Drunk gives gratuities at start of year (5)
I believe the answer is:
tipsy
'drunk' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'gratuities at start of year' is the wordplay.
'gratuities' becomes 'tips' ('tip' can be a synonym of 'gratuity').
'at' is a charade indicator (letters next to each other).
'start of year' becomes 'y'.
'tips'+'y'='TIPSY'
'gives' is the link.
(Other definitions for tipsy that I've seen before include "1 over 8" , "Slightly drunk" , "Inebriated" , "affected by drink" , "Woozy" .)