Imposto de benefício adicional sobre opções de ações

Lembre-se de pagar imposto sobre opções de ações.

Melhores histórias.

Um ESOP é uma ferramenta eficaz para atrair, motivar, reter e recompensar funcionários leais. Dado o ambiente de competição acirrada, os prêmios em ações surgiram como a ferramenta mais eficaz para sinergizar os interesses dos empregados e do empregador.

Os ESOPs tendem a fomentar uma cultura corporativa onde os funcionários motivados trabalham de forma mais produtiva e, portanto, pretendem promover os objetivos de negócios de uma empresa. As variantes de prêmios de ações que são populares entre os empregadores incluem opções de ações do empregado, planos de compra de ações do funcionário, unidades de estoque restritas, direitos de valorização de ações etc.

A partir de 1º de abril de 2007, a tributação da receita de opções de compra de ações foi incorporada ao âmbito do “Imposto sobre benefícios indiretos” (FBT). Isso mudou o peso do imposto sobre os ESOPs no empregador. Embora a lei permitisse que os empregadores recuperassem o FBT dos funcionários, essa cobrança resultaria em aumento na carga de conformidade do empregador. O valor dos benefícios adicionais foi o Valor Justo de Mercado (FMV) das ações especificadas de valor mobiliário / sweat na data de aquisição da opção, reduzidas pelo valor efetivamente pago ou recuperado do empregado.

Após 2 anos, o Imposto sobre Benefícios Fringe foi abolido a partir de 1º de abril de 2009. Consequentemente, a taxação dos ESOPs foi restabelecida como 'perquisição' nas mãos dos empregados. Para este propósito, o valor de quaisquer ações de patrimônio líquido especificadas / transferidas pelo empregador, livre de custos ou a uma taxa concessional, é considerado como 'obrigatório' nas mãos dos empregados e é tributado de acordo com a seção 17 (2). (vi) da lei. A diferença entre o valor de mercado das ações atribuídas / transferidas na data de exercício e o preço de exercício recuperado do empregado é considerado como valor tributável do benefício.

O FMV é determinado de acordo com as regras prescritas. Para as ações listadas, geralmente é a média do preço de abertura e fechamento da ação na data do exercício, enquanto as ações não listadas na bolsa de valores reconhecida na Índia devem ser avaliadas pelos bancos comerciais da Categoria I. A fim de salvar os empregadores do inconveniente administrativo de obter a avaliação para cada exercício, a lei também fornece flexibilidade de tomar o FMV na data do exercício ou dentro de 180 dias antes da data do exercício. Além do imposto de renda variável no momento da atribuição de ações, os empregados também são obrigados a pagar imposto sobre o ganho de capital decorrente no momento da venda das ações. O Código Tributário Direto (DTC), que deverá entrar em vigor a partir de 1º de abril de 2012, não faz muita divergência em relação ao atual regime de tributação no que se refere aos prêmios em ações. A diferença entre o valor das ações na data em que a opção é exercida e o valor pago pelo empregado é tributável como 'receita de emprego'. O valor das ações é determinado pelas regras a serem prescritas.

Benefícios adicionais.

Quais são os benefícios adicionais?

Os benefícios adicionais são uma compensação adicional fornecida aos funcionários acima e além de um salário ou salário acordado. Além de ajudar os funcionários, oferecer benefícios adicionais ajuda os empregadores tremendamente a partir de uma perspectiva de recrutamento. Entre as empresas com foco semelhante, os empregadores podem achar que é um desafio atrair o talento desejado com base apenas no salário. Ao oferecer benefícios adicionais, especialmente aqueles que não estão disponíveis através de um concorrente, o empregador tem uma chance maior de atrair o nível de talento que precisa ou deseja.

Os benefícios adicionais são geralmente isentos de impostos, desde que certas condições sejam cumpridas. Os beneficiários de benefícios adicionais tributáveis ​​devem incluir o valor justo de mercado do benefício em seu lucro tributável para o ano.

QUEBRANDO PARA BAIXO 'Benefícios Fringe'

Os benefícios incluem comumente seguro de saúde, cobertura de seguro de vida em grupo, assistência educacional, reembolso de assistência e creches, planos de refeitório, descontos a empregados, opções de ações para funcionários, uso pessoal de um veículo da empresa e outros. Se um benefício adicional é isento de impostos depende do tipo e, em alguns casos, do valor do benefício. Por padrão, todos os benefícios adicionais são tributáveis, a menos que sejam especificamente nomeados como isentos de impostos.

Benefícios isentos de impostos.

Os benefícios que estão isentos do imposto de renda incluem o seguinte:

Acidentes e benefícios para a saúde Prêmios de mérito Assistência para adoção Instalações esportivas Benefícios de minimis Assistência de assistência a dependentes Assistência educacional Descontos de funcionário Opções de compra de funcionários Cobertura de seguro de vida do grupo Cobertura de seguro saúde (HSA) Hospedagem em estabelecimentos comerciais Refeições Devolução de despesas de reembolso Não - serviços de custo adicional Serviços de planejamento de aposentadoria Benefícios de deslocamento Benefícios das condições de trabalho.

Todas essas isenções estão sujeitas a certas condições. Por exemplo, prêmios de desempenho são apenas isentos até um valor de US $ 1.600 para prêmios de plano qualificado e um valor de US $ 400 para prêmios de planos não qualificados. As despesas de mudança são isentas se as despesas forem dedutíveis se o empregado as tiver pago. Algumas isenções não estão disponíveis para funcionários altamente remunerados se os benefícios os favorecerem em relação a outros empregados; estes incluem descontos de funcionários, assistência de adoção e assistência de assistência dependente.

A maioria dos benefícios que estão isentos de imposto de renda também estão isentos de impostos de Seguro Social, Medicare e Federal de Desemprego, mas não todos: a assistência de adoção está isenta de imposto de renda apenas, por exemplo.

Qualquer benefício adicional não mencionado acima, ou qualquer um dos benefícios mencionados acima que não estejam em conformidade com as regras de isenção do IRS, é tributável. Os benefícios da condição de trabalho são tributáveis ​​na medida em que são para uso pessoal. Por exemplo, se um funcionário receber um computador da empresa, sua renda tributável incluiria o valor justo de mercado do computador multiplicado pela proporção do tempo que dedicam ao uso pessoal. Se eles só o usam para fins comerciais, não há receita tributável adicional. Se 80% de seu uso for pessoal, sua renda tributável deve incluir 80% do valor do computador.

Valorizando Benefícios Fringe.

Em geral, os benefícios adicionais são avaliados pelo valor justo de mercado. Esse é o valor que o funcionário pagaria pelo mesmo benefício em uma transação de terceiros. Todas as circunstâncias relevantes, como área geográfica e condições atuais do mercado, devem ser levadas em conta. O valor justo de mercado pode ser diferente do custo real para o empregador de fornecer o benefício; esse fato não afeta a avaliação.

Valorizar o uso de um veículo da empresa é mais complicado. Usar o valor de mercado justo é uma opção. Se o carro pudesse ter sido arrendado em uma base de centavos por milha, as milhas percorridas podem ser multiplicadas por uma taxa de centavos por milha padrão determinada pelo IRS (53,5 em 2017). Se o empregador patrocinar um programa de compartilhamento de carona, três ou mais funcionários se deslocam regularmente para trabalhar em um veículo da empresa, e os funcionários não podem usar o veículo por motivos pessoais, o empregador pode usar uma tarifa de US $ 1,50 por funcionário por trajeto. Em determinadas circunstâncias, o empregador pode usar um valor de locação anual ou proporcional rateado pelo IRS.

ALERTA DE WSGR.

A Índia esclarece o Imposto sobre Benefícios Adicionais sobre as Opções de Ações para Funcionários.

Em 11 de maio de 2007, o presidente da Índia concordou com a Lei de Finanças da Índia de 2007, promulgando o orçamento da Índia para o ano fiscal de 2007-2008. O orçamento foi originalmente introduzido pelo ministro das Finanças da Índia em 28 de fevereiro de 2007, e emendado pelo Lok Sabha, a câmara baixa do parlamento, em 3 de maio de 2007. As emendas ao orçamento original incluem alguns esclarecimentos sobre a aplicação da franja indiana. imposto sobre benefícios (FBT) sobre empregadores para opções de ações concedidas a funcionários na Índia. (Para cobertura prévia, consulte nosso alerta para clientes em março de 2007, a Índia exige que os empregadores paguem 34% de imposto sobre as opções de ações dos funcionários).

Resumo dos esclarecimentos.

O orçamento modificado contém dois esclarecimentos significativos sobre a aplicação do FBT às opções de ações para empregados.

Em primeiro lugar, o valor do benefício adicional resultante do exercício de opções de ações (sobre o qual o FBT é avaliado) deve ser medido pela diferença entre o valor justo de mercado das ações na data em que a opção adquirida e o preço de exercício da ação a opção. O orçamento original propusera que o valor justo de mercado fosse medido a partir da data do exercício. Medindo o valor justo de mercado na data de aquisição, qualquer valorização do valor das ações desde a data de aquisição até a data do exercício não estaria sujeita ao FBT. No entanto, qualquer depreciação no valor da ação entre a data de aquisição e a data de exercício não reduziria o passivo da FBT. Com relação às opções que recaem sobre uma base periódica (ou seja, mensal, trimestral, etc.), não está claro se o cálculo do FBT seria baseado no valor justo de mercado de cada bloco de opções investidas na data desse bloqueio ( s) investido. A responsabilidade do empregador pelo FBT surge da "atribuição ou transferência" das ações, que pode ocorrer após o dia em que as opções são exercidas.

Segundo, uma nova seção do orçamento permite especificamente que um empregador altere seu plano de opção de compra de ações para permitir a recuperação do FBT do empregado até o limite da responsabilidade do empregador. Não está claro, no entanto, se os empregadores terão a permissão de alterar unilateralmente seus planos para permitir a recuperação do FBT com relação às opções que já foram concedidas, ou se os empregadores seriam obrigados a obter o consentimento dos funcionários para opções previamente concedidas. .

Um esclarecimento que foi antecipado, mas não incluído, no orçamento emendado é a aplicabilidade do FBT em opções emitidas por uma empresa não-indiana a funcionários de sua subsidiária indiana. O orçamento não trata especificamente dessas emissões, mas afirma que o FBT se aplica a "ações distribuídas ou transferidas, direta ou indiretamente, pelo empregador ... a seus empregados" (grifo nosso). Assim, é possível que a subsidiária indiana esteja sujeita ao FBT como um cessionário indireto. Tal aplicação de imposto a transferências diretas ou indiretas é consistente com a Seção 15 (b) da Lei do Imposto de Renda da Índia de 1961, que declara que o salário que foi pago direta ou indiretamente por ou em nome de um empregador deve ser tributado como renda de salário nas mãos do empregado. Alternativamente, a própria empresa não indiana pode estar sujeita ao FBT. Em 1999 (antes da aplicação do FBT às opções de compra de ações), a Autoridade de Adiantamento da Índia considerou que os funcionários da subsidiária indiana da Microsoft seriam tributados pelo exercício das opções emitidas pela Microsoft sobre a diferença entre o valor justo de mercado da Microsoft. ações na data do exercício e do preço de exercício, e que a Microsoft seria responsável por deduzir o imposto de renda na fonte. Mais esclarecimentos sobre esta questão podem ser futuros.

Embora o orçamento modificado deixe muitas perguntas sem resposta, aconselhamos que as empresas considerem a implementação das seguintes soluções práticas:

Alterar os planos de opções de ações do funcionário para permitir a recuperação.

As empresas devem considerar a alteração de seus planos de opção de compra de ações para permitir a recuperação dos funcionários do FBT até o limite da responsabilidade do empregador. Ao fazê-lo, no entanto, os empregadores também devem investigar as ramificações práticas e legais que possam surgir. Embora essa recuperação seja permitida pelo novo orçamento em relação ao FBT, ainda não está claro se a alteração do plano de opção de ações para permitir a recuperação implicaria emprego, trabalho ou outras leis, regras ou regulamentos.

Acelerar os horários de aquisição para funcionários indianos.

Algumas empresas podem querer considerar a aceleração da aquisição de opções para seus funcionários indianos. Acelerar a aquisição de opções em um momento em que há pouca ou nenhuma diferença entre o valor justo de mercado da ação subjacente e o preço de exercício permitiria que uma empresa determinasse seu passivo de FBT e talvez mitigasse a exposição adicional de FBT no caso de futuros aumentos o preço das ações da empresa. Evidentemente, a aceleração da aquisição de opções reduzirá os aspectos de incentivo e retenção das opções e, portanto, poderá anular o objetivo principal de conceder opções.

Substituir opções por prêmios baseados em dinheiro.

Algumas empresas podem querer considerar a concessão de prêmios de ações que são liquidados em dinheiro e não em ações. Prêmios liquidados em dinheiro são considerados benefícios em vez de benefícios adicionais e, portanto, não devem estar sujeitos ao FBT. Os prêmios liquidados em dinheiro resultam na contabilização do passivo de acordo com o FAS 123R, porém, semelhante à contabilidade variável sob o antigo regime APB 25 / FIN 44. Dessa forma, as empresas devem consultar seus auditores para entender completamente o impacto financeiro contábil desses prêmios. antes de implementar este tipo de programa de incentivo.

Para maiores informações.

Se você tiver alguma dúvida sobre este alerta de cliente, entre em contato com Raj Judge (corporativo, India Practice), John Chase (imposto internacional) ou Scott McCall (benefícios e compensação de funcionários) na Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

Por favor clique aqui para uma versão imprimível deste Alerta de Cliente.

Quais benefícios adicionais são tributáveis?

Saiba quais benefícios adicionais são tributáveis ​​e quais não são.

Um funcionário "benefício extra" é uma forma de pagamento que não é dinheiro para o desempenho dos serviços pelos funcionários. Qualquer benefício adicional fornecido a um empregado é um rendimento tributável para essa pessoa, a menos que a lei fiscal exclua especificamente da tributação. Os benefícios adicionais tributáveis ​​devem ser incluídos como receita no W-2 do empregado e estão sujeitos a retenção na fonte.

Felizmente, há uma longa lista de benefícios que são isentos de impostos e não precisam ser incluídos na remuneração dos beneficiários. Benefícios extras para funcionários isentos de impostos incluem:

seguros de saúde (até certos valores em dólar) seguro de acidentes seguro de invalidez Cobertura de seguro de vida em grupo cobertura de seguro de vida em grupo com limite de benefícios qualificados, incluindo planos de participação nos lucros, planos de bonificação em ações e planos de compra de dinheiro opções de ações de funcionários hospedagem em suas premissas de realização de negócios assistência de despesas de estacionamento (isentas de impostos para funcionários, mas não dedutíveis pelos empregadores durante 2018 até 2025) benefícios de locomoção (isentos de impostos para funcionários, mas não dedutíveis pelos empregadores de 2018 a 2025 ) descontos de empregados nos bens ou serviços que o empregador vende benefícios suplementares de desemprego de minimis (baixo custo) benefícios extras como aniversários ou feriados de baixo valor, ingressos para eventos, prêmios tradicionais (como presente de aposentadoria), outros presentes para ocasiões especiais, e planos de cafetaria e refrigerantes que permitem aos funcionários escolher entre dois ou mais benefícios de minério que consistem em dinheiro e benefícios qualificados, e benefícios adicionais de condição de trabalho - ou seja, bens e serviços fornecidos a um funcionário para que o funcionário possa executar seu trabalho.

Uma discussão detalhada de todas as regras aplicáveis ​​a esses benefícios indiretos está contida na Publicação 15-B do IRS, Guia Fiscal para Benefícios Adicionais do Empregador. Qualquer benefício fornecido a um funcionário que não esteja em conformidade com essas regras é uma receita tributável para aquele empregado. Por exemplo, as refeições dadas a um funcionário que precisa ficar longe de casa durante a noite para descansar são um benefício adicional isento de impostos. Mas as refeições não feitas durante a noite não cumprem esta regra e, portanto, são tributáveis.

