Comments on: Commuter Check checked?

By: air district’s critical miss - The Capricious Commuter - Getting around the Bay Area with Erik N. Nelson

Sat, 22 Dec 2007 03:53:02 +0000

[...] employees with free BART tickets, generous Commuter Check subsidies (did I mention that I’ve lost mine?) and a fleet of off-road Segways with the boss mudder [...]

By: Capricious Commuter

Capricious Commuter — Wed, 02 May 2007 02:59:36 +0000

Bruce, I confess I’ve never heard that (I’m not doubting you; I should bone up on this), but it makes sense. So what you’re saying is that my company should continue the subsidy or run afoul of the IRS. Hmmm.

By: Bruce De Benedictis

Bruce De Benedictis — Tue, 01 May 2007 16:46:40 +0000

The Commuter Check program is not actually a program to encourage transit, it is a program to provide equity to transit riders. It comes out of tax law: If a company is providing free parking to employees who drive, it is actually paying them more than employees who are not driving. The IRS had proposed requiring companies that provide free parking to figure out the cost of the benefit and add that to their taxable income for the year. Companies balked, and came up with the Commuter Check idea instead. I think that your company may be required to reimburse you for your transit expenses in some other way if it discontinues Commuter Check. I would check with the IRS, or the state labor relations board.