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Business · client gifts · December

Year-end client gifts of wine: the calculation

Number of recipients, budget per gift, bottles per gift box: the total, the VAT you do or don't recover given the €73 threshold, the number of bottles and the order deadline. On your figures, without asking us anything.

A close-up of a glass of red wine on a festive table.
Photo: Leeloo The First / Pexels

The calculation

Price incl. VAT per gift, wine and gift box included. The VAT rule is assessed per recipient and per year: a client who receives two gifts in the year adds them together.

The December timetable

Before 15 NovemberChoice of wines and firm order. The sought-after vintages go first.
End of NovemberGift boxes, cards, personalised labels if you asked for them (on request, lead time to be confirmed).
1st – 10 DecemberGrouped delivery to you, or individual parcels sent out. The carriers are saturated after that.
After 15 DecemberA guideline, not a guarantee: what still goes out arrives, but nobody promises a date any more.

Is the VAT on a client gift recoverable?

Yes, if the value of the gift does not exceed €73 incl. VAT per recipient per year, postage included. This threshold has applied since 2021 and should be rechecked each year in the official public finance bulletin (BOFiP). Above it, the VAT (TVA) cannot be recovered on the whole gift, not just on the part that exceeds it. The calculator tells you which side you are on.

What budget per client gift?

Three tiers come up again and again: around €30 for a decent bottle in a sleeve, around €60 for two good bottles or a classified growth, over €100 for an old vintage or a case of six. The €73 threshold cuts the second tier in two, and that is where the question really arises.

And for employees, is it the same rule?

No. Gifts to employees fall under URSSAF (French social security), with a ceiling for exemption from contributions per employee and per event, different from the VAT threshold. That is another calculation, on another page to come. This page deals only with clients and partners.

What could you give that is more personal than a bottle?

A bottle that means something: the vintage from the year the client's company was founded, or yours. In Bordeaux, there are vintages still drinkable across fifty years, at prices that are not all crazy. The birth year vintage wine page shows which years are still drinking. For a Belgian client, a wine from a Belgian-owned château has a story to tell. For Chinese partners, Chinese New Year, at the end of January or early February, is the second gift season.

What moves the total

  • The gift box. A €6 sleeve on 40 gifts is €240. An €18 wooden case is €720. The wine inside doesn't change.
  • Individual delivery. One parcel per address costs more than the gift box. Group whatever can be grouped: clients in the same town, offices of the same group. The rates are on the delivery page.
  • The personalised label. Possible on request, with a minimum number of bottles and a lead time to be confirmed. Ask in October, not December.
  • The same wine for everyone. A single wine in quantity costs less than ten different wines. Two levels (clients, key accounts) are almost always enough.

If the gifts come with a party or New Year greetings, the wine for a corporate event page works out the quantities for the drinks.