Aqui estão alguns dos benefícios mais comuns fornecidos aos funcionários que são tributáveis ​​para o funcionário:

Reembolsos de milhagem excessivos: Os pagamentos a um funcionário por condução relacionada a negócios em seu próprio carro que excedam a taxa de milhagem padrão do IRS são receitas tributáveis.

Despesas em movimento No passado, os funcionários que se deslocaram mais de 50 milhas para o seu trabalho atual (não um novo emprego) poderiam receber reembolso isento de impostos de seu empregador para suas despesas de mudança. A Lei de Cortes de Impostos e Empregos fez com que esse benefício fosse tributável de 2018 a 2025. O reembolso de despesas com deslocamentos de funcionários de menos de 50 milhas sempre foi tributável.

Bicicleta pendulares. Até 2018, os empregadores também podiam fornecer até US $ 20 por mês para os funcionários que comutavam para trabalhar de bicicleta. A Lei de Cortes de Imposto e Empregos faz com que este benefício seja tributável aos empregados durante o período de 2018 a 2025.

Roupas . Vestuário dado aos funcionários que é adequado para o desgaste da rua é um benefício tributável.

Reembolsos de educação excessiva. Os pagamentos por assistência educacional que não estejam relacionados com o trabalho ou que excedam a exclusão permitida pelo IRS são tributáveis.

Prêmios e Prêmios Os prêmios em dinheiro são tributáveis, a menos que sejam doados para caridade. Prêmios não monetários são tributáveis, a menos que sejam nominais em valor ou dados para caridade.

Reembolsos de despesas sem contabilidade adequada. Um funcionário deve fornecer uma contabilidade adequada para qualquer reembolso de despesas ou será um lucro tributável.

Franjas de condição de trabalho. Um benefício adicional de condição de trabalho é isento de impostos para um funcionário, na medida em que o empregado seria capaz de deduzir o custo da propriedade ou serviços como uma despesa de negócios ou depreciação, se ele ou ela tivesse pago por isso. Se o empregado usar o benefício 100% para o trabalho, é isento de impostos. Mas o valor de qualquer uso pessoal de um benefício adicional de condição de trabalho deve ser incluído na remuneração do empregado, e ele ou ela deve pagar imposto sobre ele. O funcionário deve atender a todos os requisitos de documentação que se aplicam à dedução.

Exemplo: Sam, o dono de uma pequena firma de arquitetura, aluga um computador e o entrega ao seu empregado Paul para que ele possa realizar trabalhos de design em casa. Se Paul usa o computador 100% pelo seu trabalho, é isento de impostos para ele. Mas se ele usa apenas 50% do tempo para o trabalho e 50% do tempo para fins pessoais, ele teria que pagar imposto de renda em 50% do seu valor.

O valor do uso pessoal é determinado de acordo com o valor justo de mercado do benefício.

Exemplo: Custou US $ 200 por mês para alugar o computador que ele deu a Paul. Se Paulo usa o computador 50% do tempo para o trabalho e 50% do tempo para usos pessoais indedutíveis, ele teria que adicionar $ 100 por mês à sua compensação tributável.

Um dos benefícios mais comuns da condição de trabalho é um carro da empresa. Se um funcionário usar um carro da empresa parte do tempo para a condução pessoal, o valor do uso pessoal deve ser incluído na renda do funcionário. O empregador determina como avaliar o uso de um carro e existem vários métodos que podem ser usados. O mais comum é o empregador relatar uma porcentagem do valor anual do aluguel do carro conforme determinado pelas tabelas do IRS. Para uma discussão detalhada dessas regras de avaliação, consulte a publicação 15-B do IRS.

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O que é um plano de opções de ações para funcionários no contexto de benefícios adicionais?

Os planos de compra de ações permitem que os funcionários lucrem com a valorização das ações do empregador.

John Foxx / Stockbyte / Getty Images

Mais artigos.

Um dos benefícios adicionais que você pode ter oferecido a você em algumas empresas é um plano de propriedade de ações de funcionários, ou um ESOP. Dependendo da empresa, pode ser uma oportunidade de investimento promissora. Esses planos conferem aos funcionários o direito, mas não a obrigação, de comprar ações da empresa a um preço atraente. Os ESOPs ganharam muito dinheiro ao longo dos anos para muitos funcionários em empresas de muito sucesso.

Opções de ações.

Uma opção de compra de ações dá ao titular o direito de comprar ou vender uma quantidade específica de uma determinada ação em uma data específica e a um preço fixo, chamado de "preço de exercício". Uma opção de compra dá ao titular o direito, mas não a obrigação, de comprar uma ação, enquanto uma opção de venda permite que o detentor da opção venda. Em um plano de propriedade de ações de funcionários, os funcionários sempre recebem opções de compra. Por exemplo, uma opção de compra em 1.000 ações da AT & T; as ações podem ter um preço de exercício de US $ 20 e uma data de expiração de 1º de março de 2015. Isso significa que o detentor da opção pode comprar 1.000 AT & T; ações em 1 de março de 2015, por US $ 20 por ação, ou um total de US $ 20.000.

Lucrando com a Opção.

Opções são instrumentos financeiros alavancados. Em uma opção de compra, se a ação se valorizar, o detentor da opção lucra muito mais do que o acionista que vende a ação para o detentor da opção. Se, por exemplo, AT & T; as ações estão sendo negociadas a US $ 22 em 1º de março de 2015, o detentor da opção pode comprar as ações por US $ 20 e vendê-las no mercado aberto por US $ 22, lucrando US $ 2 por ação ou US $ 2.000 no total. Se a AT & T; está negociando a apenas US $ 20 na data de vencimento da opção, a opção é inútil, porque qualquer um pode comprar as ações no mercado de ações pelo mesmo preço. Nesse exemplo, uma simples variação de 10% no preço das ações elimina todos os lucros potenciais do investidor.

As opções de compra oferecidas nos planos de aquisição de ações dos funcionários contam com uma limitação: os funcionários não podem aceitar opções se saírem da empresa. Por exemplo, um plano de empregado pode conceder ao trabalhador o direito de comprar ações da empresa em dois anos, e estipula que o indivíduo ainda deve ser empregado pela empresa em dois anos para exercer as opções. Alguns planos permitem que os descendentes herdem as opções se o empregado falecer. Essas opções fornecem um forte incentivo para os funcionários permanecerem na empresa se o estoque estiver apresentando um bom desempenho.

As corporações têm inúmeras razões para instituir os ESOPs. Primeiro, eles ajudam a reter bons talentos. Além disso, os funcionários que possuem ações da empresa tendem a trabalhar mais, pois quanto mais lucrativa a empresa, mais alto o preço das ações tende a ser e mais valiosas as opções. Os ESOPs também são uma forma financeiramente atraente de compensação para a empresa emissora. Se o negócio é ruim e o preço das ações é baixo, as opções não são exercidas. Durante tempos difíceis, a empresa não precisa imprimir nem distribuir novas ações para os detentores de opções. Se o preço das ações for alto e os empregados exercerem as opções, a empresa emitirá novas ações e perderá algum dinheiro vendendo-as aos trabalhadores a preços abaixo do mercado. Se o preço das ações for suficientemente alto para justificar o exercício das opções, a empresa provavelmente poderá arcar com esse ônus.

Referências (2)

Créditos fotográficos.

John Foxx / Stockbyte / Getty Images

Sobre o autor.

Hunkar Ozyasar é o antigo estrategista de títulos de alta rentabilidade do Deutsche Bank. Ele foi citado em publicações, incluindo "Financial Times" # 34; e o Wall Street Journal. & # 34; Seu livro, "Quando a gestão do tempo falhar", & # 34; é publicado em 12 países, enquanto os artigos financeiros de Ozyasar são apresentados no Nikkei, o principal serviço de notícias financeiras do Japão. Ele possui um Master of Business Administration pela Kellogg Graduate School.

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No centro de tudo o que fazemos é um forte compromisso com a pesquisa independente e compartilhar suas descobertas lucrativas com os investidores. Essa dedicação em dar aos investidores uma vantagem comercial levou à criação do nosso comprovado sistema de classificação de ações Zacks Rank. Desde 1986, quase triplicou o S & P 500 com um ganho médio de + 26% ao ano. Estes retornos cobrem um período de 1986-2011 e foram examinados e atestados pela Baker Tilly, uma firma de contabilidade independente.

Visite o desempenho para obter informações sobre os números de desempenho exibidos acima.

Os dados da NYSE e AMEX estão com pelo menos 20 minutos de atraso. Os dados do NASDAQ são pelo menos 15 minutos atrasados.

Publicação 15-B (2017), Guia Fiscal do Empregador para Benefícios Fringe.

Desenvolvimentos futuros.

Para as últimas informações sobre desenvolvimentos relacionados ao Pub. 15-B, como a legislação promulgada após sua publicação, vá para IRS. gov/pub15b.

Regra de centavos por milha. A taxa de milhagem de negócios para 2017 é de 53,5 centavos por milha. Você pode usar essa taxa para reembolsar um funcionário pelo uso comercial de um veículo pessoal e, sob certas condições, você pode usar a tarifa sob a regra de centavos por milha para avaliar o uso pessoal de um veículo fornecido a um funcionário. Veja Regra Cents-Per-Mile na seção 3.

Exclusão de estacionamento qualificado e benefício de transporte pendular. Para 2017, a exclusão mensal para estacionamento qualificado é de US $ 255 e a exclusão mensal para transporte de veículos rodoviários e passagens de trânsito é de US $ 255. Veja Benefícios de Transporte Qualificados na seção 2.

Limite de contribuição em um acordo de gasto flexível de saúde (FSA). Para os anos planejados iniciados após 31 de dezembro de 2016, um plano de lanchonete pode não permitir que um funcionário solicite contribuições de redução salarial para uma FSA de saúde superior a US $ 2.600. Para mais informações, consulte Planos de cafeteria na seção 1.

Mudanças adicionais de eleição permitidas para cobertura de saúde sob um plano de cafeteria. Aviso 2014-55, 2014-41 I. R.B. 672, disponível em IRS. gov/irb/2014-41_IRB/ar12.html, expande a aplicação das regras de alteração permitidas para cobertura de saúde em um plano de cafeteria e discute duas situações específicas nas quais um participante do plano de refeitório tem permissão para revogar seu sua eleição em um plano de cafeteria durante um período de cobertura.

Casamento do mesmo sexo. Um casamento de dois indivíduos é reconhecido para fins de tributação federal se o casamento for reconhecido pelo estado, posse ou território dos Estados Unidos em que o casamento é celebrado, independentemente da residência legal. Duas pessoas que entram em um relacionamento que é denominado como casamento sob as leis de uma jurisdição estrangeira são reconhecidas como casadas para fins de tributação federal se a relação for reconhecida como casamento sob as leis de pelo menos um estado, posse ou território de nos Estados Unidos, independentemente da residência legal. Indivíduos que entraram em uma parceria doméstica registrada, união civil ou outro relacionamento semelhante que não seja denominado como um casamento sob a lei do estado, posse ou território dos Estados Unidos onde tal relacionamento foi celebrado não são considerados casado para fins de tributação federal, independentemente da residência legal. O Aviso 2013-61 fornece procedimentos administrativos especiais para os empregadores fazerem pedidos de reembolso ou ajustes de pagamentos em excesso dos impostos de seguridade social e do Medicare com relação a certos benefícios do cônjuge do mesmo sexo antes do vencimento do período de limitações. Observe 2013-61, 2013-44 I. R.B. 432, está disponível em IRS. gov/irb/2013-44_IRB/ar10.html. Você pode corrigir erros na retenção do imposto de renda federal e Imposto Adicional de Medicare retido em anos anteriores se o valor informado em sua declaração de imposto de renda não concordar com o valor que você realmente reteve. Este tipo de erro é um erro administrativo. Você também pode corrigir erros na retenção do imposto de renda federal e Imposto Adicional de Medicare retido em anos anteriores se as taxas da seção 3509 se aplicarem. Notício 2014-1 discute como certas regras para planos de refeitório, incluindo FSAs de saúde e dependentes, e contas de poupança de saúde (HSAs) aplicam-se a cônjuges do mesmo sexo que participam em planos de benefícios para empregados. Aviso 2014-1, 2014-2 I. R.B. 270, está disponível em IRS. gov/irb/2014-2_IRB/ar13.html.

Encomenda de formulários e publicações. Visite IRS. gov/forms para baixar formulários e publicações. Caso contrário, você pode ir para IRS. gov/orderforms para solicitar formulários e instruções atuais e anteriores. Seu pedido deve chegar em até 10 dias úteis.

Questões fiscais. Se você tiver uma questão fiscal não respondida por esta publicação, consulte IRS. gov e How to Get Tax Help no final desta publicação.

Fotografias de crianças desaparecidas. O IRS é um parceiro orgulhoso do National Center for Missing & amp; Exploited Children® (NCMEC). Fotografias de crianças desaparecidas selecionadas pelo Centro podem aparecer nesta publicação em páginas que, de outra forma, ficariam em branco. Você pode ajudar a trazer essas crianças para casa olhando para as fotografias e ligando para 1-800-THE-LOST (1-800-843-5678) se você reconhecer uma criança.

Introdução.

Esta publicação complementa o Pub. 15, Guia Fiscal do Empregador e Pub. 15-A, Guia Suplementar de Impostos do Contratante. Ele contém informações para os empregadores sobre o tratamento fiscal de benefícios indiretos.

Agradecemos seus comentários sobre esta publicação e suas sugestões para futuras edições.

Você pode nos enviar comentários do IRS. gov/formcomment.

Ou você pode escrever para:

Receita Federal.

Formulários de Impostos e Publicações.

1111 Constitution Ave. NW, IR-6526.

Washington, DC 20224.

Nós respondemos a muitas cartas por telefone. Portanto, seria útil incluir seu número de telefone durante o dia, incluindo o código de área, em sua correspondência.

Embora não possamos responder individualmente a cada comentário recebido, agradecemos seu feedback e analisaremos seus comentários à medida que revisamos nossos formulários, instruções e publicações fiscais. Não podemos responder a perguntas fiscais enviadas para o endereço acima.

Publicação 15-B - Conteúdo Principal.

1. Visão Geral do Benefício Fringe.

Um benefício adicional é uma forma de pagamento pelo desempenho dos serviços. Por exemplo, você fornece a um funcionário um benefício adicional quando permite que o funcionário use um veículo comercial para ir e voltar do trabalho.

Uma pessoa que realiza serviços para você não precisa ser seu funcionário. Uma pessoa pode realizar serviços para você como um contratado independente, parceiro ou diretor. Além disso, para fins de benefícios adicionais, trate uma pessoa que concorde em não prestar serviços (como um convênio de não concorrer) como prestadora de serviços.

Você é o provedor de um benefício adicional se for fornecido para serviços realizados para você. Você é considerado o fornecedor de um benefício adicional mesmo que um terceiro, como seu cliente ou cliente, forneça o benefício para seu funcionário pelos serviços que o funcionário executa para você. Por exemplo, se, em troca de bens ou serviços, seu cliente fornecer serviços de creche como um benefício adicional para seus funcionários para serviços que eles fornecem para você como seu empregador, então você é o provedor desse benefício adicional mesmo que o cliente seja realmente fornecendo a creche.

A pessoa que realiza serviços para você é considerada a beneficiária de um benefício adicional fornecido para esses serviços. Essa pessoa pode ser considerada a recebedora mesmo que o benefício seja fornecido a alguém que não tenha prestado serviços para você. Por exemplo, seu funcionário pode ser o beneficiário de um benefício adicional que você fornece a um membro da família do funcionário.

Os benefícios adicionais são tributáveis?

