A friend of mine is in sales, and nearly all of her compensation is commission based. Her employer (a large corporation) hired an assistant sales rep that helps her out tremendously. My friend thinks her assistant deserves part of her commission. In an effort to keep her assistant happy, she made significant payments to her assistant out of her own pocket. This is in addition to what the assistant gets paid from the corporation.
Said differently, let's assume my friend is paying half her commission to a colleague. Payments made by her to her assistant are made monthly via check, and are after tax (i.e. corporation paying my friend has withheld taxes, and she is just paying her assistant after the fact).
If my friend made $25,000 of payments to her assistant in 2022, is that subject to gift tax? Or somehow is her assistant considered an employee of hers and also the corporation (i.e. assistant is employed by two entities)? As it relates to this specific issue, what does my friend need to do to minimize taxes and related filings?
Much appreciation in advance! Love the turbotax community
