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taxing fringe benefits

Daily News Updates for March

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Here are our news updates for March.  I post one news item per update to our subscribers here on the blog. To receive all of the day’s payroll news updates, subscribe to Payroll 24/7 for only $149 per year.

 

 

 

March 29: Utah has passed a law (SB 39) that amends how nonresidents working in Utah are taxed. The “mobile workforce” income tax bill addresses the tax liability and withholding requirements for a nonresident individual earning wages in the state. This bill creates an exemption from income tax if a nonresident individual works in the state for 20 or fewer days during a taxable year and provides the circumstances that the individual’s resident state provides a substantially similar exclusion or does not impose a state individual income tax.

March 25:  Two California cities have minimum wage increases coming in July:

  • Emeryville, California: The city’s minimum wage rate will increase to $17.68 per hour effective July 1, 2022.
  • Pasadena, California: The minimum wage rate for Pasadena will increase to $16.11 per hour on July 1, 2022.

March 9:  The Department of Transportation has released the applicable terminal charge and the Standard Industry Fare Level (SIFL) mileage rates for determining the value of noncommercial flights on employer-provided aircraft in effect for the first half of 2022 for purposes of the taxation of fringe benefits. The unadjusted rates for flights taken during the period from January 1, 2022, through June 30, 2022are as follows:

  • $.2460 per mile for the first 500 miles
  • $.1876 per mile 501 through 1,500 miles
  • $.1803 per mile over 1,500 miles
  • terminal charge is $44.98

IRS Releases 2022 Retirement Plan Limits

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Section 415 of the Internal Revenue Code (“Code”) provides for dollar limitations on benefits and contributions under qualified retirement plans. Section 415(d) requires that the Secretary of the Treasury annually adjust these limits for cost-of-living increases. The IRS released Notice 2021-61 (PDF) to provide for cost-of-living adjustments to dollar limitations for retirement plan benefits and contributions. This includes the following:

  • Annual benefit under a defined benefit plan under section 415(b)(1)(A) of the Code is increased from $230,000 to $245,000
  • The limitation for defined contribution plans under section 415(c)(1)(A) is increased in 2022 from $58,000 to $61,000.
  • The limitation under section 402(g)(1) on the exclusion for elective deferrals described in section 402(g)(3) is increased from $19,500 to $20,500.
  • The annual compensation limit under sections 401(a)(17), 404(l), 408(k)(3)(C), and 408(k)(6)(D)(ii) is increased from $290,000 to $305,000.
  • The dollar limitation under section 416(i)(1)(A)(i) concerning the definition of “key employee” in a top-heavy plan is increased from $185,000 to $200,000.
  • The limitation used in the definition of “highly compensated employee” under section 414(q)(1)(B) is increased from $130,000 to $135,000.

 

Tax Tuesday: IRS Updates Dependent Care Rules for 2021 and 2022

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The Internal Revenue Service today issued guidance on the taxability of dependent care assistance programs for 2021 and 2022, clarifying that amounts attributable to carryovers or an extended period for incurring claims generally are not taxable. The guidance also illustrates the interaction of this standard with the one-year increase in the exclusion for employer-provided dependent care benefits from $5,000 to $10,500 for the 2021 taxable year under the American Rescue Plan Act.

Because of the pandemic, many people were unable to use the money they set aside in their dependent care assistance programs in 2020 and 2021. Generally, under these plans, an employer allows its employees to set aside a certain amount of pre-tax wages to pay for dependent care expenses. The employee’s expenses are then reimbursed from the dependent care assistance program.

Carryovers of unused dependent care assistance program amounts generally are not permitted (although a 2½ month grace period is allowed). However, recent coronavirus-related legislation (the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020) allowed employers to amend their plans to permit the carryover of unused dependent care assistance program amounts to plan years ending in 2021 and 2022, or to extend the permissible period for incurring claims to plan years over the same period.

Today’s Notice 2021-26 clarifies for taxpayers that if these dependent care benefits would have been excluded from income if used during taxable year 2020 (or 2021, if applicable), these benefits will remain excludible from gross income and are not considered wages of the employee for 2021 and 2022.

Notice 2021-15, issued in February 2021, states that if an employer adopted a carryover or extended period for incurring claims, the annual limits for dependent care assistance program amounts apply to amounts contributed, not to amounts reimbursed or available for reimbursement in a particular plan or calendar year. Therefore, participants in dependent care assistance programs may continue to contribute the maximum amount to their plans for 2021 and 2022.

Tips vs Service Charges: An IRS Reminder

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The IRS wants to make sure that employers understand tax ramifications of the various payments that they make to employees or that their employees might receive.  So the IRS has posted a reminder for employers when it comes to tips verses service charges.  The key difference between the two categories affect the taxation for employees as well as the reporting. So-called “automatic gratuities” and any amount imposed on the customer by the employer are service charges, not tips.  Service charges are generally wages, and they are reported to the employee and the IRS in a manner similar to other wages. On the other hand, special rules apply to both employers and employees for reporting tips. Employers should make sure they know the difference and how they report each to the IRS.