Qualquer benefício adicional que você fornecer é tributável e deve ser incluído no pagamento do beneficiário, a menos que a lei exclua especificamente. A seção 2 discute as exclusões que se aplicam a certos benefícios adicionais. Qualquer benefício não excluído pelas regras discutidas na seção 2 é tributável.

Incluindo benefícios tributáveis ​​em pagamento.

Você deve incluir no pagamento de um recebedor o valor pelo qual o valor de um benefício adicional é maior que a soma dos seguintes valores.

Qualquer quantia que a lei exclua do pagamento.

Qualquer quantia paga pelo beneficiário pelo benefício.

As regras usadas para determinar o valor de um benefício adicional são discutidas na seção 3.

Se o beneficiário de um benefício adicional tributável for seu empregado, o benefício estará sujeito a impostos sobre o emprego e deverá ser relatado no Formulário W-2, Declaração de Salário e Imposto. No entanto, você pode usar regras especiais para reter, depositar e informar os impostos de emprego. Essas regras são discutidas na seção 4.

Se o beneficiário de um benefício fiscal tributável não for seu empregado, o benefício não estará sujeito a impostos de emprego. No entanto, você pode ter que relatar o benefício em um dos seguintes retornos de informações.

recebe o benefício como:

Para mais informações, consulte as instruções para os formulários listados acima.

Planos Cafeteria.

Um plano de cafeteria, incluindo uma FSA, oferece aos participantes uma oportunidade de receber benefícios qualificados em uma base antes dos impostos. É um plano por escrito que permite que seus funcionários escolham entre receber dinheiro ou benefícios tributáveis, em vez de certos benefícios qualificados para os quais a lei prevê uma exclusão dos salários. Se um empregado optar por receber um benefício qualificado de acordo com o plano, o fato de que o empregado poderia ter recebido dinheiro ou um benefício tributável, em vez disso, não tornará o benefício qualificado tributável.

Geralmente, um plano de cafeteria não inclui nenhum plano que ofereça um benefício que seja pago. No entanto, um plano de cafeteria pode incluir um plano 401 (k) qualificado como um benefício. Além disso, certos planos de seguro de vida mantidos por instituições de ensino podem ser oferecidos como um benefício, mesmo que eles adiem o pagamento.

Um plano de cafeteria pode incluir os seguintes benefícios discutidos na seção 2.

Acidentes e benefícios de saúde (mas não contas de poupança médica da Archer (MSA da Archer) ou seguro de assistência de longo prazo).

Assistência de assistência dependente.

Cobertura de seguro de vida a longo prazo do grupo (incluindo custos que não podem ser excluídos dos salários).

Contas de poupança de saúde (HSAs). As distribuições de uma HSA podem ser usadas para pagar prêmios de seguro de assistência de longo prazo elegíveis ou serviços de cuidado de longo prazo qualificados.

Um plano de cafeteria não pode incluir os seguintes benefícios discutidos na seção 2.

Benefícios mínimos (mínimos).

Telefones celulares fornecidos pelo empregador.

Hospedagem em seus estabelecimentos comerciais.

Reembolsos de despesas em movimento.

Serviços de planejamento de aposentadoria.

Benefícios de transporte (comutação).

Benefícios da condição de trabalho.

Também não pode incluir bolsas de estudo ou bolsas de estudo (discutido na Pub. 970).

Limite de contribuição em um FSA de saúde.

Para os anos planejados iniciados após 31 de dezembro de 2016, um plano de lanchonete pode não permitir que um funcionário solicite contribuições de redução salarial para uma FSA de saúde superior a US $ 2.600.

Um plano de cafeteria que não limita a saúde As contribuições da FSA para o limite do dólar não são um plano de cafeteria e todos os benefícios oferecidos sob o plano são inclusivos na renda bruta do empregado.

Para mais informações, consulte o Aviso 2012-40, 2012-26 I. R.B. 1046, disponível em IRS. gov/irb/2012-26_IRB/ar09.html.

Em vez de um período de carência, você pode, a seu critério, alterar seu plano de cafeteria para permitir que até US $ 500 das contribuições não utilizadas de um empregado sejam transferidas para o ano imediatamente seguinte. Para mais informações, consulte o Aviso 2013-71, 2013-47 I. R.B. 532, disponível em IRS. gov/irb/2013-47_IRB/ar10.html.

Para esses planos, trate os seguintes indivíduos como empregados.

Um empregado de direito comum atual. Veja a seção 2 no Pub. 15

Um agente de seguros de vida em tempo integral que é um funcionário estatutário atual.

Um funcionário alugado que forneceu serviços a você substancialmente em período integral por pelo menos um ano se os serviços forem executados sob sua direção ou controle primário.

Exceção para os acionistas da corporação S.

Não trate um acionista de 2% de uma corporação S como funcionário da corporação para essa finalidade. Um acionista de 2% para esse fim é alguém que direta ou indiretamente detém (a qualquer momento durante o ano) mais de 2% das ações da empresa ou ações com mais de 2% do poder de voto. Trate um acionista de 2% como se fosse um parceiro em uma parceria para fins de benefícios adicionais, mas não trate o benefício como uma redução nas distribuições para o acionista de 2%.

Planos que favorecem funcionários altamente remunerados.

Se o seu plano favorece funcionários altamente remunerados quanto à elegibilidade para participar, contribuições ou benefícios, você deve incluir em seus salários o valor dos benefícios tributáveis ​​que eles poderiam ter selecionado. Um plano que você mantém sob um acordo de negociação coletiva não favorece funcionários altamente remunerados.

Um funcionário altamente remunerado para esse fim é qualquer um dos seguintes funcionários.

Um acionista que detém mais de 5% do poder de voto ou valor de todas as classes de ações do empregador.

Um empregado que é altamente compensado com base nos fatos e circunstâncias.

Um cônjuge ou dependente de uma pessoa descrita em (1), (2) ou (3).

Planos que favorecem funcionários importantes.

Se o seu plano favorecer funcionários-chave, você deve incluir em seus salários o valor dos benefícios tributáveis ​​que eles poderiam ter selecionado. Um plano favorece funcionários-chave se mais de 25% do total dos benefícios não tributáveis ​​que você fornece para todos os funcionários sob o plano forem destinados a funcionários-chave. No entanto, um plano que você mantém sob um acordo de negociação coletiva não favorece funcionários-chave.

Um funcionário importante durante 2017 é geralmente um funcionário que é um dos seguintes.

Um oficial com pagamento anual de mais de US $ 175.000.

Um funcionário que para 2017 é um dos seguintes.

Um proprietário de 5% do seu negócio.

Um proprietário de 1% do seu negócio cujo pagamento anual é superior a US $ 150.000.

Planos simples de cafeteria.

Os empregadores elegíveis que cumprem os requisitos de contribuição e os requisitos de elegibilidade e participação podem estabelecer um plano de cafetaria simples. Planos cafeteria simples são tratados como atendendo aos requisitos de não discriminação de um plano de cafeteria e certos benefícios sob um plano de cafeteria.

Você é um empregador qualificado se empregou, em média, 100 funcionários ou menos durante um dos dois anos anteriores. Se a sua empresa não existia ao longo do ano anterior, você é elegível se espera empregar, em média, 100 funcionários ou menos no ano atual. Se você estabelecer um plano de lanchonete simples em um ano em que emprega uma média de 100 funcionários ou menos, será considerado um empregador elegível para qualquer ano subsequente, desde que não empregue uma média de 200 ou mais funcionários em um exercício subseqüente. ano.

Requisitos de elegibilidade e participação.

Esses requisitos são cumpridos se todos os funcionários que tiverem pelo menos 1.000 horas de serviço no ano anterior forem qualificados para participar e cada funcionário qualificado para participar do plano puder eleger qualquer benefício disponível nos termos do plano. Você pode optar por excluir do plano funcionários que:

Têm menos de 21 anos antes do final do ano do plano,

Ter menos de 1 ano de serviço com você em qualquer dia durante o ano do plano,

São abrangidos por um acordo de negociação coletiva, ou.

Os estrangeiros não-residentes trabalham fora dos Estados Unidos, cuja renda não vem de uma fonte dos EUA.

Você deve fazer uma contribuição para fornecer benefícios qualificados em nome de cada funcionário qualificado em um valor igual a:

Uma porcentagem uniforme (não inferior a 2%) da remuneração do empregado para o ano do plano; ou.

Um valor que é pelo menos 6% da remuneração do empregado para o ano do plano ou duas vezes o valor das contribuições de redução salarial de cada funcionário qualificado, o que for menor.

Se as exigências de contribuição forem atendidas usando a opção (2), a taxa de contribuição para qualquer contribuição de redução de salário de um funcionário altamente compensado ou chave não pode ser maior do que a taxa de contribuição para qualquer outro empregado.

Para mais informações sobre os planos de cafeteria, consulte a seção 125 do Internal Revenue Code e seus regulamentos.

2. Regras de exclusão de benefícios adicionais.

Esta seção discute as regras de exclusão que se aplicam aos benefícios adicionais. Essas regras excluem todo ou parte do valor de certos benefícios do pagamento do destinatário.

Na maioria dos casos, os benefícios excluídos não estão sujeitos à retenção de imposto de renda federal, previdência social, Medicare, imposto federal de desemprego (FUTA) ou imposto sobre aposentadoria por ferrovia (RRTA) e não são informados no Formulário W-2.

Esta seção discute as regras de exclusão para os seguintes benefícios adicionais.

Acidentes e benefícios para a saúde.

Benefícios mínimos (mínimos).

Assistência de assistência dependente.

Opções de ações para funcionários.

Telefones celulares fornecidos pelo empregador.

Cobertura de seguro de vida a longo prazo.

Contas de poupança de saúde (HSAs).

Lodging on your business premises.

Moving expense reimbursements.

Retirement planning services.

Transportation (commuting) benefits.

Working condition benefits.

See Table 2-1 for an overview of the employment tax treatment of these benefits.

Table 2-1. Special Rules for Various Types of Fringe Benefits (For more information, see the full discussion in this section.)

Accident and Health Benefits.

This exclusion applies to contributions you make to an accident or health plan for an employee, including the following.

Contributions to the cost of accident or health insurance including qualified long-term care insurance.

Contributions to a separate trust or fund that directly or through insurance provides accident or health benefits.

Contributions to Archer MSAs or health savings accounts (discussed in Pub. 969).

This exclusion also applies to payments you directly or indirectly make to an employee under an accident or health plan for employees that are either of the following.

Payments or reimbursements of medical expenses.

Payments for specific permanent injuries (such as the loss of the use of an arm or leg). The payments must be figured without regard to the period the employee is absent from work.

This is an arrangement that provides benefits for your employees, their spouses, their dependents, and their children (under age 27 at the end of the tax year) in the event of personal injury or sickness. The plan may be insured or noninsured and doesn't need to be in writing.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current common-law employee.

A full-time life insurance agent who is a current statutory employee.

A retired employee.

A former employee you maintain coverage for based on the employment relationship.

A widow or widower of an individual who died while an employee.

A widow or widower of a retired employee.

For the exclusion of contributions to an accident or health plan, a leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

Special rule for certain government plans.

For certain government accident and health plans, payments to a deceased employee's beneficiary may qualify for the exclusion from gross income if the other requirements for exclusion are met. See section 105(j) for details.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

Don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

You can generally exclude the value of accident or health benefits you provide to an employee from the employee's wages.

Exception for certain long-term care benefits.

You can't exclude contributions to the cost of long-term care insurance from an employee's wages subject to federal income tax withholding if the coverage is provided through a flexible spending or similar arrangement. This is a benefit program that reimburses specified expenses up to a maximum amount that is reasonably available to the employee and is less than five times the total cost of the insurance. However, you can exclude these contributions from the employee's wages subject to social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes.

Because you can't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee for this exclusion, you must include the value of accident or health benefits you provide to the employee in the employee's wages subject to federal income tax withholding. However, you can exclude the value of these benefits (other than payments for specific injuries or illnesses) from the employee's wages subject to social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes.

Exception for highly compensated employees.

If your plan is a self-insured medical reimbursement plan that favors highly compensated employees, you must include all or part of the amounts you pay to these employees in their wages subject to federal income tax withholding. However, you can exclude these amounts (other than payments for specific injuries or illnesses) from the employee's wages subject to social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes.

A self-insured plan is a plan that reimburses your employees for medical expenses not covered by an accident or health insurance policy.

A highly compensated employee for this exception is any of the following individuals.

One of the five highest paid officers.

An employee who owns (directly or indirectly) more than 10% in value of the employer's stock.

An employee who is among the highest paid 25% of all employees (other than those who can be excluded from the plan).

For more information on this exception, see section 105(h) of the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations.

The exclusion for accident and health benefits applies to amounts you pay to maintain medical coverage for a current or former employee under the Combined Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1986 (COBRA). The exclusion applies regardless of the length of employment, whether you directly pay the premiums or reimburse the former employee for premiums paid, and whether the employee's separation is permanent or temporary.

Achievement Awards.

This exclusion applies to the value of any tangible personal property you give to an employee as an award for either length of service or safety achievement. The exclusion doesn't apply to awards of cash, cash equivalents, gift certificates, or other intangible property such as vacations, meals, lodging, tickets to theater or sporting events, stocks, bonds, and other securities. The award must meet the requirements for employee achievement awards discussed in chapter 2 of Pub. 535.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A former common-law employee you maintain coverage for in consideration of or based on an agreement relating to prior service as an employee.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

Don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

You can generally exclude the value of achievement awards you give to an employee from the employee's wages if their cost isn't more than the amount you can deduct as a business expense for the year. The excludable annual amount is $1,600 ($400 for awards that aren't "qualified plan awards"). See chapter 2 of Pub. 535 for more information about the limit on deductions for employee achievement awards.

To determine for 2017 whether an achievement award is a "qualified plan award" under the deduction rules described in Pub. 535, treat any employee who received more than $120,000 in pay for 2016 as a highly compensated employee.

If the cost of awards given to an employee is more than your allowable deduction, include in the employee's wages the larger of the following amounts.

The part of the cost that is more than your allowable deduction (up to the value of the awards).

The amount by which the value of the awards exceeds your allowable deduction.

Exclude the remaining value of the awards from the employee's wages.

Assistência de adoção.

An adoption assistance program is a separate written plan of an employer that meets all of the following requirements.

It benefits employees who qualify under rules set up by you, which don't favor highly compensated employees or their dependents. To determine whether your plan meets this test, don't consider employees excluded from your plan who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement, if there is evidence that adoption assistance was a subject of good-faith bargaining.

It doesn't pay more than 5% of its payments during the year for shareholders or owners (or their spouses or dependents). A shareholder or owner is someone who owns (on any day of the year) more than 5% of the stock or of the capital or profits interest of your business.

You give reasonable notice of the plan to eligible employees.

Employees provide reasonable substantiation that payments or reimbursements are for qualifying expenses.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

You must exclude all payments or reimbursements you make under an adoption assistance program for an employee's qualified adoption expenses from the employee's wages subject to federal income tax withholding. However, you can't exclude these payments from wages subject to social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes. For more information, see the Instructions for Form 8839.

You must report all qualifying adoption expenses you paid or reimbursed under your adoption assistance program for each employee for the year in box 12 of the employee's Form W-2. Use code "T" to identify this amount.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

For this exclusion, don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, including using the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

Athletic Facilities.

You can exclude the value of an employee's use of an on-premises gym or other athletic facility you operate from an employee's wages if substantially all use of the facility during the calendar year is by your employees, their spouses, and their dependent children. For this purpose, an employee's dependent child is a child or stepchild who is the employee's dependent or who, if both parents are deceased, hasn't attained the age of 25.

The athletic facility must be located on premises you own or lease and must be operated by you. It doesn't have to be located on your business premises. However, the exclusion doesn't apply to an athletic facility that is a facility for residential use, such as athletic facilities that are part of a resort.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A former employee who retired or left on disability.

