Do you have to have or own a business to give free gift cards for a turkey or ham
Answers
Need more information here.
We as individuals are free to give anyone gifts of any sort that we might choose. There are gift/inheritance
If this is a local grocery store offering coupons to customers, well it's done all the time and, although there are technical taxable income possibilities, the reality is this is de minimus and no one is going to care.
If this is a consultant or other vendor to a business providing "gifts" to personnel at a client, then you are getting into procurement and conflict of interest issues.
If you mean is a gift card for a turkey or ham from an employer to an employee, then the IRC and the IRS as the enforcement agency sees this as additional compensation that must be reported. Gift cards are considered cash equivalents. Whereas if the company provides an actual turkey at Thanksgiving to all employees, you can get away without reporting on the de minimus fringe benefit concept.