Client gifts and VAT: 12 ideas and France's 73-euro rule

Client gifts and VAT: 12 ideas and France's 73-euro rule

The personalised client gift that sticks is the one still in use in March: an organic cotton cap, a heavy canvas tote bag, a tone-on-tone embroidered sweatshirt, an engraved insulated bottle. Here are 12 ideas from our catalogue: eight embroidered textile items from €7.66 to €60.42 excluding VAT each for 25 units on tknp.io (standard lead time; our gift prices, checked on 21 October 2026, are for guidance only), all under France's tax threshold of 73 euros including VAT (prices before shipping), and four objects on quote.

The essentials in 4 points:

• A client keeps a gift that is useful and beautiful, and forgets one that looks like an ad: the logo stays discreet, embroidered tone on tone.
• You don't know your clients' sizes: start with what has none (cap, beanie, tote bag, towel, objects).
• In France, the VAT on a client gift can be recovered if its value does not exceed 73 euros including VAT per year and per recipient, packaging and shipping included.
• All prices in this list include the marking: the product and an 8 × 10 cm embroidery (on the chest for garments), a single position, most affordable colour; these embroidered gifts are priced for standard sizes and the standard lead time, for 25 items, excluding VAT and shipping, for guidance only (tknp.io product pages, checked for this gift list on 21 October 2026).

In December, a client often receives several gifts from their suppliers. They eat some, put others away, and by January they no longer remember who sent what. Except for one thing: the object they found nice enough to use.

That is the whole point of a business gift. Not a thank-you for form's sake, but a quiet place in the person's life for months. A well-chosen garment or object gets there. A food hamper never lasts beyond the holidays. (For your employees, the logic flips and the logo can show: our guide for employees covers it.)

12 client gift ideas, sorted by how safe they are

A personalised, embroidered client gift from this list costs from €7.66 excluding VAT per item (Beechfield's Earthaware cap) to €60.42 excluding VAT (Stanley/Stella's Puffer Gilet 2.0), marking included, for an order of 25. The first eight ideas are textile garments and accessories, with our prices taken from tknp.io on 21 October 2026: unit price excluding VAT and shipping, for 25 items, an 8 × 10 cm embroidery (on the chest for garments), a single position, most affordable colour, standard lead time. On the tote bag, sweatshirt, shirt and hoodie pages, some colours (and, for the garments, the larger sizes) cost a little more. These prices, for guidance only, may change: each page always shows the price of the day. The last four ideas are objects, priced on quote.

No size needed: the risk-free choice

1. The organic cotton cap: Beechfield's Earthaware Organic Cotton Studio Cap, €7.66 excluding VAT. Adjustable, it fits everyone, and a small embroidery on the front is all it needs.
2. The heavy canvas tote bag: Westford Mill's Gallery Canvas Tote, in 407 g/m² canvas, €8.42 excluding VAT. Sturdy enough for the weekly shop, understated enough for the office.
3. The ribbed beanie, 90% organic cotton: Stanley/Stella's Rib Beanie 2.0, €12.99 excluding VAT. Given in December, it gets worn the next day.
4. The organic cotton bath towel: The One Towelling's Organic Bath Towel, 550 g/m², €15.40 excluding VAT. The gift nobody expects from a supplier, and it ends up in the bathroom rather than in a drawer.

Sized garments: for the clients you know well

5. The heavy crewneck sweatshirt: Stanley/Stella's Radder 2.0, 350 g/m², 100% organic cotton, €31.12 excluding VAT. Dense and understated, it goes from the office to the weekend.
6. The denim shirt: the Stanley Denim Shirt, in organic cotton, €32.74 excluding VAT. A garment nobody associates with a supplier, especially with a logo embroidered in the colour of the fabric.
7. The zip hoodie: Stanley/Stella's Cultivator 2.0, 350 g/m², visible metal zip, €37.67 excluding VAT. Smarter than a classic hoodie, it works in a client meeting.
8. The puffer gilet: Stanley/Stella's Puffer Gilet 2.0, in recycled nylon, €60.42 excluding VAT. The most upscale gift on the list, for your very best clients.