A widow or widower of an individual who died while an employee.

A widow or widower of a former employee who retired or left on disability.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

De Minimis (Minimal) Benefits.

You can exclude the value of a de minimis benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. A de minimis benefit is any property or service you provide to an employee that has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide similar benefits to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable. Cash and cash equivalent fringe benefits (for example, gift certificates, gift cards, and the use of a charge card, or credit card), no matter how little, are never excludable as a de minimis benefit. However, meal money and local transportation fare, if provided on an occasional basis and because of overtime work, may be excluded as discussed later.

Examples of de minimis benefits include the following.

Personal use of an employer-provided cell phone provided primarily for noncompensatory business purposes. See Employer-Provided Cell Phones , later in this section, for details.

Occasional personal use of a company copying machine if you sufficiently control its use so that at least 85% of its use is for business purposes.

Holiday or birthday gifts , other than cash, with a low fair market value. Also, flowers or fruit or similar items provided to employees under special circumstances (for example, on account of illness, a family crisis, or outstanding performance).

Group-term life insurance payable on the death of an employee's spouse or dependent if the face amount isn't more than $2,000.

Certain meals. See Meals , later in this section, for details.

Occasional parties or picnics for employees and their guests.

Occasional tickets for theater or sporting events.

Certain transportation fare. See Transportation (Commuting) Benefits , later in this section, for details.

Some examples of benefits that are not excludable as de minimis fringe benefits are season tickets to sporting or theatrical events; the commuting use of an employer-provided automobile or other vehicle more than one day a month; membership in a private country club or athletic facility, regardless of the frequency with which the employee uses the facility; and use of employer-owned or leased facilities (such as an apartment, hunting lodge, boat, etc.) for a weekend. If a benefit provided to an employee doesn't qualify as de minimis (for example, the frequency exceeds a limit described earlier), then generally the entire benefit must be included in income.

For this exclusion, treat any recipient of a de minimis benefit as an employee.

Dependent Care Assistance.

This exclusion applies to household and dependent care services you directly or indirectly pay for or provide to an employee under a written dependent care assistance program that covers only your employees. The services must be for a qualifying person's care and must be provided to allow the employee to work. These requirements are basically the same as the tests the employee would have to meet to claim the dependent care credit if the employee paid for the services. For more information, see Tests To Claim the Credit in Pub. 503.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

Yourself (if you’re a sole proprietor).

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

You can exclude the value of benefits you provide to an employee under a dependent care assistance program from the employee's wages if you reasonably believe that the employee can exclude the benefits from gross income.

An employee can generally exclude from gross income up to $5,000 of benefits received under a dependent care assistance program each year. This limit is reduced to $2,500 for married employees filing separate returns.

However, the exclusion can't be more than the smaller of the earned income of either the employee or employee's spouse. Special rules apply to determine the earned income of a spouse who is either a student or not able to care for himself or herself. For more information on the earned income limit, see Pub. 503.

Exception for highly compensated employees.

You can't exclude dependent care assistance from the wages of a highly compensated employee unless the benefits provided under the program don't favor highly compensated employees and the program meets the requirements described in section 129(d) of the Internal Revenue Code.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Report the value of all dependent care assistance you provide to an employee under a dependent care assistance program in box 10 of the employee's Form W-2. Include any amounts you can't exclude from the employee's wages in boxes 1, 3, and 5. Report in box 10 both the nontaxable portion of assistance (up to $5,000) and any assistance above that amount that is taxable to the employee.

Oak Co. provides a dependent care assistance FSA to its employees through a cafeteria plan. In addition, it provides occasional on-site dependent care to its employees at no cost. Emily, an employee of Oak Co., had $4,500 deducted from her pay for the dependent care FSA. In addition, Emily used the on-site dependent care several times. The fair market value of the on-site care was $700. Emily's Form W-2 should report $5,200 of dependent care assistance in box 10 ($4,500 FSA plus $700 on-site dependent care). Boxes 1, 3, and 5 should include $200 (the amount in excess of the nontaxable assistance), and applicable taxes should be withheld on that amount.

Educational Assistance.

This exclusion applies to educational assistance you provide to employees under an educational assistance program. The exclusion also applies to graduate level courses.

Educational assistance means amounts you pay or incur for your employees' education expenses. These expenses generally include the cost of books, equipment, fees, supplies, and tuition. However, these expenses don't include the cost of a course or other education involving sports, games, or hobbies, unless the education:

Has a reasonable relationship to your business, or.

Is required as part of a degree program.

Education expenses don't include the cost of tools or supplies (other than textbooks) your employee is allowed to keep at the end of the course. Nor do they include the cost of lodging, meals, or transportation. Your employee must be able to provide substantiation to you that the educational assistance provided was used for qualifying education expenses.

Educational assistance program.

An educational assistance program is a separate written plan that provides educational assistance only to your employees. The program qualifies only if all of the following tests are met.

The program benefits employees who qualify under rules set up by you that don't favor highly compensated employees. To determine whether your program meets this test, don't consider employees excluded from your program who are covered by a collective bargaining agreement if there is evidence that educational assistance was a subject of good-faith bargaining.

The program doesn't provide more than 5% of its benefits during the year for shareholders or owners (or their spouses or dependents). A shareholder or owner is someone who owns (on any day of the year) more than 5% of the stock or of the capital or profits interest of your business.

The program doesn't allow employees to choose to receive cash or other benefits that must be included in gross income instead of educational assistance.

You give reasonable notice of the program to eligible employees.

Your program can cover former employees if their employment is the reason for the coverage.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A former employee who retired, left on disability, or was laid off.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

Yourself (if you’re a sole proprietor).

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

You can exclude up to $5,250 of educational assistance you provide to an employee under an educational assistance program from the employee's wages each year.

If you don't have an educational assistance plan, or you provide an employee with assistance exceeding $5,250, you must include the value of these benefits as wages, unless the benefits are working condition benefits. Working condition benefits may be excluded from wages. Property or a service provided is a working condition benefit to the extent that if the employee paid for it, the amount paid would have been deductible as a business or depreciation expense. See Working Condition Benefits , later in this section.

Employee Discounts.

This exclusion applies to a price reduction you give your employee on property or services you offer to customers in the ordinary course of the line of business in which the employee performs substantial services. However, it doesn't apply to discounts on real property or discounts on personal property of a kind commonly held for investment (such as stocks or bonds).

Employee discounts also don't include discounts on a line of business of the employer for which the employee doesn't provide substantial services, or discounts on property or services of a kind that aren't offered for sale to customers. Therefore, discounts on items sold in an employee store that aren't sold to customers, aren't excluded from employee income. Also, employee discounts provided by another employer through a reciprocal agreement aren't excluded.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A former employee who retired or left on disability.

A widow or widower of an individual who died while an employee.

A widow or widower of an employee who retired or left on disability.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

Treat discounts you provide to the spouse or dependent child of an employee as provided to the employee. For this fringe benefit, dependent child means any son, stepson, daughter, stepdaughter, or eligible foster child who is a dependent of the employee, or both of whose parents have died and who hasn't reached age 25. Treat a child of divorced parents as a dependent of both parents.

You can generally exclude the value of an employee discount you provide an employee from the employee's wages, up to the following limits.

For a discount on services, 20% of the price you charge nonemployee customers for the service.

For a discount on merchandise or other property, your gross profit percentage times the price you charge nonemployee customers for the property.

Generally, determine your gross profit percentage in the line of business based on all property you offer to customers (including employee customers) and your experience during the tax year immediately before the tax year in which the discount is available. To figure your gross profit percentage, subtract the total cost of the property from the total sales price of the property and divide the result by the total sales price of the property. Employers that are in their first year of existence may estimate their gross profit percentage based on its mark-up from cost or refer to an appropriate industry average. If substantial changes in an employer's business indicate at any time that it is inappropriate for the prior year's gross profit percentage to be used for the current year, the employer must, within a reasonable period, redetermine the gross profit percentage for the remaining portion of the current year as if such portion of the year were the first year of the employer's existence.

Exception for highly compensated employees.

You can't exclude from the wages of a highly compensated employee any part of the value of a discount that isn't available on the same terms to one of the following groups.

All of your employees.

A group of employees defined under a reasonable classification you set up that doesn't favor highly compensated employees.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Opções de ações do empregado.

There are three kinds of stock options—incentive stock options, employee stock purchase plan options, and nonstatutory (nonqualified) stock options.

Wages for social security, Medicare, and FUTA taxes don't include remuneration resulting from the exercise of an incentive stock option or an employee stock purchase plan option, or from any disposition of stock acquired by exercising such an option.

Additionally, federal income tax withholding isn't required on the income resulting from a disqualifying disposition of stock acquired by the exercise of an incentive stock option or an employee stock purchase plan option, or on income equal to the discount portion of stock acquired by the exercise, after October 22, 2004, of an employee stock purchase plan option resulting from any qualifying disposition of the stock. The employer must report as income in box 1 of Form W-2 (a) the discount portion of stock acquired by the exercise of an employee stock purchase plan option upon a qualifying disposition of the stock, and (b) the spread (between the exercise price and the fair market value of the stock at the time of exercise) upon a disqualifying disposition of stock acquired by the exercise of an incentive stock option or an employee stock purchase plan option.

An employer must report the excess of the fair market value of stock received upon exercise of a nonstatutory stock option over the amount paid for the stock option on Form W-2 in boxes 1, 3 (up to the social security wage base), 5, and in box 12 using the code "V." See Regulations section 1.83-7.

An employee who transfers his or her interest in nonstatutory stock options to the employee's former spouse incident to a divorce isn't required to include an amount in gross income upon the transfer. The former spouse, rather than the employee, is required to include an amount in gross income when the former spouse exercises the stock options. See Revenue Ruling 2002-22 and Revenue Ruling 2004-60 for details. You can find Revenue Ruling 2002-22 on page 849 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2002-19 at IRS. gov/pub/irs-irbs/irb02-19.pdf. Revenue Ruling 2004-60, 2004-24 I. R.B. 1051, is available at IRS. gov/irb/2004-24_IRB/ar13.html.

For more information about employee stock options, see sections 421, 422, and 423 of the Internal Revenue Code and their related regulations.

Employer-Provided Cell Phones.

The value of the business use of an employer-provided cell phone, provided primarily for noncompensatory business reasons, is excludable from an employee's income as a working condition fringe benefit. Personal use of an employer-provided cell phone, provided primarily for noncompensatory business reasons, is excludable from an employee's income as a de minimis fringe benefit. For the rules relating to these types of benefits, see De Minimis (Minimal) Benefits , earlier in this section, and Working Condition Benefits , later in this section.

Noncompensatory business purposes.

You provide a cell phone primarily for noncompensatory business purposes if there are substantial business reasons for providing the cell phone. Examples of substantial business reasons include the employer's:

Need to contact the employee at all times for work-related emergencies,

Requirement that the employee be available to speak with clients at times when the employee is away from the office, and.

Need to speak with clients located in other time zones at times outside the employee's normal workday.

Cell phones provided to promote goodwill, boost morale, or attract prospective employees.

You can't exclude from an employee's wages the value of a cell phone provided to promote goodwill of an employee, to attract a prospective employee, or as a means of providing additional compensation to an employee.

For additional information on the tax treatment of employer-provided cell phones, see Notice 2011-72, 2011-38 I. R.B. 407, available at.

Group-Term Life Insurance Coverage.

This exclusion applies to life insurance coverage that meets all the following conditions.

It provides a general death benefit that isn't included in income.

You provide it to a group of employees. See The 10-employee rule , later.

It provides an amount of insurance to each employee based on a formula that prevents individual selection. This formula must use factors such as the employee's age, years of service, pay, or position.

You provide it under a policy you directly or indirectly carry. Even if you don't pay any of the policy's cost, you’re considered to carry it if you arrange for payment of its cost by your employees and charge at least one employee less than, and at least one other employee more than, the cost of his or her insurance. Determine the cost of the insurance, for this purpose, as explained under Coverage over the limit , later.

Group-term life insurance doesn't include the following insurance.

Insurance that doesn't provide general death benefits, such as travel insurance or a policy providing only accidental death benefits.

Life insurance on the life of your employee's spouse or dependent. However, you may be able to exclude the cost of this insurance from the employee's wages as a de minimis benefit. See De Minimis (Minimal) Benefits , earlier in this section.

Insurance provided under a policy that provides a permanent benefit (an economic value that extends beyond 1 policy year, such as paid-up or cash-surrender value), unless certain requirements are met. See Regulations section 1.79-1 for details.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current common-law employee.

A full-time life insurance agent who is a current statutory employee.

An individual who was formerly your employee under (1) or (2).

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction and control.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

Don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

Generally, life insurance isn't group-term life insurance unless you provide it to at least 10 full-time employees at some time during the year.

For this rule and the first exception discussed next, count employees who choose not to receive the insurance as if they do receive insurance, unless, to receive it, they must contribute to the cost of benefits other than the group-term life insurance. For example, count an employee who could receive insurance by paying part of the cost, even if that employee chooses not to receive it. However, don't count an employee who chooses not to receive insurance, if the employee must pay part or all of the cost of permanent benefits in order to obtain group-term life insurance. A permanent benefit is an economic value extending beyond 1 policy year (for example, a paid-up or cash-surrender value) that is provided under a life insurance policy.

Even if you don't meet the 10-employee rule, two exceptions allow you to treat insurance as group-term life insurance.

Under the first exception, you don't have to meet the 10-employee rule if all the following conditions are met.

If evidence that the employee is insurable is required, it is limited to a medical questionnaire (completed by the employee) that doesn't require a physical.

You provide the insurance to all your full-time employees or, if the insurer requires the evidence mentioned in (1), to all full-time employees who provide evidence the insurer accepts.

You figure the coverage based on either a uniform percentage of pay or the insurer's coverage brackets that meet certain requirements. See Regulations section 1.79-1 for details.

Under the second exception, you don't have to meet the 10-employee rule if all the following conditions are met.

You provide the insurance under a common plan covering your employees and the employees of at least one other employer who isn't related to you.

The insurance is restricted to, but mandatory for, all your employees who belong to, or are represented by, an organization (such as a union) that carries on substantial activities besides obtaining insurance.

Evidence of whether an employee is insurable doesn't affect an employee's eligibility for insurance or the amount of insurance that employee gets.

To apply either exception, don't consider employees who were denied insurance for any of the following reasons.

They were 65 or older.

They customarily work 20 hours or less a week or 5 months or less in a calendar year.

They haven't been employed for the waiting period given in the policy. This waiting period can't be more than 6 months.

You can generally exclude the cost of up to $50,000 of group-term life insurance from the wages of an insured employee. You can exclude the same amount from the employee's wages when figuring social security and Medicare taxes. In addition, you don't have to withhold federal income tax or pay FUTA tax on any group-term life insurance you provide to an employee.

You must include in your employee's wages the cost of group-term life insurance beyond $50,000 worth of coverage, reduced by the amount the employee paid toward the insurance. Report it as wages in boxes 1, 3, and 5 of the employee's Form W-2. Also, show it in box 12 with code "C." The amount is subject to social security and Medicare taxes, and you may, at your option, withhold federal income tax.

Figure the monthly cost of the insurance to include in the employee's wages by multiplying the number of thousands of dollars of all insurance coverage over $50,000 (figured to the nearest $100) by the cost shown in Table 2-2. For all coverage provided within the calendar year, use the employee's age on the last day of the employee's tax year. You must prorate the cost from the table if less than a full month of coverage is involved.

Table 2-2. Cost Per $1,000 of Protection For 1 Month.

You figure the total cost to include in the employee's wages by multiplying the monthly cost by the number of full months' coverage at that cost.

