-End Bonus Or Gift From Your Employer? Here’s What You Need To Know - Forbes Posted: 13 Dec 2019 12:00 AM PST Getty As December 31 creeps closer, some employees are wondering what Santa will leave in their payroll stockings. Visions of huge bonuses - like the $10 million in bonuses to be paid to the 198 employees of Baltimore-based St. John Properties - may be dancing in their heads. But statistically, most bonuses and gifts are modest, if at all. Still, a gift (or a bonus) is an excellent way to wrap up the year. But what does it mean for employees? If you receive a bonus or award from your employer - no matter how it's paid out (cash, jewelry, or Bitcoin) - you must report it as income in the year that it's received unless it's expressly excluded (like some stock options). If, however, your employer promises to pa...