Tuesday, May 26, 2009

bike to work tax benefits

Anybody have any luck getting their employer to kick the bicycle commuter tax provision in?  Short story is the rider gets up to $240 per year, so it would be a good way to cover the occasional tires, flat repairs, gloves, helmets, that sort of thing.

Here's the response when I asked reps from where I work:
The tax guys said that employees would exclude the reimbursements from their income, and the company could take a tax deduction.  Since a tax deduction is not the same as a tax credit, there would be an additional cost to the company to set up and administer the program, plus the reimbursements.

I interpret this as a way of them saying there's nothing in it for them, we're in a great recession, thanks for asking, don't bother us again.

Any other luck out there?  Does the employer have to do any paperwork, or can I just claim expenses in my taxes come next April?  Does anybody care?

Other than that, welcome back from the 3-day weekend.

2 comments:

Snakebite said...

I'm getting my $20 per month. The burden of the paperwork is on me, though. Not that it's much effort.

deplaqer said...

Given the rash of lay-offs in your industry, wouldn't it be better to just merely have a job to bike to right now than to worry about the tax credit. I am all for tax breaks for biking to work, but it seems like stepping over $100 bills to pick up pennies given the odd economic environment.