Tom's employer provides him with group-term life insurance coverage of $200,000. Tom is 45 years old, isn't a key employee, and pays $100 per year toward the cost of the insurance. Tom's employer must include $170 in his wages. The $200,000 of insurance coverage is reduced by $50,000. The yearly cost of $150,000 of coverage is $270 ($0.15 x 150 x 12), and is reduced by the $100 Tom pays for the insurance. The employer includes $170 in boxes 1, 3, and 5 of Tom's Form W-2. The employer also enters $170 in box 12 with code "C."

Group-term life insurance coverage paid by the employer for the spouse or dependents of an employee may be excludable from income as a de minimis fringe benefit if the face amount isn't more than $2,000. If the face amount is greater than $2,000, the dependent coverage may be excludable from income as a de minimis fringe benefit if the excess (if any) of the cost of insurance over the amount the employee paid for it on an after-tax basis is so small that accounting for it is unreasonable or administratively impracticable.

When group-term life insurance over $50,000 is provided to an employee (including retirees) after his or her termination, the employee share of social security and Medicare taxes on that period of coverage is paid by the former employee with his or her tax return and isn't collected by the employer. You’re not required to collect those taxes. Use the table above to determine the amount of social security and Medicare taxes owed by the former employee for coverage provided after separation from service. Report those uncollected amounts separately in box 12 of Form W-2 using codes "M" and "N." See the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3 and the Instructions for Form 941.

Generally, if your group-term life insurance plan favors key employees as to participation or benefits, you must include the entire cost of the insurance in your key employees' wages. This exception generally doesn't apply to church plans. When figuring social security and Medicare taxes, you must also include the entire cost in the employees' wages. Include the cost in boxes 1, 3, and 5 of Form W-2. However, you don't have to withhold federal income tax or pay FUTA tax on the cost of any group-term life insurance you provide to an employee.

For this purpose, the cost of the insurance is the greater of the following amounts.

The premiums you pay for the employee's insurance. See Regulations section 1.79-4T(Q&A 6) for more information.

The cost you figure using Table 2-2.

For this exclusion, a key employee during 2017 is an employee or former employee who is one of the following individuals. See section 416(i) of the Internal Revenue Code for more information.

An officer having annual pay of more than $175,000.

An individual who for 2017 is either of the following.

A 5% owner of your business.

A 1% owner of your business whose annual pay is more than $150,000.

A former employee who was a key employee upon retirement or separation from service is also a key employee.

Your plan doesn't favor key employees as to participation if at least one of the following is true.

It benefits at least 70% of your employees.

At least 85% of the participating employees aren't key employees.

It benefits employees who qualify under a set of rules you set up that don't favor key employees.

Your plan meets this participation test if it is part of a cafeteria plan (discussed in section 1) and it meets the participation test for those plans.

When applying this test, don't consider employees who:

Have not completed 3 years of service;

Are part time or seasonal;

Are nonresident aliens who receive no U. S. source earned income from you; ou.

Aren’t included in the plan but are in a unit of employees covered by a collective bargaining agreement, if the benefits provided under the plan were the subject of good-faith bargaining between you and employee representatives.

Your plan doesn't favor key employees as to benefits if all benefits available to participating key employees are also available to all other participating employees. Your plan doesn't favor key employees just because the amount of insurance you provide to your employees is uniformly related to their pay.

Because you can't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee for this exclusion, you must include the cost of all group-term life insurance coverage you provide the 2% shareholder in his or her wages. When figuring social security and Medicare taxes, you must also include the cost of this coverage in the 2% shareholder's wages. Include the cost in boxes 1, 3, and 5 of Form W-2. However, you don't have to withhold federal income tax or pay FUTA tax on the cost of any group-term life insurance coverage you provide to the 2% shareholder.

Health Savings Accounts.

A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an account owned by a qualified individual who is generally your employee or former employee. Any contributions that you make to an HSA become the employee's property and can't be withdrawn by you. Contributions to the account are used to pay current or future medical expenses of the account owner, his or her spouse, and any qualified dependent. The medical expenses must not be reimbursable by insurance or other sources and their payment from HSA funds (distribution) won't give rise to a medical expense deduction on the individual's federal income tax return.

A qualified individual must be covered by a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and not be covered by other health insurance except for permitted insurance listed under section 223(c)(3) or insurance for accidents, disability, dental care, vision care, or long-term care. For calendar year 2017, a qualifying HDHP must have a deductible of at least $1,300 for self-only coverage or $2,600 for family coverage and must limit annual out-of-pocket expenses of the beneficiary to $6,550 for self-only coverage and $13,100 for family coverage.

There are no income limits that restrict an individual's eligibility to contribute to an HSA nor is there a requirement that the account owner have earned income to make a contribution.

An individual isn't a qualified individual if he or she can be claimed as a dependent on another person's tax return. Also, an employee's participation in a health FSA or health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) generally disqualifies the individual (and employer) from making contributions to his or her HSA. However, an individual may qualify to participate in an HSA if he or she is participating in only a limited-purpose FSA or HRA or a post-deductible FSA. For more information, see Other employee health plans in Pub. 969.

Up to specified dollar limits, cash contributions to the HSA of a qualified individual (determined monthly) are exempt from federal income tax withholding, social security tax, Medicare tax, and FUTA tax, if you reasonably believe that the employee can exclude the benefits from gross income. For 2017, you can contribute up to $3,400 for self-only coverage under an HDHP or $6,750 for family coverage under an HDHP to a qualified individual's HSA.

The contribution amounts listed above are increased by $1,000 for a qualified individual who is age 55 or older at any time during the year. For two qualified individuals who are married to each other and who each are age 55 or older at any time during the year, each spouse's contribution limit is increased by $1,000 provided each spouse has a separate HSA. No contributions can be made to an individual's HSA after he or she becomes enrolled in Medicare Part A or Part B.

Your contribution amount to an employee's HSA must be comparable for all employees who have comparable coverage during the same period. Otherwise, there will be an excise tax equal to 35% of the amount you contributed to all employees' HSAs.

For guidance on employer comparable contributions to HSAs under section 4980G in instances where an employee hasn't established an HSA by December 31 and in instances where an employer accelerates contributions for the calendar year for employees who have incurred qualified medical expenses, see Regulations section 54.4980G-4.

The Tax Relief and Health Care Act of 2006 allows employers to make larger HSA contributions for a nonhighly compensated employee than for a highly compensated employee. A highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Partnerships and S corporations.

Partners and 2% shareholders of an S corporation aren't eligible for salary reduction (pre-tax) contributions to an HSA. Employer contributions to the HSA of a bona fide partner or 2% shareholder are treated as distributions or guaranteed payments as determined by the facts and circumstances.

You may contribute to an employee's HSA using a cafeteria plan and your contributions aren't subject to the statutory comparability rules. However, cafeteria plan nondiscrimination rules still apply. For example, contributions under a cafeteria plan to employee HSAs can't be greater for higher-paid employees than they are for lower-paid employees. Contributions that favor lower-paid employees aren't prohibited.

You must report your contributions to an employee's HSA in box 12 of Form W-2 using code "W." The trustee or custodian of the HSA, generally a bank or insurance company, reports distributions from the HSA using Form 1099-SA.

Lodging on Your Business Premises.

You can exclude the value of lodging you furnish to an employee from the employee's wages if it meets the following tests.

It is furnished on your business premises.

It is furnished for your convenience.

The employee must accept it as a condition of employment.

Different tests may apply to lodging furnished by educational institutions. See section 119(d) of the Internal Revenue Code for details.

If you allow your employee to choose to receive additional pay instead of lodging, then the lodging, if chosen, isn’t excluded. The exclusion also doesn't apply to cash allowances for lodging.

For this exclusion, your business premises is generally your employee's place of work. For example, if you're a household employer, then lodging furnished in your home to a household employee would be considered lodging furnished on your business premises. For special rules that apply to lodging furnished in a camp located in a foreign country, see section 119(c) of the Internal Revenue Code and its regulations.

Whether or not you furnish lodging for your convenience as an employer depends on all the facts and circumstances. You furnish the lodging to your employee for your convenience if you do this for a substantial business reason other than to provide the employee with additional pay. This is true even if a law or an employment contract provides that the lodging is furnished as pay. However, a written statement that the lodging is furnished for your convenience isn't sufficient.

Lodging meets this test if you require your employees to accept the lodging because they need to live on your business premises to be able to properly perform their duties. Examples include employees who must be available at all times and employees who couldn't perform their required duties without being furnished the lodging.

It doesn't matter whether you must furnish the lodging as pay under the terms of an employment contract or a law fixing the terms of employment.

Example of qualifying lodging.

You employ Sam at a construction project at a remote job site in Alaska. Due to the inaccessibility of facilities for the employees who are working at the job site to obtain lodging and the prevailing weather conditions, you furnish lodging to your employees at the construction site in order to carry on the construction project. You require that your employees accept the lodging as a condition of their employment. You may exclude the lodging that you provide from Sam's wages. Additionally, since sufficient eating facilities aren’t available near your place of employment, you may also exclude meals you provide to Sam from his wages, as discussed under Meals on Your Business Premises , later in this section.

Example of nonqualifying lodging.

A hospital gives Joan, an employee of the hospital, the choice of living at the hospital free of charge or living elsewhere and receiving a cash allowance in addition to her regular salary. If Joan chooses to live at the hospital, the hospital can't exclude the value of the lodging from her wages because she isn't required to live at the hospital to properly perform the duties of her employment.

S corporation shareholders.

For this exclusion, don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

This section discusses the exclusion rules that apply to de minimis meals and meals on your business premises.

De Minimis Meals.

You can exclude any occasional meal you provide to an employee if it has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide meals to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable. The exclusion applies, for example, to the following items.

Coffee, doughnuts, or soft drinks.

Occasional meals or meal money provided to enable an employee to work overtime. However, the exclusion doesn't apply to meal money figured on the basis of hours worked, or meals or meal money provided on a regular or routine basis.

Occasional parties or picnics for employees and their guests.

If food or beverages you furnish to employees qualify as a de minimis benefit, you can deduct their full cost. The 50% limit on deductions for the cost of meals doesn't apply. The deduction limit on meals is discussed in chapter 2 of Pub. 535.

For this exclusion, treat any recipient of a de minimis meal as an employee.

Employer-operated eating facility for employees.

The de minimis meals exclusion also applies to meals you provide at an employer-operated eating facility for employees if the annual revenue from the facility equals or exceeds the direct operating costs of the facility. Direct operating costs include the cost of food, beverages, and labor costs (including employment taxes) of employees whose services relating to the facility are performed primarily on the premises of the eating facility. Therefore, for example, the labor costs attributable to cooks, waiters, and waitresses are included in direct operating costs, but the labor cost attributable to a manager of an eating facility whose services aren't primarily performed on the premises of the eating facility aren't included in direct operating costs.

For this purpose, your revenue from providing a meal is considered equal to the facility's direct operating costs to provide that meal if its value can be excluded from an employee's wages as explained under Meals on Your Business Premises , later. If you provide free or discounted meals to volunteers at a hospital and you can reasonably determine the number of meals you provide, then you may disregard these costs and revenues. If you charge nonemployees a greater amount than employees, then you must disregard all costs and revenues attributable to these nonemployees.

An employer-operated eating facility for employees is an eating facility that meets all the following conditions.

You own or lease the facility.

You operate the facility. You’re considered to operate the eating facility if you have a contract with another to operate it.

The facility is on or near your business premises.

You provide meals (food, drinks, and related services) at the facility during, or immediately before or after, the employee's workday.

You can generally exclude the value of de minimis meals you provide to an employee from the employee's wages.

Exception for highly compensated employees.

You can't exclude from the wages of a highly compensated employee the value of a meal provided at an employer-operated eating facility that isn't available on the same terms to one of the following groups.

All of your employees.

A group of employees defined under a reasonable classification you set up that doesn't favor highly compensated employees.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Meals on Your Business Premises.

You can exclude the value of meals you furnish to an employee from the employee's wages if they meet the following tests.

They are furnished on your business premises.

They are furnished for your convenience.

If you allow your employee to choose to receive additional pay instead of meals, then the meals, if chosen, aren’t excluded. The exclusion also doesn't apply to cash allowances for meals.

Generally, for this exclusion, the employee's place of work is your business premises.

Whether you furnish meals for your convenience as an employer depends on all the facts and circumstances. You furnish the meals to your employee for your convenience if you do this for a substantial business reason other than to provide the employee with additional pay. This is true even if a law or an employment contract provides that the meals are furnished as pay. However, a written statement that the meals are furnished for your convenience isn't sufficient.

Meals excluded for all employees if excluded for more than half.

If more than half of your employees who are furnished meals on your business premises are furnished the meals for your convenience, you can treat all meals you furnish to employees on your business premises as furnished for your convenience.

Meals you furnish to a restaurant or other food service employee during, or immediately before or after, the employee's working hours are furnished for your convenience. For example, if a waitress works through the breakfast and lunch periods, you can exclude from her wages the value of the breakfast and lunch you furnish in your restaurant for each day she works.

You operate a restaurant business. You furnish your employee, Carol, who is a waitress working 7 a. m. to 4 p. m., two meals during each workday. You encourage but don't require Carol to have her breakfast on the business premises before starting work. She must have her lunch on the premises. Since Carol is a food service employee and works during the normal breakfast and lunch periods, you can exclude from her wages the value of her breakfast and lunch.

If you also allow Carol to have meals on your business premises without charge on her days off, you can't exclude the value of those meals from her wages.

Employees available for emergency calls.

Meals you furnish during working hours so an employee will be available for emergency calls during the meal period are furnished for your convenience. You must be able to show these emergency calls have occurred or can reasonably be expected to occur, and that the calls have resulted, or will result, in you calling on your employees to perform their jobs during their meal period.

A hospital maintains a cafeteria on its premises where all of its 230 employees may get meals at no charge during their working hours. The hospital must have 120 of its employees available for emergencies. Each of these 120 employees is, at times, called upon to perform services during the meal period. Although the hospital doesn't require these employees to remain on the premises, they rarely leave the hospital during their meal period. Since the hospital furnishes meals on its premises to its employees so that more than half of them are available for emergency calls during meal periods, the hospital can exclude the value of these meals from the wages of all of its employees.

Meals you furnish during working hours are furnished for your convenience if the nature of your business (not merely a preference) restricts an employee to a short meal period (such as 30 or 45 minutes) and the employee can't be expected to eat elsewhere in such a short time. For example, meals can qualify for this treatment if your peak workload occurs during the normal lunch hour. However, they don't qualify if the reason for the short meal period is to allow the employee to leave earlier in the day.

Frank is a bank teller who works from 9 a. m. to 5 p. m. The bank furnishes his lunch without charge in a cafeteria the bank maintains on its premises. The bank furnishes these meals to Frank to limit his lunch period to 30 minutes, since the bank's peak workload occurs during the normal lunch period. If Frank got his lunch elsewhere, it would take him much longer than 30 minutes and the bank strictly enforces the time limit. The bank can exclude the value of these meals from Frank's wages.

Proper meals not otherwise available.

Meals you furnish during working hours are furnished for your convenience if the employee couldn't otherwise get proper meals within a reasonable period of time. For example, meals can qualify for this treatment if there are insufficient eating facilities near the place of employment. For an example of this, see the Example of qualifying lodging , earlier in this section.

Meals you furnish to an employee immediately after working hours are furnished for your convenience if you would have furnished them during working hours for a substantial nonpay business reason but, because of the work duties, they weren't eaten during working hours.

Meals you furnish to promote goodwill, boost morale, or attract prospective employees.

Meals you furnish to promote goodwill, boost morale, or attract prospective employees aren't considered furnished for your convenience. However, you may be able to exclude their value as discussed under De Minimis Meals , earlier.

Meals furnished on nonworkdays or with lodging.

You generally can't exclude from an employee's wages the value of meals you furnish on a day when the employee isn't working. However, you can exclude these meals if they are furnished with lodging that is excluded from the employee's wages as discussed under Lodging on Your Business Premises , earlier in this section.

