Pierce Mattie Public Relations New York & Los Angeles

Celebrity gifting has long been a part of award shows and new product launches in hopes of the famous using products for advertising. Every year I always hear about the gift baskets at the Oscars or the MTV awards and wondered - do they ever use any of it? I hope so! But, I've never wondered if the celebs get taxed on any of it. There's often thousands and thousands of dollars worth of products, services, and vacations in these big award show baskets and the celebrities get them for free. Now the IRS is hounding the stars down for all the taxable goodies they've received.

For all the past Oscar show gift bags, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will pay the taxes on all the giftings through 2005. But, starting at this year's Oscars, celebrities will have to report the value of any gifts received on their tax returns. Does that mean that celebrities will have to report products gifted to them from publicists?

Other celebrities have taken another route with their gift baskets. George Clooney donated last year's gift basket to United Way which helped them raise over $45,000. Guess he didn't need it after winning "Best Supporting Actor" for "Syriana."