Objects: when a garment doesn't suit the relationship

9. The insulated stainless steel bottle, laser engraved: see the mugs and bottles family.
10. The scented candle, in its glass holder: see the home and wellbeing family.
11. The umbrella, for clients who walk between meetings: see the umbrellas family.
12. The notebook, for those who still write by hand in meetings: see the office and writing family.

Object or garment: how to choose

Choose a garment when you know the client well enough to know what they will wear, and an object when the relationship is newer or more formal. A useful object raises no question of size or personal style, which makes it the most neutral choice. For a seminar, on the other hand, you can ask each attendee their size, and the garment becomes the natural choice again: see our seminar merch ideas.

The objects section of tknp.io lists 2,349 products across 13 families (as of 21 October 2026), marked by pad printing, laser engraving or printing depending on the material. Unlike the garments, they have no listed price: they are priced on quote.

Client gifts and VAT: France's 73-euro rule

In France, the VAT on a client gift can only be recovered if its value does not exceed 73 euros including VAT, per year and per recipient. This rule is French: it is the exception to a simple principle, under which VAT on goods given away is not deductible, even when the gift serves the business. Above the threshold, the gift is still allowed, but its VAT stays a cost to you. (Sources: the French General Tax Code and the French Ministry of the Economy's guidance published on 27 November 2025, rules in force in October 2026.)

What exactly the 73 euros count

For the threshold of 73 euros including VAT that allows the VAT on a client gift to be recovered in France, the Bulletin officiel des finances publiques, the official guidance of the French tax authorities, adds three points:

• the value taken into account is your purchase price including VAT, packaging and shipping costs you pay included;
• a gift box combining several items, a cap and a tote bag for example, counts at its total value;
• gifts given to the same person during the year add up.

A French business under the VAT franchise scheme (franchise en base), a micro-entrepreneur for example, cannot recover the VAT on its purchases anyway.

Above 73 euros, deduction from profits remains possible

In France, for tax on profits, the rule changes and sets no ceiling. A business gift is deductible from taxable profits if it falls within the normal management of the company: its value must not be excessive given the size, turnover and customs of the trade, and no law may prohibit its distribution. In a tax audit, the authorities can add the expense back to profits if its value is clearly excessive, or if the company cannot prove that the gift serves its interests and its business.

The overheads statement, above 3,000 euros

In France, if all your gifts together exceed 3,000 euros over the financial year, they must be declared on the overheads statement (relevé des frais généraux) filed with the tax return: form 2067-SD for a company, a section of appendix 2031 bis-SD for a sole trader taxed on actual profits. Micro-entrepreneurs have no statement to file and no gifts to declare.

Items specially designed for advertising, worth no more than 73 euros including VAT per recipient, do not count towards those 3,000 euros. For the French tax authorities, such an item in principle bears the name or company name of the business giving it, visibly, indelibly and legibly in normal use. Does a tone-on-tone embroidered logo, discreet by design, meet that condition? That question is for your accountant.

Account 6234 and the paperwork to keep

In French accounting, client gifts have their own account in the general chart of accounts (plan comptable général): 6234, among advertising and public relations expenses. To recover the VAT, keep the invoice, which must show the rate and amount of the tax. For tax on profits, keep evidence that the gift serves the company's interests. And since the 73 euros are counted per recipient, a list of who received what is how you check the threshold. Your accountant will advise on your own case.

Our embroidered garments against the threshold

On tknp.io, for 25 embroidered items, our eight textile ideas all cost less than 73 euros including VAT, shipping not included. These prices come from our product pages, read on 21 October 2026: they exclude VAT and shipping and are given for guidance only, for an 8 × 10 cm embroidery placed in one spot (on the chest for garments), at the standard lead time, in standard sizes and for the most affordable colour. The price including VAT adds French VAT at 20%.