What are tips? Tips are discretionary (optional or extra) payments determined by a customer that employees receive from customers. They include:

  • Cash tips received directly from customers.
  • Tips from customers who leave a tip through electronic settlement or payment. This includes a credit card, debit card, gift card, or any other electronic payment method.
  • The value of any noncash tips, such as tickets, or other items of value.
  • Tip amounts received from other employees paid out through tip pools or tip splitting, or other formal or informal tip sharing arrangements.

Four factors are used to determine whether a payment qualifies as a tip. Normally, all four must apply. To be a tip:

  • The payment must be made free from compulsion;
  • The customer must have the unrestricted right to determine the amount;
  • The payment should not be the subject of negotiations or dictated by employer policy; and
  • Generally, the customer has the right to determine who receives the payment.

If any one of these doesn’t apply, the payment is likely a service charge.

What are service charges? Amounts an employer requires a customer to pay are service charges. This is true even if the employer or employee calls the payment a tip or gratuity. Examples of service charges commonly added to a customer’s check include:

  • Large dining party automatic gratuity
  • Banquet event fee
  • Cruise trip package fee
  • Hotel room service charge
  • Bottle service charge (nightclubs, restaurants)

Generally, service charges are reported as non-tip wages paid to the employee. Some employers keep a portion of the service charges. Only the amounts distributed to employees are non-tip wages to those employees.

All cash tips and noncash tips should be included in an employee’s gross income and subject to federal income taxes.ployers are required to retain employee tip reports, withhold income taxes and the employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes from the wages paid, and withhold income taxes and the employee share of Social Security and Medicare taxes on reported tips from wages (other than tips) or from other funds provided by the employee. In addition, employers are required to pay the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes based on the total wages paid to tipped employees as well as the reported tip income.  Employers must report income tax and Social Security and Medicare taxes withheld from their employees’ wages, along with the employer share of Social Security and Medicare taxes, on Form 941, Employer’s Quarterly Federal Tax Return, and deposit these taxes in accordance with federal tax deposit requirements.Tips reported to the employer by the employee must be included in Box 1 (Wages, tips, other compensation), Box 5 (Medicare wages and tips), and Box 7 (Social Security tips) of the employee’s Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. Enter the amount of any uncollected social security tax and Medicare tax in Box 12 of Form W-2. See the General Instructions for Forms W-2 and W-3.

Reporting Service Charges: Employers who distribute service charges to employees should treat them the same as regular wages for tax withholding and filing requirements, as provided in Publication 15, Employer’s Tax Guide. Distributed service charges must be included in Box 1 (Wages, tips, other compensation), Box 3 (Social Security wages), and Box 5 (Medicare wages and tips) of the employee’s Form W-2.

Keep up to date with the latest from the IRS on taxation by subscribing to Payroll 24/7 today.

White Paper for the Month: Educational Assistance

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My white paper for September is on educational assistance.  How to properly track and tax this benefit is paramount to ensure compliance.  Hope you find it useful.

white-paper-educational-assistance-2016

Beginning in October we will go back to more frequent white papers.  We do them monthly during the summer as it is usually a slow time of the year for payroll and we all want to enjoy the summer off.  But as year end begins to approach we will be focusing our white papers on preparing for it.

Speaking of year end…don’t get left out in the cold when it comes to critical year end news updates. Subscribe to The Payroll Pause today. Get all the latest payroll news as it is released, including wage bases, rates, and annual updates for the low price of only $149 per year.  This type of news update service usually costs payroll departments $500 or more per year.  But payroll news should not be out of the reach of all payroll professionals.

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White Paper: If I use the gym is it taxable?

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Our latest white paper deals with athletic facilities.  It is very common for employers to offer wellness programs to get or keep employees fit and healthy.  Employers may offer the use of an onsite athletic facility or they may purchase gym memberships outright or subsidize a portion of the annual fee.  No matter what is offered the taxability has to be determined to ensure compliance. It basically boils down to is the gym onsite or off.  Onsite athletic facilities are normally nontaxable if the employee can use it before work, during work or after work.  Memberships purchased outright or even subsidized are generally taxable income to the employee.

white paper athletic facilities 2016

This Week’s White Paper–Employee Achievement Awards

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Taxing awards to employees is always a tricky business.  Is it taxable or not?  If I take taxes out will that diminish the award or the employee’s moral over receiving it? Unfortunately, we sometimes can’t take that into consideration.  The IRS says it is taxable, so we tax.  But sometimes the IRS says it is not taxable.  Case in point, employee achievement awards. Given for length of service or safety, these awards can be given without adding it as income to the employee’s wages if done correctly. Of course, no cash or gift certificates. It must be tangible personal property like a pin for years of service or a plaque for safety.  Our white paper this week deals with when to tax and when not to tax employee achievement awards. We hope you find the information useful.  You can request your copy of our white paper on our website.

 

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Company Cars Part 2

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Our free white paper this week is the second of our two-parter on the personal use of a company car.  This time we are doing the math.  Yes unfortunately, math is involved when having to determine the taxable wages.  But it is not the only thing needed to do the computations. Vehicle values and vehicle logs are also needed, depending on the method chosen.  You also need to determine the proper method based on the value of the car and the status of the employee.  We hope you find the white paper useful. It can be requested on our website.

 

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