The fact that you charge for the meals and that your employees may accept or decline the meals isn't taken into account in determining whether or not meals are furnished for your convenience.

S corporation shareholder-employee.

For this exclusion, don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

Moving Expense Reimbursements.

This exclusion applies to any amount you directly or indirectly give to an employee (including services furnished in kind) as payment for, or reimbursement of, moving expenses related to starting work at a new principal place of work. You must make the reimbursement under rules similar to those described in chapter 11 of Pub. 535 for reimbursement of expenses for travel, meals, and entertainment under accountable plans.

The exclusion applies only to reimbursement of moving expenses that the employee could deduct if he or she had paid or incurred them without reimbursement. However, it doesn't apply if the employee actually deducted the expenses in a previous year.

Deductible moving expenses.

Deductible moving expenses include only the reasonable expenses of:

Moving household goods and personal effects from the former home to the new home, and.

Traveling (including lodging) from the former home to the new home.

Deductible moving expenses don't include any expenses for meals and must meet both the distance test and the time test. The distance test is met if the new job location is at least 50 miles farther from the employee's old home than the old job location was. The time test is met if the employee works at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after arriving in the general area of the new job location.

For more information on deductible moving expenses, see Pub. 521.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

Don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

Generally, you can exclude qualifying moving expense reimbursement you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. If you paid the reimbursement directly to the employee, report the amount in box 12 of Form W-2 with the code "P." Don't report payments to a third party for the employee's moving expenses or the value of moving services you provided in kind.

No-Additional-Cost Services.

This exclusion applies to a service you provide to an employee if it doesn't cause you to incur any substantial additional costs. The service must be offered to customers in the ordinary course of the line of business in which the employee performs substantial services.

No-additional-cost services are excess capacity services, such as airline, bus, or train tickets; hotel rooms; or telephone services provided free, at a reduced price, or through a cash rebate to employees working in those lines of business. Services that aren't eligible for treatment as no-additional-cost services are non-excess capacity services, such as the facilitation by a stock brokerage firm of the purchase of stock by employees. These services may however be eligible for a qualified employee discount of up to 20% of the value of the service provided as discussed in Employee Discounts , earlier.

Substantial additional costs.

To determine whether you incur substantial additional costs to provide a service to an employee, count any lost revenue as a cost. Don't reduce the costs you incur by any amount the employee pays for the service. You’re considered to incur substantial additional costs if you or your employees spend a substantial amount of time in providing the service, even if the time spent would otherwise be idle or if the services are provided outside normal business hours.

A commercial airline allows its employees to take personal flights on the airline at no charge and receive reserved seating. Because the employer gives up potential revenue by allowing the employees to reserve seats, employees receiving such free flights aren’t eligible for the no-additional-cost exclusion.

A no-additional-cost service provided to your employee by an unrelated employer may qualify as a no-additional-cost service if all the following tests are met.

The service is the same type of service generally provided to customers in both the line of business in which the employee works and the line of business in which the service is provided.

You and the employer providing the service have a written reciprocal agreement under which a group of employees of each employer, all of whom perform substantial services in the same line of business, may receive no-additional-cost services from the other employer.

Neither you nor the other employer incurs any substantial additional cost either in providing the service or because of the written agreement.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A former employee who retired or left on disability.

A widow or widower of an individual who died while an employee.

A widow or widower of a former employee who retired or left on disability.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

Treat services you provide to the spouse or dependent child of an employee as provided to the employee. For this fringe benefit, dependent child means any son, stepson, daughter, stepdaughter, or eligible foster child who is a dependent of the employee, or both of whose parents have died and who hasn't reached age 25. Treat a child of divorced parents as a dependent of both parents.

Treat any use of air transportation by the parent of an employee as use by the employee. This rule doesn't apply to use by the parent of a person considered an employee because of item (3) or (4) above.

You can generally exclude the value of a no-additional-cost service you provide to an employee from the employee's wages.

Exception for highly compensated employees.

You can't exclude from the wages of a highly compensated employee the value of a no-additional-cost service that isn't available on the same terms to one of the following groups.

All of your employees.

A group of employees defined under a reasonable classification you set up that doesn't favor highly compensated employees.

For this exclusion, a highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Retirement Planning Services.

You may exclude from an employee's wages the value of any retirement planning advice or information you provide to your employee or his or her spouse if you maintain a qualified retirement plan. A qualified retirement plan includes a plan, contract, pension, or account described in section 219(g)(5) of the Internal Revenue Code. In addition to employer plan advice and information, the services provided may include general advice and information on retirement. However, the exclusion doesn't apply to services for tax preparation, accounting, legal, or brokerage services. You can't exclude from the wages of a highly compensated employee retirement planning services that aren't available on the same terms to each member of a group of employees normally provided education and information about the employer's qualified retirement plan.

Transportation (Commuting) Benefits.

This section discusses exclusion rules that apply to benefits you provide to your employees for their personal transportation, such as commuting to and from work. These rules apply to the following transportation benefits.

De minimis transportation benefits.

Qualified transportation benefits.

Special rules that apply to demonstrator cars and qualified nonpersonal use vehicles are discussed under Working Condition Benefits , later in this section.

De Minimis Transportation Benefits.

You can exclude the value of any de minimis transportation benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages. A de minimis transportation benefit is any local transportation benefit you provide to an employee if it has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide transportation to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable. For example, it applies to occasional local transportation fare you give an employee because the employee is working overtime if the benefit is reasonable and isn't based on hours worked. Local transportation fare provided on a regular or routine basis doesn't qualify for this exclusion.

For this exclusion, treat any recipient of a de minimis transportation benefit as an employee.

Qualified Transportation Benefits.

This exclusion applies to the following benefits.

A ride in a commuter highway vehicle between the employee's home and work place.

Qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.

You may provide an employee with any one or more of the first three benefits at the same time. However, the exclusion for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement isn't available in any month the employee receives any of the other qualified transportation benefits.

Qualified transportation benefits can be provided directly by you or through a bona fide reimbursement arrangement. However, cash reimbursements for transit passes qualify only if a voucher or a similar item that the employee can exchange only for a transit pass isn't readily available for direct distribution by you to your employee. A voucher is readily available for direct distribution only if an employer can obtain it from a voucher provider that doesn't impose fare media charges or other restrictions that effectively prevent the employer from obtaining vouchers. See Regulations section 1.132-9(b)(Q&A 16–19) for more information.

Generally, you can exclude qualified transportation fringe benefits from an employee's wages even if you provide them in place of pay. However, qualified bicycle commuting reimbursements can't be excluded if the reimbursements are provided in place of pay. For information about providing qualified transportation fringe benefits under a compensation reduction agreement, see Regulations section 1.132-9(b)(Q&A 11–15).

A commuter highway vehicle is any highway vehicle that seats at least 6 adults (not including the driver). In addition, you must reasonably expect that at least 80% of the vehicle mileage will be for transporting employees between their homes and work place with employees occupying at least one-half the vehicle's seats (not including the driver's).

A transit pass is any pass, token, farecard, voucher, or similar item entitling a person to ride, free of charge or at a reduced rate, on one of the following.

On mass transit.

In a vehicle that seats at least 6 adults (not including the driver) if a person in the business of transporting persons for pay or hire operates it.

Mass transit may be publicly or privately operated and includes bus, rail, or ferry. For guidance on the use of smart cards and debit cards to provide qualified transportation fringes, see Revenue Ruling 2014-32, 2014-50 I. R.B. 917, available at IRS. gov/irb/2014-50_IRB/ar06.html.

Qualified parking is parking you provide to your employees on or near your business premises. It includes parking on or near the location from which your employees commute to work using mass transit, commuter highway vehicles, or carpools. It doesn't include parking at or near your employee's home.

Qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement.

For any calendar year, the exclusion for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement includes any employer reimbursement during the 15-month period beginning with the first day of the calendar year for reasonable expenses incurred by the employee during the calendar year.

Reasonable expenses include:

The purchase of a bicycle; e.

Bicycle improvements, repair, and storage.

These are considered reasonable expenses as long as the bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee's residence and place of employment.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A leased employee who has provided services to you on a substantially full-time basis for at least a year if the services are performed under your primary direction or control.

A self-employed individual isn't an employee for qualified transportation benefit purposes.

Exception for S corporation shareholders.

Don't treat a 2% shareholder of an S corporation as an employee of the corporation for this purpose. A 2% shareholder is someone who directly or indirectly owns (at any time during the year) more than 2% of the corporation's stock or stock with more than 2% of the voting power. Treat a 2% shareholder as you would a partner in a partnership for fringe benefit purposes, but don't treat the benefit as a reduction in distributions to the 2% shareholder.

Relation to other fringe benefits.

You can't exclude a qualified transportation benefit you provide to an employee under the de minimis or working condition benefit rules. However, if you provide a local transportation benefit other than by transit pass or commuter highway vehicle, or to a person other than an employee, you may be able to exclude all or part of the benefit under other fringe benefit rules (de minimis, working condition, etc.).

You can generally exclude the value of transportation benefits that you provide to an employee during 2017 from the employee's wages up to the following limits.

$255 per month for combined commuter highway vehicle transportation and transit passes.

$255 per month for qualified parking.

For a calendar year, $20 multiplied by the number of qualified bicycle commuting months during that year for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursement of expenses incurred during the year.

For any employee, a qualified bicycle commuting month is any month the employee:

Regularly uses the bicycle for a substantial portion of the travel between the employee's residence and place of employment; e.

Transportation in a commuter highway vehicle,

Any transit pass, or.

Qualified parking benefits.

If the value of a benefit for any month is more than its limit, include in the employee's wages the amount over the limit minus any amount the employee paid for the benefit. You can't exclude the excess from the employee's wages as a de minimis transportation benefit.

For more information on qualified transportation benefits, including van pools, and how to determine the value of parking, see Regulations section 1.132-9.

Tuition Reduction.

An educational organization can exclude the value of a qualified tuition reduction it provides to an employee from the employee's wages.

A tuition reduction for undergraduate education generally qualifies for this exclusion if it is for the education of one of the following individuals.

A current employee.

A former employee who retired or left on disability.

A widow or widower of an individual who died while an employee.

A widow or widower of a former employee who retired or left on disability.

A dependent child or spouse of any individual listed in (1) through (4) above.

A tuition reduction for graduate education qualifies for this exclusion only if it is for the education of a graduate student who performs teaching or research activities for the educational organization.

For more information on this exclusion, see Qualified Tuition Reduction under Other Types of Educational Assistance in chapter 1 of Pub. 970.

Working Condition Benefits.

This exclusion applies to property and services you provide to an employee so that the employee can perform his or her job. It applies to the extent the employee could deduct the cost of the property or services as a business expense or depreciation expense if he or she had paid for it. The employee must meet any substantiation requirements that apply to the deduction. Examples of working condition benefits include an employee's use of a company car for business, an employer-provided cell phone provided primarily for noncompensatory business purposes, and job-related education provided to an employee.

This exclusion also applies to a cash payment you provide for an employee's expenses for a specific or prearranged business activity for which a deduction is otherwise allowable to the employee. You must require the employee to verify that the payment is actually used for those expenses and to return any unused part of the payment.

For information on deductible employee business expenses, see Unreimbursed Employee Expenses in Pub. 529.

The exclusion doesn't apply to the following items.

A service or property provided under a flexible spending account in which you agree to provide the employee, over a time period, a certain level of unspecified noncash benefits with a predetermined cash value.

A physical examination program you provide, even if mandatory.

Any item to the extent the employee could deduct its cost as an expense for a trade or business other than your trade or business.

For this exclusion, treat the following individuals as employees.

A current employee.

A partner who performs services for a partnership.

A director of your company.

An independent contractor who performs services for you.

If you provide a car for an employee's use, the amount you can exclude as a working condition benefit is the amount that would be allowable as a deductible business expense if the employee paid for its use. If the employee uses the car for both business and personal use, the value of the working condition benefit is the part determined to be for business use of the vehicle. See Business use of your car under Personal Versus Business Expenses in chapter 1 of Pub. 535. Also, see the special rules for certain demonstrator cars and qualified nonpersonal use vehicles discussed later.

However, instead of excluding the value of the working condition benefit, you can include the entire annual lease value of the car in the employee's wages. The employee can then claim any deductible business expense for the car as an itemized deduction on his or her personal income tax return. This option is available only if you use the lease value rule (discussed in section 3) to value the benefit.

Generally, all of the use of a demonstrator car by your full-time auto salesperson in the sales area in which your sales office is located qualifies as a working condition benefit if the use is primarily to facilitate the services the salesperson provides for you and there are substantial restrictions on personal use. For more information and the definition of "full-time auto salesperson," see Regulations section 1.132-5(o). For optional, simplified methods used to determine if full, partial, or no exclusion of income to the employee for personal use of a demonstrator car applies, see Revenue Procedure 2001-56. You can find Revenue Procedure 2001-56 on page 590 of Internal Revenue Bulletin 2001-51 at.

Qualified nonpersonal use vehicles.

All of an employee's use of a qualified nonpersonal use vehicle is a working condition benefit. A qualified nonpersonal use vehicle is any vehicle the employee isn't likely to use more than minimally for personal purposes because of its design. Qualified nonpersonal use vehicles generally include all of the following vehicles.

Clearly marked, through painted insignia or words, police, fire, and public safety vehicles.

Unmarked vehicles used by law enforcement officers if the use is officially authorized.

An ambulance or hearse used for its specific purpose.

Any vehicle designed to carry cargo with a loaded gross vehicle weight over 14,000 pounds.

Delivery trucks with seating for the driver only, or the driver plus a folding jump seat.

A passenger bus with a capacity of at least 20 passengers used for its specific purpose.

Tractors and other special-purpose farm vehicles.

Bucket trucks, cement mixers, combines, cranes and derricks, dump trucks (including garbage trucks), flatbed trucks, forklifts, qualified moving vans, qualified specialized utility repair trucks, and refrigerated trucks.

See Regulations section 1.274-5(k) for the definition of qualified moving van and qualified specialized utility repair truck.

A pickup truck with a loaded gross vehicle weight of 14,000 pounds or less is a qualified nonpersonal use vehicle if it has been specially modified so it isn't likely to be used more than minimally for personal purposes. For example, a pickup truck qualifies if it is clearly marked with permanently affixed decals, special painting, or other advertising associated with your trade, business, or function and meets either of the following requirements.

It is equipped with at least one of the following items.

A hydraulic lift gate.

Permanent tanks or drums.

Permanent side boards or panels that materially raise the level of the sides of the truck bed.

Other heavy equipment (such as an electric generator, welder, boom, or crane used to tow automobiles and other vehicles).

It is used primarily to transport a particular type of load (other than over the public highways) in a construction, manufacturing, processing, farming, mining, drilling, timbering, or other similar operation for which it was specially designed or significantly modified.

A van with a loaded gross vehicle weight of 14,000 pounds or less is a qualified nonpersonal use vehicle if it has been specially modified so it isn't likely to be used more than minimally for personal purposes. For example, a van qualifies if it is clearly marked with permanently affixed decals, special painting, or other advertising associated with your trade, business, or function and has a seat for the driver only (or the driver and one other person) and either of the following items.

Permanent shelving that fills most of the cargo area.

An open cargo area and the van always carries merchandise, material, or equipment used in your trade, business, or function.

Certain job-related education you provide to an employee may qualify for exclusion as a working condition benefit. To qualify, the education must meet the same requirements that would apply for determining whether the employee could deduct the expenses had the employee paid the expenses. Degree programs as a whole don't necessarily qualify as a working condition benefit. Each course in the program must be evaluated individually for qualification as a working condition benefit. The education must meet at least one of the following tests.

The education is required by the employer or by law for the employee to keep his or her present salary, status, or job. The required education must serve a bona fide business purpose of the employer.

The education maintains or improves skills needed in the job.

However, even if the education meets one or both of the above tests, it isn't qualifying education if it:

Is needed to meet the minimum educational requirements of the employee's present trade or business, or.