A word of honesty about the Puffer Gilet 2.0: embroidered, for 25 items, it comes to 72.50 euros including VAT before shipping, 0.50 euros below the threshold. Since the shipping costs you pay count towards the value of the gift, it goes over 73 euros as soon as its share of the delivery exceeds 0.50 euros including VAT. For 10 items, its price grid shows €63.34 excluding VAT, i.e. €76.01 including VAT: above the threshold even before shipping. If recovering the VAT matters to you, the Cultivator 2.0 zip hoodie, at 45.20 euros including VAT, leaves far more headroom.

In Belgium and Switzerland

In Belgium, the VAT and tax rules on business gifts are not those of France: the SPF Finances, the Belgian federal tax administration, or your accountant will tell you which apply to your business.

In Switzerland, the federal VAT Act presumes a business reason for gifts worth up to 500 francs per person per year, as well as for advertising gifts and samples given with a view to generating turnover (article 31). The VAT deducted on those gifts therefore does not have to be corrected. Above that, the Swiss Federal Tax Administration or your fiduciary will tell you where you stand.

Where to put the logo on a client gift

On a client gift, the logo is embroidered small, on the chest, ideally tone on tone: a thread the same colour as the fabric, visible up close and invisible from a distance. That is the difference between a garment your client wears and an advertising item they put away.

The reason is simple. Your client has no reason to wear your colours: it isn't their company, nor their team's merch. They will wear a beautiful sweatshirt where your name can be made out, not one that announces your brand in the street. Our photos of this discreet finish show how it looks on different fabric colours.

Online, the marking goes on the chest or the back. For a client gift, forget the back: a large design turns any garment into team wear. Other logo positions are available on quote.

The size problem when you give to clients

You don't know your clients' sizes, and you can't ask without spoiling the surprise. That is why the no-size ideas (adjustable cap, beanie, tote bag, towel, objects) are the safest choice for a broad client list.

Sized garments still have their place, but for a handful of close clients: the ones you see often, whose build you know, or whom you can simply ask. For them, a sweatshirt or a shirt says far more than an accessory. A mix works very well: the accessory for everyone, the garment for the ten clients who matter most.

How many to order, and when

Each marked textile garment or accessory can be ordered from 10 items per model, with mixed sizes and colours. For a client gift, that's the right format: a few dozen chosen people, not a mass giveaway.

At the standard lead time, allow 10 working days for the order to be customised and shipped, on top of picking the products and approving the artwork. To hand out your gifts before the holidays, decide in early November: the detailed backward plan applies to clients too. Planning ahead even has a measurable benefit: on product pages such as the Cultivator 2.0's, a 4-week production time lowers the price by 5%, and a 1-week production time raises it by 10%.

The end of the year isn't the only moment, either. A gift sent when a contract is signed, on the anniversary of a partnership or after a big project surprises more, precisely because it doesn't arrive alongside all the others. A trade show offers another opportunity: a client who stops by your stand can leave with their gift, handed over in person after the meeting, as our trade show merch guide explains.

Compare two versions of your gift before ordering

The safest way to choose between a beanie and a sweatshirt, or between a tone-on-tone logo and a contrasting one, is to see them side by side. In the online designer, prepare both versions of the same gift, show them to whoever knows your clients best, and keep the one that looks least like an ad. The tool is free, and it suggests the marking according to your logo and order size; it is walked through step by step here.

For a client gift, the winning version is often the most understated: a single thread colour, close to that of the fabric. The reasons, for the look as well as the budget, are explained in our article on the clothing brand logo.

Key takeaways

• A successful client gift is useful and beautiful, with a discreet embroidered logo: it is still in use come spring.
• Without knowing sizes, start with the cap, beanie, tote bag, towel or an object; keep sized garments for your close clients.
• For the eight textile ideas on this list, allow €7.66 to €60.42 excluding VAT per item on tknp.io, 8 × 10 cm embroidery included in a single position, in the most affordable colour and with the standard lead time, for 25 items (for guidance only, from our product pages checked for this list on 21 October 2026), and, in France, stay under 73 euros including VAT per client per year, shipping included, if you want to recover the VAT; above that, the gift remains deductible from profits if it falls within the company's normal management.