Best Corporate Christmas Gift Card For Employees In Ireland

~7min reading time – 19 August 2025

Christmas gift cards for employees in Ireland offer a tax-efficient way to show appreciation this festive season. With CleverCards, Irish businesses can send instant personalised Christmas rewards to employees.

December brings the magic of Christmas, along with the quiet pressure to find the perfect gift. Employers are as stressed to give something their team would appreciate and value.

Yet finding the perfect corporate Christmas gift feels like an impossible challenge. How do you pick something rewarding for a diverse team with different ages, backgrounds, and preferences while staying within budget?

Traditional corporate Christmas gifts often fall short of these expectations. Generic gifts like chocolates ignore dietary requirements. Wine excludes non-drinking employees for personal, religious, or health reasons. Branded merchandise frequently ends up unused.

The one-size-fit-all approach to gifting feels obligatory and not thoughtful, which is why more and more corporations are choosing corporate gift cards over traditional gifts.

Corporate Christmas gift cards are a clever gifting choice for employees. They are easy to source, simple to distribute and lets employees choose something they genuinely want. For Irish businesses, they also provide a significant tax advantage. Let's understand how.

Why Give Corporate Gift Cards For Christmas?

Corporate Christmas gift cards address the most common challenges an employer faces while choosing gifts for employees. It makes the gift feel personal and unique to each employee while being cost-efficient for the company.

1. Personalised Experience

While generic hampers may feel like the standard gifting choice, it is not what employees today want. Employees want the flexibility to choose their rewards. A survey revealed that 92% Irish employees prefer gift cards because they give them the flexibility to spend anywhere.

2. Less Admin Load

Christmas gifting is important, but for most HR teams, it’s not the top priority during a busy year-end. Yet, sourcing, purchasing, and distributing physical gifts can take far more time than expected. Research shows, HR staff spend up to 57% of their time on admin tasks like this. Gift cards, especially digital ones, streamline the entire process, making it easy to order and send gifts in bulk.

3. Tax-Advantage

No employer wants to add an extra tax burden to year-end gifting. Cash bonuses and physical gifts can attract additional tax, increasing the total cost. In Ireland, however, businesses enjoy a tax exemption on non-cash rewards like Gift Cards of €1,500 per employee every year.

4. Cost-efficient

With corporate gift cards, you control the exact value you spend per employee and avoid hidden costs like packaging, delivery, or wastage on unwanted items. This makes them a smarter, more budget-conscious way to reward your team without compromising on the perceived value of the gift.

Are Christmas Gift Cards For Employees Tax-Free In Ireland?

Yes, businesses in Ireland can send employees gift cards worth €1,500 completely tax-free each year under the Small Benefit Exemption Scheme. To qualify for this tax exemption, businesses must comply with certain rules, which include:

The gift must be a non-cash reward, such as gift cards or vouchers
It cannot be redeemed for cash, in part or in full
The total value must not exceed €1,500 per employee

Learn about the Small Benefit Exemption Scheme in this detailed guide.

How To Choose The Right Corporate Christmas Gift Card?

When selecting a Christmas gift card, look for something that offers the perfect balance between flexibility and practicality. Here are some things one should look for

1. Flexible option

Gift cards come in two types: open-loop and closed-loop. Open-loop cards are powered by network chains like Mastercard or Visa, and can be spent almost anywhere the network is accepted. Closed-loop cards are tied to a specific retailer or chain.

Choose open-loop cards powered by Mastercard or Visa networks rather than single-retailer cards. This ensures your gift works for every employee, regardless of their shopping preferences or location.

2. Digital delivery

Gift cards can be physical or digital. Physical cards involve shipping costs, delivery times, and manual distribution. Digital gift cards, on the other hand, can be ordered and delivered instantly, with the added benefits of being trackable, eco-friendly, and usable both online and in-store.

3. Easily trackable

Choose a gift card where the employee can easily track orders, deliveries and balance. This makes it simple to monitor usage and get clarity on spending. At the same time, employers should be able to see if the cards were delivered properly to all employees without additional administrative follow-ups.

Best Corporate Christmas Gift Card For Employees In Ireland

If you are looking for a gift card that is flexible for employees and scalable for your business, CleverCards offers the best corporate Christmas gift cards. CleverCards' gift cards are digital prepaid cards, which means they are pre-loaded with funds and are powered by Mastercards.

Employers can order CleverCards online in a few easy steps and deliver Christmas presents to employees instantly via email with a personalised message. Employees can further activate their gift cards by adding them to their Google Pay or Apple Pay and use them to spend at over 50 million merchants worldwide.

How To Send Christmas Gift Cards To Remote Employees?

With hybrid and remote work becoming the norm, physical gift cards are no longer a practical choice for businesses. CleverCards solves these problems with instant digital delivery, allowing you to send gift cards to remote employees, freelancers, and contractors anywhere in the world, within seconds.

Best Time To Order Corporate Christmas Gift Card

While CleverCards can be sent instantly, it is always best to plan ahead of time. The best time to order Christmas gift cards for your employees would be later in November or Early in December.

This gives you enough time to personalise messages and avoid last-minute rushes. If you still prefer your gift cards to arrive exactly on Christmas, CleverCards also lets you schedule delivery in advance, ensuring your gifts are delivered right on time for Christmas.

This Christmas, make employee gifting personal and unique. Fill out the form below to get started on your perfect gift.