[*BCM*] Bicycle Commuter Act - Bailout

[David Atkins]

It is not a benefit to employers. The way this will work is that bicycle
commuting can be added to a Transportation Reimbursement Account at your
company. Currently, if your company has this set up, you can have parking
fees or T-passes paid for with pre-tax income. So what this would mean is
you could set aside $20 of your monthly salary to be used for
bicycle-related expenses.

All of this requires the company set up the account. There are websites like
wageworks.com that currently handle the parking and transit passes; not sure
if/when they will add this. There is a small benefit to the employer because
the money you set aside in this manner will not be taxed for the employer's
contribution to FICA...

good writeup here too:
http://www.cyclelicio.us/2008/10/bike-commuter-benefits-act-passes.html

-- 
Dave Atkins
http://blog.davewrites.com
http://westwoodblog.org

On Mon, Nov 24, 2008 at 9:02 AM, Jon Ramos <jontramos at yahoo.com> wrote:

> *"Starting next year, employers who provide bike parking, bathing
> facilities, tune-ups, or other support for bicycle commuting, can deduct up
> to $20 a month per participating employee from their own taxable income."*
> *
> *
>
> http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/13/buried-in-the-bailout-the-bicycle-commuter-act/
>
> Good to know that I my employers will be saving money each month by my
> riding to work each day.  My company has indoor bike parking, and because we
> have so many bike commuters, they also reimburse up to $35 / month towards a
> membership at the gym down the street so that we can shower after our
> commute.  I think it is great that they can get some of that money back.  Or
> better yet, maybe I'll ask to see some of that in my paycheck. (but I won't
> hold my breath).
>
> This act would be even better if it gave additional incentives to the
> people who actually do the riding.  I would be satisfied as it stands, but
> the more the gov't gives to the riders, the more riders there will be,
> resulting in more businesses adding shower facilities etc.
>
> _______________________________________________
> Boston Critical Mass mailing list
> list at bostoncriticalmass.org
> http://bostoncriticalmass.org/list
> To unsubscribe email list-unsubscribe at bostoncriticalmass.org
>



-- 
Dave Atkins
http://blog.davewrites.com
http://westwoodblog.org
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bostoncoop.net/pipermail/bostoncriticalmass/attachments/20081124/ac819afe/attachment.htm