IRS Purchase of T-Shirts for Employees Contributing Certain Amounts to the Combined Federal Campaign

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS), Southeast Region, requested an advance decision on whether it should certify for payment a voucher for T-shirts for employees contributing certain amounts to the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). GAO held that: (1) IRS had no authority to use appropriated funds to purchase T-shirts for employees contributing to private charitable organizations through the CFC, since the personal items were not essential to the achievement of an authorized purpose; (2) the employees' decision to contribute to charity was a personal one, and was not related to official employment; and (3) IRS' recognition of its employees' contributions to the CFC under its Incentive Awards Program was inconsistent with the Government Employees' Incentive Awards Act and Office of Personnel Management regulations. Accordingly, the voucher could not be certified for payment.