Is part of a program of study that will qualify the employee for a new trade or business.

An employee's use of outplacement services qualifies as a working condition benefit if you provide the services to the employee on the basis of need, you get a substantial business benefit from the services distinct from the benefit you would get from the payment of additional wages, and the employee is seeking employment in the same trade or business of the employer. Substantial business benefits include promoting a positive business image, maintaining employee morale, and avoiding wrongful termination suits.

Outplacement services don't qualify as a working condition benefit if the employee can choose to receive cash or taxable benefits in place of the services. If you maintain a severance plan and permit employees to get outplacement services with reduced severance pay, include in the employee's wages the difference between the unreduced severance and the reduced severance payments.

The fair market value of the use of consumer goods, which are manufactured for sale to nonemployees, for product testing and evaluation by your employee outside your workplace, qualifies as a working condition benefit, if all of the following conditions are met.

Consumer testing and evaluation of the product is an ordinary and necessary business expense for you.

Business reasons necessitate that the testing and evaluation must be performed off your business premises. For example, the testing and evaluation can't be carried out adequately in your office or in laboratory testing facilities.

You provide the product to your employee for purposes of testing and evaluation.

You provide the product to your employee for no longer than necessary to test and evaluate its performance, and (to the extent not finished) the product must be returned to you at completion of the testing and evaluation period.

You impose limitations on your employee’s use of the product that significantly reduce the value of any personal benefit to your employee. This includes limiting your employee’s ability to select among different models or varieties of the consumer product, and prohibiting the use of the product by persons other than your employee.

Your employee submits detailed reports to you on the testing and evaluation.

The program won’t qualify if you don’t use and examine the results of the detailed reports submitted by employees within a reasonable period of time after expiration of the testing period. Additionally, existence of one or more of the following factors may also establish that the program isn’t a bona fide product-testing program.

The program is in essence a leasing program under which employees lease the consumer goods from you for a fee.

The nature of the product and other considerations are insufficient to justify the testing program.

The expense of the program outweighs the benefits to be gained from testing and evaluation.

The program must also not be limited to only certain classes of employees (such as highly compensated employees), unless you can show a business reason for providing the products only to specific employees. For example, an automobile manufacturer may limit providing automobiles for testing and evaluation to only their design engineers and supervisory mechanics, as they can properly evaluate the automobiles.

You can generally exclude the value of a working condition benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages.

Exception for independent contractors.

You can't exclude the value of parking (unless de minimis), transit passes (if their monthly value exceeds $255 per month), or the use of consumer goods you provide in a product-testing program from the compensation you pay to an independent contractor who performs services for you.

You can't exclude the value of the use of consumer goods you provide in a product-testing program from the compensation you pay to a director.

3. Fringe Benefit Valuation Rules.

This section discusses the rules you must use to determine the value of a fringe benefit you provide to an employee. You must determine the value of any benefit you can't exclude under the rules in section 2 or for which the amount you can exclude is limited. See Including taxable benefits in pay in section 1.

In most cases, you must use the general valuation rule to value a fringe benefit. However, you may be able to use a special valuation rule to determine the value of certain benefits.

This section doesn't discuss the special valuation rule used to value meals provided at an employer-operated eating facility for employees. For that rule, see Regulations section 1.61-21(j). This section also doesn't discuss the special valuation rules used to value the use of aircraft. For those rules, see Regulations sections 1.61-21(g) and (h). The aircraft fringe benefit valuation formulas are published in the Internal Revenue Bulletin as Revenue Rulings twice during the year. The formula applicable for the first half of the year is usually available at the end of March. The formula applicable for the second half of the year is usually available at the end of September.

General Valuation Rule.

You must use the general valuation rule to determine the value of most fringe benefits. Under this rule, the value of a fringe benefit is its fair market value.

The fair market value (FMV) of a fringe benefit is the amount an employee would have to pay a third party in an arm's-length transaction to buy or lease the benefit. Determine this amount on the basis of all the facts and circumstances.

Neither the amount the employee considers to be the value of the fringe benefit nor the cost you incur to provide the benefit determines its FMV.

In general, the FMV of an employer-provided vehicle is the amount the employee would have to pay a third party to lease the same or similar vehicle on the same or comparable terms in the geographic area where the employee uses the vehicle. A comparable lease term would be the amount of time the vehicle is available for the employee's use, such as a 1-year period.

Don't determine the FMV by multiplying a cents-per-mile rate times the number of miles driven unless the employee can prove the vehicle could have been leased on a cents-per-mile basis.

Cents-Per-Mile Rule.

Under this rule, you determine the value of a vehicle you provide to an employee for personal use by multiplying the standard mileage rate by the total miles the employee drives the vehicle for personal purposes. Personal use is any use of the vehicle other than use in your trade or business. This amount must be included in the employee's wages or reimbursed by the employee. For 2017, the standard mileage rate is 53.5 cents per mile.

You can use the cents-per-mile rule if either of the following requirements is met.

You reasonably expect the vehicle to be regularly used in your trade or business throughout the calendar year (or for a shorter period during which you own or lease it).

The vehicle meets the mileage test.

Maximum automobile value. You can't use the cents-per-mile rule for an automobile (any four-wheeled vehicle, such as a car, pickup truck, or van) if its value when you first make it available to any employee for personal use is more than an amount determined by the IRS as the maximum automobile value for the year. For example, you can't use the cents-per-mile rule for an automobile that you first made available to an employee in 2016 if its value at that time exceeded $15,900 for a passenger automobile or $17,700 for a truck or van. The maximum automobile value for 2017 will be published in a notice in the Internal Revenue Bulletin early in 2017. If you and the employee own or lease the automobile together, see Regulations sections 1.61-21(e)(1)(iii)(B) and (C).

For the cents-per-mile rule, a vehicle is any motorized wheeled vehicle, including an automobile, manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways.

Regular use in your trade or business.

A vehicle is regularly used in your trade or business if at least one of the following conditions is met.

At least 50% of the vehicle's total annual mileage is for your trade or business.

You sponsor a commuting pool that generally uses the vehicle each workday to drive at least three employees to and from work.

The vehicle is regularly used in your trade or business on the basis of all of the facts and circumstances. Infrequent business use of the vehicle, such as for occasional trips to the airport or between your multiple business premises, isn't regular use of the vehicle in your trade or business.

A vehicle meets the mileage test for a calendar year if both of the following requirements are met.

The vehicle is actually driven at least 10,000 miles during the year. If you own or lease the vehicle only part of the year, reduce the 10,000-mile requirement proportionately.

The vehicle is used during the year primarily by employees. Consider the vehicle used primarily by employees if they use it consistently for commuting. Don't treat the use of the vehicle by another individual whose use would be taxed to the employee as use by the employee.

For example, if only one employee uses a vehicle during the calendar year and that employee drives the vehicle at least 10,000 miles in that year, the vehicle meets the mileage test even if all miles driven by the employee are personal.

If you use the cents-per-mile rule, the following requirements apply.

You must begin using the cents-per-mile rule on the first day you make the vehicle available to any employee for personal use. However, if you use the commuting rule (discussed later) when you first make the vehicle available to any employee for personal use, you can change to the cents-per-mile rule on the first day for which you don't use the commuting rule.

You must use the cents-per-mile rule for all later years in which you make the vehicle available to any employee and the vehicle qualifies, except that you can use the commuting rule for any year during which use of the vehicle qualifies under the commuting rules. However, if the vehicle doesn't qualify for the cents-per-mile rule during a later year, you can use for that year and thereafter any other rule for which the vehicle then qualifies.

You must continue to use the cents-per-mile rule if you provide a replacement vehicle to the employee (and the vehicle qualifies for the use of this rule) and your primary reason for the replacement is to reduce federal taxes.

Items included in cents-per-mile rate.

The cents-per-mile rate includes the value of maintenance and insurance for the vehicle. Don't reduce the rate by the value of any service included in the rate that you didn't provide. You can take into account the services actually provided for the vehicle by using the General Valuation Rule , earlier.

For miles driven in the United States, its territories and possessions, Canada, and Mexico, the cents-per-mile rate includes the value of fuel you provide. If you don't provide fuel, you can reduce the rate by no more than 5.5 cents.

For special rules that apply to fuel you provide for miles driven outside the United States, Canada, and Mexico, see Regulations section 1.61-21(e)(3)(ii)(B).

The value of any other service you provide for a vehicle isn't included in the cents-per-mile rate. Use the general valuation rule to value these services.

Commuting Rule.

Under this rule, you determine the value of a vehicle you provide to an employee for commuting use by multiplying each one-way commute (that is, from home to work or from work to home) by $1.50. If more than one employee commutes in the vehicle, this value applies to each employee. This amount must be included in the employee's wages or reimbursed by the employee.

You can use the commuting rule if all the following requirements are met.

You provide the vehicle to an employee for use in your trade or business and, for bona fide noncompensatory business reasons, you require the employee to commute in the vehicle. You will be treated as if you had met this requirement if the vehicle is generally used each workday to carry at least three employees to and from work in an employer-sponsored commuting pool.

You establish a written policy under which you don't allow the employee to use the vehicle for personal purposes other than for commuting or de minimis personal use (such as a stop for a personal errand on the way between a business delivery and the employee's home). Personal use of a vehicle is all use that isn't for your trade or business.

The employee doesn't use the vehicle for personal purposes other than commuting and de minimis personal use.

If this vehicle is an automobile (any four-wheeled vehicle, such as a car, pickup truck, or van), the employee who uses it for commuting isn't a control employee. See Control employee , later.

For this rule, a vehicle is any motorized wheeled vehicle, including an automobile manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways.

A control employee of a nongovernment employer for 2017 is generally any of the following employees.

A board or shareholder-appointed, confirmed, or elected officer whose pay is $105,000 or more.

An employee whose pay is $215,000 or more.

An employee who owns a 1% or more equity, capital, or profits interest in your business.

A control employee for a government employer for 2017 is either of the following.

A government employee whose compensation is equal to or exceeds Federal Government Executive Level V. See the Office of Personnel Management website at opm. gov/policy-data-oversight/pay-leave/salaries-wages/ for 2017 compensation information.

An elected official.

Highly compensated employee alternative.

Instead of using the preceding definition, you can choose to define a control employee as any highly compensated employee. A highly compensated employee for 2017 is an employee who meets either of the following tests.

The employee was a 5% owner at any time during the year or the preceding year.

The employee received more than $120,000 in pay for the preceding year.

You can choose to ignore test (2) if the employee wasn't also in the top 20% of employees when ranked by pay for the preceding year.

Lease Value Rule.

Under this rule, you determine the value of an automobile you provide to an employee by using its annual lease value. For an automobile provided only part of the year, use either its prorated annual lease value or its daily lease value.

If the automobile is used by the employee in your business, you generally reduce the lease value by the amount that is excluded from the employee's wages as a working condition benefit. In order to do this, the employee must account to the employer for the business use. This is done by substantiating the usage (mileage, for example), the time and place of the travel, and the business purpose of the travel. Written records made at the time of each business use are the best evidence. Any use of a company-provided vehicle that isn't substantiated as business use is included in income. The working condition benefit is the amount that would be an allowable business expense deduction for the employee if the employee paid for the use of the vehicle. However, you can choose to include the entire lease value in the employee's wages. See Vehicle allocation rules under Working Condition Benefit in section 2.

For this rule, an automobile is any four-wheeled vehicle (such as a car, pickup truck, or van) manufactured primarily for use on public streets, roads, and highways.

If you use the lease value rule, the following requirements apply.

You must begin using this rule on the first day you make the automobile available to any employee for personal use. However, the following exceptions apply.

If you use the commuting rule (discussed earlier in this section) when you first make the automobile available to any employee for personal use, you can change to the lease value rule on the first day for which you don't use the commuting rule.

If you use the cents-per-mile rule (discussed earlier in this section) when you first make the automobile available to any employee for personal use, you can change to the lease value rule on the first day on which the automobile no longer qualifies for the cents-per-mile rule.

You must use this rule for all later years in which you make the automobile available to any employee, except that you can use the commuting rule for any year during which use of the automobile qualifies.

You must continue to use this rule if you provide a replacement automobile to the employee and your primary reason for the replacement is to reduce federal taxes.

Annual Lease Value.

Generally, you figure the annual lease value of an automobile as follows.

Determine the FMV of the automobile on the first date it is available to any employee for personal use.

Using Table 3-1, read down column (1) until you come to the dollar range within which the FMV of the automobile falls. Then read across to column (2) to find the annual lease value.

Multiply the annual lease value by the percentage of personal miles out of total miles driven by the employee.

Table 3-1. Annual Lease Value Table.

For automobiles with an FMV of more than $59,999, the annual lease value equals (0.25 × the FMV of the automobile) + $500.

The FMV of an automobile is the amount a person would pay to buy it from a third party in an arm's-length transaction in the area in which the automobile is bought or leased. That amount includes all purchase expenses, such as sales tax and title fees.

If you have 20 or more automobiles, see Regulations section 1.61-21(d)(5)(v). If you and the employee own or lease the automobile together, see Regulations section 1.61-21(d)(2)(ii).

You don't have to include the value of a telephone or any specialized equipment added to, or carried in, the automobile if the equipment is necessary for your business. However, include the value of specialized equipment if the employee to whom the automobile is available uses the specialized equipment in a trade or business other than yours.

Neither the amount the employee considers to be the value of the benefit nor your cost for either buying or leasing the automobile determines its FMV. However, see Safe-harbor value next.

You may be able to use a safe-harbor value as the FMV.

For an automobile you bought at arm's length, the safe-harbor value is your cost, including sales tax, title, and other purchase expenses. This method isn’t available for an automobile you manufactured.

For an automobile you lease, you can use any of the following as the safe-harbor value.

The manufacturer's invoice price (including options) plus 4%.

The manufacturer's suggested retail price minus 8% (including sales tax, title, and other expenses of purchase).

The retail value of the automobile reported by a nationally recognized pricing source if that retail value is reasonable for the automobile.

Items included in annual lease value table.

Each annual lease value in the table includes the value of maintenance and insurance for the automobile. Don't reduce the annual lease value by the value of any of these services that you didn't provide. For example, don't reduce the annual lease value by the value of a maintenance service contract or insurance you didn't provide. You can take into account the services actually provided for the automobile by using the general valuation rule discussed earlier.

The annual lease value doesn't include the value of fuel you provide to an employee for personal use, regardless of whether you provide it, reimburse its cost, or have it charged to you. You must include the value of the fuel separately in the employee's wages. You can value fuel you provided at FMV or at 5.5 cents per mile for all miles driven by the employee. However, you can't value at 5.5 cents per mile fuel you provide for miles driven outside the United States (including its possessions and territories), Canada, and Mexico.

If you reimburse an employee for the cost of fuel, or have it charged to you, you generally value the fuel at the amount you reimburse, or the amount charged to you if it was bought at arm's length.

If you have 20 or more automobiles, see Regulations section 1.61-21(d)(3)(ii)(D).

If you provide any service other than maintenance and insurance for an automobile, you must add the FMV of that service to the annual lease value of the automobile to figure the value of the benefit.

The annual lease values in the table are based on a 4-year lease term. These values will generally stay the same for the period that begins with the first date you use this rule for the automobile and ends on December 31 of the fourth full calendar year following that date.

Figure the annual lease value for each later 4-year period by determining the FMV of the automobile on January 1 of the first year of the later 4-year period and selecting the amount in column (2) of the table that corresponds to the appropriate dollar range in column (1).

If you use the special accounting rule for fringe benefits discussed in section 4, you can figure the annual lease value for each later 4-year period at the beginning of the special accounting period that starts immediately before the January 1 date described in the previous paragraph.

For example, assume that you use the special accounting rule and that, beginning on November 1, 2016, the special accounting period is November 1 to October 31. You elected to use the lease value rule as of January 1, 2017. You can refigure the annual lease value on November 1, 2020, rather than on January 1, 2021.

