Compliance reference
California Gift Card Laws: Expiration, Fees and Escheatment
California merchants have two layers of gift card rules to satisfy: the federal CARD Act floor on expiration and fees, and whatever California adds on top — including any obligation to remit unredeemed balances to the state as unclaimed property.
Last verified: 2026-08-12
Not legal or accounting advice
This page is a plain-language summary for merchants, not legal or accounting advice. Statutes change, and the rules that apply to you depend on where your customers live, where you are incorporated and how your program is structured. Confirm your obligations with counsel or your accountant in every state where you sell cards before acting on anything here.
The federal CARD Act baseline
The federal CARD Act of 2009 requires that funds remain valid for at least five years from the date of purchase or last load, limits inactivity fees to cards unused for at least twelve months, and requires that any fees and expiration terms be clearly disclosed on the card or packaging. State law sets the floor higher in many places, and adds escheatment — the requirement to remit unclaimed balances to the state as unclaimed property.
What California adds on top
Below are the California-specific rules as summarised from the statute cited at the bottom of this page. Anything not yet checked against the primary source is left visibly marked rather than guessed at.
| Expiration | California gift certificates sold on or after January 1, 1997 generally may not contain an expiration date, subject to narrow statutory exceptions (Cal. Civ. Code § 1749.5). |
|---|---|
| Inactivity and service fees | Service fees on gift certificates are generally prohibited. [TODO: verify] — confirm the narrow statutory exception and its current conditions in the live text of Cal. Civ. Code § 1749.5. |
| Cash redemption | A gift certificate with a cash value of less than ten dollars is redeemable in cash for its cash value on the holder's request (Cal. Civ. Code § 1749.5(b)(2)). |
- California goes further than the federal five-year floor: purchased gift certificate value generally cannot carry an expiration date at all.
- The small-balance cash-out right is the operational detail most merchants miss. Train the register on it and make sure your POS can pay out a sub-ten-dollar remainder in cash.
- Because gift certificates sit outside California's unclaimed property reporting, breakage generally stays on your books as a liability decision rather than a remittance obligation. [TODO: verify] with your accountant for your specific structure.
Escheatment in California
Escheatment is the requirement to report and remit unclaimed balances to the state after a dormancy period. Which state applies is generally determined by the card owner's address and, absent that, by the issuer's state of incorporation — so this page can apply to you even if you are not based here.
| Escheatment required | No |
|---|---|
| Dormancy period | Not applicable — California does not treat gift certificates as reportable unclaimed property. |
| Percentage remitted | Not applicable. |
| Who it applies to | Issuers and merchants holding unredeemed balances sourced to California, typically by the owner's last known address and otherwise by the issuer's state of incorporation. Confirm your specific position with counsel. |
What records a merchant needs to keep
You cannot answer a dormancy question, or defend a position in an audit, without card-level history. Keep these regardless of which state you sell in.
- Card number, activation date and initial load amount for every card issued.
- Every subsequent load, redemption and adjustment, with date, amount and location.
- Current outstanding balance per card and the date of last customer-initiated activity.
- The address or state associated with the card owner where you captured one, because escheatment is generally sourced to the owner's address and otherwise to the issuer's state of incorporation.
- The terms printed on the card or carrier at the time of sale, including any disclosed fees or expiration language.
- Final balance and activity reports from any prior gift card provider you migrated away from.
Statute citation and primary source
Cal. Civ. Code §§ 1749.45–1749.6; Cal. Code Civ. Proc. § 1520.5
Last verified: 2026-08-12