DESCRIPTION
Fringe Benefits are an important component for recruiting and keeping high quality employees in today’s business world. But the diversity of available fringe benefits can make the area of payroll compliance positively overwhelming! To fill this need, we are offering training that fits your needs. Fringe Benefits Blitz allows you to design a 90 minute training program that includes the topics that you desire! Choose your own topics or contact us for assistance in putting together an event that’s right for you!
Let’s face it… complying with the Internal Revenue Tax Code requirements and federal regulations for fringe benefits such as relocation, meals, lodging, educational assistance, health insurance, transportation and third party sick pay can be complicated. The taxation and reporting for these fringe benefits offered by many companies today are major components of a payroll department’s responsibilities. And with the IRS looking for consistency of treatment—you can’t afford to make a mistake.
As a payroll professional you must know cold—no guessing—when a fringe benefit is taxable and when it is not, when it is reportable and when it is not. Payroll must know when providing a fringe benefit must be considered wages or if it is “tax free”. What if the employee pays some of the cost of a fringe benefit? How does that affect taxing and reporting? Are there dollar limits? Does it become taxable after a certain amount? And after you have mastered all the facts along comes the new tax bill by Congress that can change everything you just learned when it comes to taxing fringe benefits
In this fringe benefits webinar, payroll specialist Vicki M. Lambert, CPP, will cover all of the common and not-so-common fringe benefits that employers may offer, while specifically examining them from a payroll perspective. Vicki will provide answers to important questions, including: When is relocation taxable and reportable, and when is it only reportable? What limits must be met to determine taxation of educational assistance? Does one handle the personal use of a company vehicle the same way as the business use of a personal vehicle? And of course, she will be doing the math calculations where required.
But benefits can also seem like an alphabetical and numerical hodgepodge at times. What is the difference between an HSA and an HRA? How should a 401(k), a 125 and a 129 plan be handled? What exactly is a Section 132 fringe benefit, and is it taxable?
All of these types of questions must be answered correctly in order for payroll to keep the company in compliance: With both the IRS and the state taxing authorities taking aim at fringe benefits in their audits, especially for executives, now is not the time to be complacent in your compliance. Vicki's boot camp is broken up into five sections to cover like fringe benefits together.
Session Highlights:
The Payroll Side of Qualified/Nonqualified Deferred Comp, Tax Deferred and Tax Preferred Benefits
- Introduction and overview of fringe benefits
- Handling qualified and nonqualified deferred compensation
- Review the taxation and reporting of cafeteria plans
- Examine flexible spending accounts
- Determine the taxation and reporting for dependent care
- Discuss an overview of stock option taxing and reporting
Health and Other Insurances
- Review calculating and reporting health insurance benefits for 2018
- Discuss how to deal with the complexities of third party sick pay taxation and reporting
- Determine how to calculate, tax and report group term life insurance
- Examine the basics of taxing and reporting whole and split life insurance
- Cover handling the alphabet soup of health insurance including HSAs, HRAs and MSAs
- Touch upon the essentials of workers’ compensation for payroll
Section 132 and Beyond
- Working condition fringe benefits
- De minimis fringe benefits
- Employee discounts
- No additional cost services
- Employee achievement awards for length of service and safety
- Prizes and awards—cash and noncash
- Cell phones
- Gift certificates and gift cards
- Holiday gifts
Meals, Clothing, Housing and Education Fringe Benefits
- The changes to employer provided relocation under the new federal tax bill
- When can an employer pay for relocation?
- What must be taxed when relocating an employee and what must only be reported
- On-site lodging taxation and reporting
- Taxing lodging for executives such as vacation condos
- Providing meals for employees—is it taxable or not?
- Are the rules different for on-site cafeterias?
- What if the employee pays for the meal—does that affect taxation?
- What to do with occasional meals
- Educational assistance programs and taxation
Transportation Fringe Benefits
- What are the four allowable methods to calculate the personal use of a company car?
- How to calculate the taxable wages for the personal use of a company vehicle using one of the four accepted IRS methods
- When an auto allowance is considered taxable wages and when it is not
- IRS 132 transportation fringe benefits, including parking, bus passes and tokens and bicycles—when to tax and when not to, and what the limits are
- Calculating the personal use of a company aircraft even if there is a business trip involved somewhere
Who Will Benefit:
- Payroll professionals
- Human resources professionals
- Accounting personnel
- Business owners
- Lawmakers
- Attorneys
- Any individual or entity that must deal with the intricacies of taxing and reporting of fringe benefits