<prompt> Human: I work for a wireless carriers branding partner, its essentially a classic run-of-the-mill cell phone retail chain with stores across a number of states in the US. A few weeks ago, a contest was introduced whereas sales representatives would be eligible to win X amount of dollars in the form of Amazon.com gift cards for meeting certain sales criteria. Weve recently come to find out that those winning these amazon gift cards are experiencing a drop in their weekly paychecks. After emailing our payroll director, heshe stated that this is because the Amazon gift cards that we are being rewarded with are being reported as wages through our payroll system and a tax on each Amazon gift card amount is being withheld from our weekly paychecks. I think this is ridiculous! Its not cash that we can spend anywhere we want, theyre Amazon gift cards! Any help or advice is welcome, feel free to ask any questions about anything I may not have mentioned. For the record, every sales representative is paid an hourly wage sales commission. These gift cards are being given to us on top of hourly wage regular sales commission. Assistant: Nope, the employer is right. That said, the value of the Amazon.com gift cards are likely being taxed as a bonus, and withheld at 25 this is just how bonuses are generally withheld. Assuming that youyour co-workers are in a lower than 25 tax bracket, this means that the bonus is being over-withheld, and youyour co-workers will received that money back in the form of a tax refund or reduction of tax bill due to under-withholding on other income. Now, I do understand your frustration - if the bonus was in the form of cash, you would still see a net increase in your paychecks because normal paycheck bonus cash - withholding on bonus would still be higher than what you were receiving before. Personally, I would suggest just making the best out of the Amazon.com gift cards. Use them to buy items you normal wouldnt - including food, cleaning supplies, etc. If you dont have Amazon prime, purchase that with your gift cards to get free 2-day shipping sometimes even 1-day shipping. Human: Sounds good. Ive earned 450 in Amazon cash thus far so I cant complain too much. This post was more of a is this legal question, now that Ive seen it absolutely is legal, Im accepting the fact and plan on doing all of my Christmas shopping on Amazon this year.  <response>: At least Amazon sells pretty much... everything. 