<prompt> Human: The other day our company went around passing out Christmas cards with a gift card in it. What a nice gesture right? Received my paycheck today and I have a deduction that says Gift Card for the same amount. Can they do that? I guess it is pre tax so they technically saved me some money, but the gift card was not for much. Not sure if this belongs in personal finance, but it seemed like a good place to start.Edit: It is not pre-tax. My paycheck only dropped about 13 of the cost of the gift card from last pay period.2nd Edit: It was posted on earnings then deducted and taxed like a bonus. Thanks reddit!  <response>: My company does it this way as well. What probably happened is they add to the amount of the gift card to your pay, and then deduct it. Net effect You get a gift card and your paycheck for that period goes down by tax rate x gift card amount because some law or another says that you have to pay tax on all money-equivalent gifts or some such. So instead of a 100 gift card, you really got a 100-tax rate gift card. Merry Christmas. Keep in mind its not the companys fault, its the governments. Hate the game not the player. 