I followed the postings on the streetsblog "announcement" of this news and it appears that this "Hurray!" maybe should be toned down to "Hmpf?"
In order for this tax benefit to mean anything at all, an employer would have to be willing to create some kind of reimbursement on your paycheck which would be deducted before taxes, similar to a health care spending account or child care spending account. (Not sure if you are self-employed, perhaps you can itemize your bike expenses when filing your taxes?) The health care spending and child care spending accounts administration is big business. I know my employer outsources this to an out-of-town firm and it costs. Considering that a very small percentage of employees would qualify (who bicycle "regularly" to work) administration of this benefit by an employer would be a difficult sell (unless a company's top management happens to be very bike friendly). I would like to get the real poop on this and begin lobbying my employer to get it into their benefits package. Find out if similar benefits are being given for parking deductions, then using that as leverage for a fairness argument. -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, October 07, 2008 1:33 PM To: bikies@danenet.org Subject: [Bikies] $20/month bicycle commuter benefit has become law! [matt at loganfamily.ws matt at loganfamily.ws ] As part of the $700 billion financial bailout bill, a new bicycle commuter fringe benefit tax write-off has been signed into law today. The law applies to taxable years beginning after December 31, 2008, and allows a business a tax-write-off of $20 per bike-commuter month per year for employees that use a bicycle for a substantial portion of the travel between an employees residence and their place of employment. Hurray! _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list Bikies@danenet.org http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list Bikies@danenet.org http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
