| With Commuter Choice, employers
and communities across the country are turning commuting
challenges into significant opportunities where everyone
benefits:
Impacts
on Businesses
Less stressful commute, which positively affects employee
retention
Improved access to new labor markets and increased ability
to recruit new employees
Less employee turnover
Reduced land and facility costs due to the decrease
demand and need for parking facilities
Impacts
on Communities
Improved air quality due to the decreased vehicle travel
and traffic congestion
Future economic development opportunities due to the
ability to attract new jobs
Financial and tax incentives
for employer participation in the Commuter Choice program
include:
Employer-paid transportation benefits enable the employer
to pay for their employees to commute by transit or
vanpool, up to a limit of $100/month. With this arrangement,
employees get up to $100 in a tax-free transportation
benefit. Employers get a tax deduction for the expense.
Employee-paid pre-tax transportation
benefits allow employees to elect to exchange up to
$100/month in taxable salary for a tax-free transit
or vanpool benefit. This saves the employer money overall
since the amount exchanged is not subject to payroll
taxes.
Shared transportation cost benefits
permit employers to share the cost of transit or vanpool
costs with employees providing the employer with the
ability to impart a portion of the cost of taking transit
or vanpooling as a tax-free benefit and allow the employee
to exchange taxable salary for a tax free transit or
vanpool benefit (up to the specified limits).
Parking cash-out permits the employee
the option to 'cash out' of their existing parking space
to receive a tax-free transportation benefit to pay
for transit or vanpooling. These cash-out programs often
work best for employers that pay separately for parking
and for organizations with parking shortages or plans
to expand parking facilities.
Valuable resources are available
locally and nationally to help employers implement and
improve commute programs.
Visit www.CommuterChoice.com
to learn more.
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