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Employers will now be able to calculate the depreciation of vehicles — passenger cars, trucks and vans that they provide to employee as a fringe benefit — that they first put into service in calendar year 2012, since the IRS has released the new depreciation deduction limits. Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2012-23, released March 4, […]
Employers and “super commuters” — employees who live outside of the boundaries of the metropolitan area where they work — may wonder whether there are any tax breaks for someone who practically breaks their neck to get to their employer’s place of business. A recent study by the Rudin Center for Transportation at New York University […]
One of the keys to this determination is comparing the cost of providing the meals to the revenue the operation brings in. There are “direct” and “indirect” costs, the latter of which do not go toward the calculation of the cost-to-revenue ratio that determines whether you are providing a de minimis benefit (and therefore one […]
How can an employer best determine whether employer-provided meals qualify as de minimis fringe benefits under the federal tax code? The employer must take into account how frequently the meals or meal money are provided, either on an employee-by-employee basis, or on the basis of the work force as a whole. Then, how should an […]
Heads of federal agencies would have the authority to reimburse employees for the taxes imposed on reimbursements of travel or transportation expenses their domestic partners incur when accompanying them on a business trip, under a bill introduced in the U.S. House on Nov. 18 — the Domestic Partnership Benefits and Obligations Act (H.R. 3485). The […]
Many commuters may not know it, but the Transportation Security Agency (TSA) purview extends to passenger trains, even the light rail cars you may take to work. Next time the conductor looks at you funny, it might be that he or she is collecting “threat” data to transmit to the TSA. The TSA, that ubiquitous […]
Employers with fleets of vehicles can now determine the value of making them available for use in 2012, thanks to the IRS, which on Jan. 17 released the maximum vehicle values for use with the special valuation rules for employer-provided cars, trucks and vans in 2012. Revenue Procedure (Rev. Proc.) 2012-13, provides the new maximum […]
The airline industry is helping to shift more of the cost of business travel away from the booking phase — the stage at which costs can be managed most easily — to the trip itself when expenses are incurred on the fly. This creates challenges for corporate travel managers — and the federal government, which […]
In a recently released legal memorandum, the IRS said that meals provided to airline crewmembers while they are on duty aboard an aircraft are not excluded from the employees’ gross income as a de minimis fringe benefit because they were not provided at “eating facilities.” Although the value of the meals would be excludable from […]
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said that he was planning to introduce a bill to make permanent the parity between parking and transit tax breaks. Schumer argues that programs that make commuting less expensive should be protected, particularly in a time of economic hardship. The matter strikes close to home for Schumer, since his constituents include […]