I've had companies get around this with gift cards. I did a application-project and got a $300 amazon card (I think). This can come out of someone's general bud

I've had companies get around this with gift cards. I did a application-project and got a $300 amazon card (I think). This can come out of someone's general budget and doesn't need accounting to be involved, and can also (plausibly) treated as a "thank you" by the applicant, not income.