Transferring an automobile from one employee to another.

Unless the primary purpose of the transfer is to reduce federal taxes, you can refigure the annual lease value based on the FMV of the automobile on January 1 of the calendar year of transfer.

However, if you use the special accounting rule for fringe benefits discussed in section 4, you can refigure the annual lease value (based on the FMV of the automobile) at the beginning of the special accounting period in which the transfer occurs.

Prorated Annual Lease Value.

If you provide an automobile to an employee for a continuous period of 30 or more days but less than an entire calendar year, you can prorate the annual lease value. Figure the prorated annual lease value by multiplying the annual lease value by a fraction, using the number of days of availability as the numerator and 365 as the denominator.

If you provide an automobile continuously for at least 30 days, but the period covers 2 calendar years (or 2 special accounting periods if you’re using the special accounting rule for fringe benefits discussed in section 4), you can use the prorated annual lease value or the daily lease value.

If you have 20 or more automobiles, see Regulations section 1.61-21(d)(6).

If an automobile is unavailable to the employee because of his or her personal reasons (for example, if the employee is on vacation), you can't take into account the periods of unavailability when you use a prorated annual lease value.

You can't use a prorated annual lease value if the reduction of federal tax is the main reason the automobile is unavailable.

Daily Lease Value.

If you provide an automobile to an employee for a continuous period of less than 30 days, use the daily lease value to figure its value. Figure the daily lease value by multiplying the annual lease value by a fraction, using four times the number of days of availability as the numerator and 365 as the denominator.

However, you can apply a prorated annual lease value for a period of continuous availability of less than 30 days by treating the automobile as if it had been available for 30 days. Use a prorated annual lease value if it would result in a lower valuation than applying the daily lease value to the shorter period of availability.

Unsafe Conditions Commuting Rule.

Under this rule, the value of commuting transportation you provide to a qualified employee solely because of unsafe conditions is $1.50 for a one-way commute (that is, from home to work or from work to home). This amount must be included in the employee's wages or reimbursed by the employee.

You can use the unsafe conditions commuting rule for qualified employees if all of the following requirements are met.

The employee would ordinarily walk or use public transportation for commuting.

You have a written policy under which you don't provide the transportation for personal purposes other than commuting because of unsafe conditions.

The employee doesn't use the transportation for personal purposes other than commuting because of unsafe conditions.

These requirements must be met on a trip-by-trip basis.

This is transportation to or from work using any motorized wheeled vehicle (including an automobile) manufactured for use on public streets, roads, and highways. You or the employee must buy the transportation from a party that isn't related to you. If the employee buys it, you must reimburse the employee for its cost (for example, cab fare) under a bona fide reimbursement arrangement.

A qualified employee for 2017 is one who:

Performs services during the year;

Is paid on an hourly basis;

Isn't claimed under section 213(a)(1) of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) of 1938 (as amended) to be exempt from the minimum wage and maximum hour provisions;

Is within a classification for which you actually pay, or have specified in writing that you will pay, overtime pay of at least one and one-half times the regular rate provided in section 207 of FLSA; e.

Received pay of not more than $120,000 during 2016.

However, an employee isn't considered a qualified employee if you don't comply with the recordkeeping requirements concerning the employee's wages, hours, and other conditions and practices of employment under section 211(c) of FLSA and the related regulations.

Unsafe conditions exist if, under the facts and circumstances, a reasonable person would consider it unsafe for the employee to walk or use public transportation at the time of day the employee must commute. One factor indicating whether it is unsafe is the history of crime in the geographic area surrounding the employee's workplace or home at the time of day the employee commutes.

4. Rules for Withholding, Depositing, and Reporting.

Use the following guidelines for withholding, depositing, and reporting taxable noncash fringe benefits. For additional information on how to withhold on fringe benefits, see section 5 in Pub. 15

Valuation of fringe benefits.

Generally, you must determine the value of noncash fringe benefits no later than January 31 of the next year. Before January 31, you may reasonably estimate the value of the fringe benefits for purposes of withholding and depositing on time.

Choice of period for withholding, depositing, and reporting.

For employment tax and withholding purposes, you can treat noncash fringe benefits (including personal use of employer-provided highway motor vehicles) as paid on a pay period, quarter, semiannual, annual, or other basis. But the benefits must be treated as paid no less frequently than annually. You don't have to choose the same period for all employees. You can withhold more frequently for some employees than for others.

You can change the period as often as you like as long as you treat all of the benefits provided in a calendar year as paid no later than December 31 of the calendar year.

You can also treat the value of a single fringe benefit as paid on one or more dates in the same calendar year, even if the employee receives the entire benefit at one time. For example, if your employee receives a fringe benefit valued at $1,000 in one pay period during 2017, you can treat it as made in four payments of $250, each in a different pay period of 2017. You don't have to notify the IRS of the use of the periods discussed above.

The above choice for reporting and withholding doesn't apply to a cash fringe benefit or a fringe benefit that is a transfer of tangible or intangible personal property of a kind normally held for investment or a transfer of real property. For these kinds of fringe benefits, you must use the actual date the property was transferred to the employee.

Withholding and depositing taxes.

You can add the value of fringe benefits to regular wages for a payroll period and figure income tax withholding on the total. Or you can withhold federal income tax on the value of fringe benefits at the flat 25% rate that applies to supplemental wages. See section 7 in Pub.15 for the flat rate (39.6%) when supplemental wage payments to an individual exceed $1 million during the year.

You must withhold the applicable income, social security, and Medicare taxes on the date or dates you chose to treat the benefits as paid. Deposit the amounts withheld as discussed in section 11 of Pub.15.

Additional Medicare Tax withholding.

In addition to withholding Medicare tax at 1.45%, you must withhold a 0.9% Additional Medicare Tax from wages you pay to an employee in excess of $200,000 in a calendar year. You’re required to begin withholding Additional Medicare Tax in the pay period in which you pay wages in excess of $200,000 to an employee and continue to withhold it each pay period until the end of the calendar year. Additional Medicare Tax is only imposed on the employee. There is no employer share of Additional Medicare Tax. All wages that are subject to Medicare tax are subject to Additional Medicare Tax withholding if paid in excess of the $200,000 withholding threshold.

For more information on what wages are subject to Medicare tax, see Table 2-1, earlier, and the chart, Special Rules for Various Types of Services and Payments , in section 15 of Pub. 15. For more information on Additional Medicare Tax, visit IRS. gov and enter "Additional Medicare Tax" in the search box.

To estimate the amount of income tax withholding and employment taxes and to deposit them on time, make a reasonable estimate of the value of the fringe benefits provided on the date or dates you chose to treat the benefits as paid. Determine the estimated deposit by figuring the amount you would have had to deposit if you had paid cash wages equal to the estimated value of the fringe benefits and withheld taxes from those cash wages. Even if you don't know which employee will receive the fringe benefit on the date the deposit is due, you should follow this procedure.

If you underestimate the value of the fringe benefits and deposit less than the amount you would have had to deposit if the applicable taxes had been withheld, you may be subject to a penalty.

If you overestimate the value of the fringe benefit and overdeposit, you can either claim a refund or have the overpayment applied to your next Form 941, Employer's QUARTERLY Federal Tax Return. See the Instructions for Form 941.

If you paid the required amount of taxes but withheld a lesser amount from the employee, you can recover from the employee the social security, Medicare, or income taxes you deposited on the employee's behalf and included on the employee's Form W-2. However, you must recover the income taxes before April 1 of the following year.

Paying your employee's share of social security and Medicare taxes.

If you choose to pay your employee's social security and Medicare taxes on taxable fringe benefits without deducting them from his or her pay, you must include the amount of the payments in the employee's income. Also, if your employee leaves your employment and you have unpaid and uncollected taxes for noncash benefits, you’re still liable for those taxes. You must add the uncollected employee share of social security and Medicare tax to the employee's wages. Follow the procedure discussed under Employee's Portion of Taxes Paid by Employer in section 7 of Pub. 15-A. Don't use withheld federal income tax to pay the social security and Medicare tax.

You can treat the value of taxable noncash benefits as paid on a pay period, quarterly, semiannually, annually, or on another basis, provided that the benefits are treated as paid no less frequently than annually. You can treat the value of taxable noncash fringe benefits provided during the last 2 months of the calendar year, or any shorter period within the last 2 months, as paid in the next year. Thus, the value of taxable noncash benefits actually provided in the last 2 months of 2016 could be treated as provided in 2017 together with the value of benefits provided in the first 10 months of 2017. This doesn't mean that all benefits treated as paid during the last 2 months of a calendar year can be deferred until the next year. Only the value of benefits actually provided during the last 2 months of the calendar year can be treated as paid in the next calendar year.

The special accounting rule can't be used, however, for a fringe benefit that is a transfer of tangible or intangible personal property of a kind normally held for investment or a transfer of real property.

Use of the special accounting rule is optional. You can use the rule for some fringe benefits but not others. The period of use need not be the same for each fringe benefit. However, if you use the rule for a particular fringe benefit, you must use it for all employees who receive that benefit.

If you use the special accounting rule, your employee also must use it for the same period you use it. But your employee can't use the special accounting rule unless you do.

You don't have to notify the IRS if you use the special accounting rule. You may also, for appropriate reasons, change the period for which you use the rule without notifying the IRS. But you must report the income and deposit the withheld taxes as required for the changed period.

Special rules for highway motor vehicles.

If an employee uses the employer's vehicle for personal purposes, the value of that use must be determined by the employer and included in the employee's wages. The value of the personal use must be based on fair market value or determined by using one of the following three special valuation rules previously discussed in section 3.

The lease value rule.

The cents-per-mile rule.

The commuting rule (for commuting use only).

Election not to withhold income tax.

You can choose not to withhold income tax on the value of an employee's personal use of a highway motor vehicle you provided. You don't have to make this choice for all employees. You can withhold income tax from the wages of some employees but not others. You must, however, withhold the applicable social security and Medicare taxes on such benefits.

You can choose not to withhold income tax on an employee's personal use of a highway motor vehicle by:

Notifying the employee as described below that you choose not to withhold; e.

Including the value of the benefits in boxes 1, 3, 5, and 14 on a timely furnished Form W-2. For use of a separate statement in lieu of using box 14, see the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.

The notice must be in writing and must be provided to the employee by January 31 of the election year or within 30 days after a vehicle is first provided to the employee, whichever is later. This notice must be provided in a manner reasonably expected to come to the attention of the affected employee. For example, the notice may be mailed to the employee, included with a paycheck, or posted where the employee could reasonably be expected to see it. You can also change your election not to withhold at any time by notifying the employee in the same manner.

Amount to report on Forms 941 (or Form 944) and W-2.

The actual value of fringe benefits provided during a calendar year (or other period as explained under Special accounting rule , earlier in this section) must be determined by January 31 of the following year. You must report the actual value on Forms 941 (or Form 944) and W-2. If you choose, you can use a separate Form W-2 for fringe benefits and any other benefit information.

Include the value of the fringe benefit in box 1 of Form W-2. Also include it in boxes 3 and 5, if applicable. You may show the total value of the fringe benefits provided in the calendar year or other period in box 14 of Form W-2. However, if you provided your employee with the use of a highway motor vehicle and included 100% of its annual lease value in the employee's income, you must also report it separately in box 14 or provide it in a separate statement to the employee so that the employee can figure the value of any business use of the vehicle.

If you use the special accounting rule, you must notify the affected employees of the period in which you used it. You must give this notice at or near the date you give the Form W-2, but not earlier than with the employee's last paycheck of the calendar year.

How To Get Tax Help.

If you have questions about a tax issue, need help preparing your tax return, or want to download free publications, forms, or instructions, go to IRS. gov and find resources that can help you right away.

Preparing and filing your tax return.

Visit the IRS website at IRS. gov/employmentefile for more information on filing your employment tax returns electronically.

Getting answers to your tax law questions. On IRS. gov, get answers to your tax questions anytime, anywhere.

Go to IRS. gov/help or IRS. gov/letushelp pages for a variety of tools that will help you get answers to some of the most common tax questions.

You may also be able to access tax law information in your electronic filing software.

Getting tax forms and publications.

Go to IRS. gov/forms to view, download, or print most of the forms and publications you may need. You can also download and view popular tax publications and instructions (including Pub. 15-B) on mobile devices as an eBook at no charge. Or, you can go to IRS. gov/orderforms to place an order and have forms mailed to you within 10 business days.

Getting a transcript or copy of a return.

You can get a copy of your tax transcript or a copy of your return by calling 1-800-829-4933 or by mailing Form 4506-T (transcript request) or Form 4506 (copy of return) to the IRS.

Resolving tax-related identity theft issues.

The IRS doesn’t initiate contact with taxpayers by email or telephone to request personal or financial information. This includes any type of electronic communication, such as text messages and social media channels.

Go to IRS. gov/idprotection for information and videos.

If you suspect you’re a victim of tax-related identity theft, visit IRS. gov/id to learn what steps you should take.

The IRS uses the latest encryption technology to ensure your electronic payments are safe and secure. You can make electronic payments online, by phone, and from a mobile device using the IRS2Go app. Paying electronically is quick, easy, and faster than mailing in a check or money order. Go to IRS. gov/payments to make a payment using any of the following options.

Debit or credit card: Choose an approved payment processor to pay online, by phone, and by mobile device.

Electronic Funds Withdrawal: Offered only when filing your federal taxes using tax preparation software or through a tax professional.

Electronic Federal Tax Payment System: Best option for businesses. Enrollment is required.

Check or money order: Mail your payment to the address listed on the notice or instructions.

Go to IRS. gov/payments for more information about your options.

Apply for an online payment agreement (IRS. gov/opa) to meet your tax obligation in monthly installments if you can’t pay your taxes in full today. Once you complete the online process, you will receive immediate notification of whether your agreement has been approved.

Use the Offer in Compromise Pre-Qualifier (IRS. gov/oic) to see if you can settle your tax debt for less than the full amount you owe.

Understanding an IRS notice or letter.

Go to IRS. gov/notices to find additional information about responding to an IRS notice or letter.

Contacting your local IRS office.

Keep in mind, many questions can be resolved on IRS. gov without visiting an IRS Tax Assistance Center (TAC). Go to IRS. gov/letushelp for the topics people ask about most. If you still need help, IRS TACs provide tax help when a tax issue can’t be handled online or by phone. All TACs now provide service by appointment so you’ll know in advance that you can get the service you need without waiting. Before you visit, go to IRS. gov/taclocator to find the nearest TAC, check hours, available services, and appointment options. Or, on the IRS2Go app, under the Stay Connected tab, choose the Contact Us option and click on “Local Offices.”

The IRS Video portal (IRSvideos. gov) contains video and audio presentations for individuals, small businesses, and tax professionals.

Getting tax information in other languages.

For taxpayers whose native language isn’t English, we have the following resources available. Taxpayers can find information on IRS. gov in the following languages.

The IRS TACs provide over-the-phone interpreter service in over 170 languages, and the service is available free to taxpayers.

The Taxpayer Advocate Service Is Here To Help You.

What is the Taxpayer Advocate Service?

The Taxpayer Advocate Service (TAS) is an independent organization within the IRS that helps taxpayers and protects taxpayer rights. Our job is to ensure that every taxpayer is treated fairly and that you know and understand your rights under the Taxpayer Bill of Rights.

What Can the Taxpayer Advocate Service Do For You?

We can help you resolve problems that you can’t resolve with the IRS. And our service is free. If you qualify for our assistance, you will be assigned to one advocate who will work with you throughout the process and will do everything possible to resolve your issue. TAS can help you if:

Your problem is causing financial difficulty for you, your family, or your business,

You face (or your business is facing) an immediate threat of adverse action, or.

You’ve tried repeatedly to contact the IRS but no one has responded, or the IRS hasn’t responded by the date promised.