What are commuter benefits?

If your staff must commute to work, offering a commuter benefit can be an excellent incentive for attracting and retaining your employees. But what are commuter benefits, and how do they work?

This article will explain commuter benefits, how different types of benefits work, and what expenses you can use them for.

Takeaways from this blog post:

• Commuter benefits are perks that help employees offset the cost or time of commuting to and from work daily.
• Offering commuter benefits can improve employee morale and engagement, reduce turnover, and provide unique perks like reducing frustration during commutes.
• Many types of commuter programs available, such as pre-tax commuter benefits that allow employers to provide transportation benefits.

What are commuter benefits programs?

Commuter benefits are employee perks that help your team offset the cost or time of commuting to and from work daily. These benefits are also known as transportation benefits, parking benefits, or employee transit benefits.

Some local governments offer commuter plans to organizations and their employees, but usually, employers establish them as part of a benefits package. These benefits can be pre-tax or taxable, with many organizations electing to follow guidance from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) for providing qualified transportation benefits.

Why offer commuter benefits?

Employee benefits can help improve employee morale and engagement, reducing employee turnover. When your employees feel appreciated and taken care of, they're more likely to be satisfied with your organization and less likely to look for a new job.

They also help to attract employees. PeopleKeep’s 2022 Employee Benefits Survey found that 82% of employees said an employer’s benefits package impacts whether they accept a job. By offering additional perks like commuter benefits, you can more easily attract top talent.

Many employees value commuter and transportation benefits. A 2023 Newsweek¹ poll found that 58% of respondents believe employers should pay for commute costs.

Transportation benefits also provide unique perks, such as the following:

• Reducing frustration during commutes: They allow your employees to avoid traffic congestion with transit passes, parking hassles with parking passes, and other benefits.

• Helping employees financially: Paying for part or all of your workers’ transportation costs helps them to be able to afford gas, transit passes, or parking. Analysis from Clever² found that the average commuter spends more than $8,000 annually (or 19% of their income) on commute costs.

• Reducing your environmental impact: Many consumers and employees care about reducing their environmental impact, especially Millennials and Gen Zers. According to the United Nations³, moving from cars to public transportation can reduce up to 2.2 tons of carbon emissions per individual per year. By offering carpooling, transit passes, or other alternatives to driving, you can reduce your organization's carbon footprint, which can appeal to more environmentally-conscious customers and job applicants.

How do commuter benefits work?

There are many types of commuter programs available. Each of these programs works differently from the next. Some allow you to provide upfront benefits while you can reimburse your employees for eligible expenses with others.

Pre-tax commuter benefits

Many cities and counties allow workers to purchase public transit cards or passes on a pre-tax basis. Additionally, the IRS allows employers⁴ to provide commuter benefits with pre-tax dollars for qualified expenses. You can provide these benefits directly or through a reimbursement arrangement.

If you opt to reimburse employees tax-free for their transportation expenses, you need to substantiate those expenses with receipts or invoices.

You can provide or reimburse employees for the following expenses tax-free:

Previously, you could reimburse employees for bicycle commuting expenses, but the IRS suspended its tax-free status in 2017 for tax years through 2026.

The IRS considers any amount greater than the $325 per month limit for qualified transportation benefits as taxable income.

Taxable commuter benefits

While the IRS and local governments generally only allow qualified commuter benefit purchases for public transportation, parking, and vanpooling, you can provide other commuter benefits.

The IRS considers the commuter benefits below as taxable benefits:

• Carpooling perks
• Use of a company vehicle
• Ride-share services, such as allowances for Uber or Lyft
• Toll reimbursement
• Vehicle maintenance allowance
• Bicycle maintenance allowance
• Fuel cards or gas reimbursement (as a perk)

Am I required to offer commuter benefits to my employees?

While there are no federal obligations to provide benefits to commuters, some state and local laws require employers to offer commuter benefits to their workers.

In the table below, we list the states and cities that require commuter benefits.

Additionally, some local jurisdictions provide tax breaks and incentives to organizations that provide these benefits. For example, Washington state provides a tax credit to employers who provide a trip reduction incentive, such as ride-sharing, public transportation, car sharing, and non-motorized commuting. This can give employers up to $60 per employee per year.

Do commuter funds expire?

In most cases, employers or third-party benefit administrators decide whether their commuter funds expire yearly or if the amount is allowed to roll over. However, this is only the case with taxable benefits, as the IRS only allows up to $325 per month for pre-tax transportation benefits and $325 for qualified parking expenses.

How to offer commuter benefits to your employees

If you're looking to help your employees with the cost of transportation, you have a few options. You can use a local government plan, vouchers, or pre-tax deductions to pay for your employees' transit benefits. The IRS also allows for reimbursement of qualified transportation expenses using tax-free dollars. However, going this route can limit the eligible monthly expenses you can reimburse your employees for.

Another option for providing a flexible commuter benefits program is to offer a commuter and transportation employee stipend. You can reimburse your employees for any transportation expenses with a stipend, including those not listed in Publication 15-B, as a taxable benefit. You can also set up stipend reimbursement to be tax-free for qualified expenses. You should consult with a tax professional to determine the taxability of your commuter benefits program.

You can reimburse employees for the following transportation expenses with a transportation stipend:

• Parking fees
• Transit passes and fares for commuter rail, light rail, ferries, bus service, shuttles, and more
• Gas expenses
• Ride-sharing services
• Tolls
• Vanpool expenses
• Bike or e-scooter sharing programs
• Personal vehicle maintenance
• Bicycle maintenance

The best part about a stipend is its flexibility. You can offer as much or as little allowance as your budget allows. You can also choose to offer allowances monthly, quarterly, or annually to best fit the needs of your organization.

You can also offer a single allowance for all transportation expenses. This gives your employees more freedom to use their commuter benefits the way they want to.

Conclusion

Transportation benefits and perks can be an excellent addition to your compensation package. Many types of commuter transportation benefits are available, including transit and parking passes, commuter highway vehicles, eligible computer benefits cards, and many other possibilities.

When deciding if you should offer commuter benefits to employees, you should consider your company location, how your workers commute, and what benefits they prefer. But no matter which benefits you decide to offer, commuter benefits are a great way to improve employee retention and provide them with some financial relief.

Schedule a call with a personalized benefits advisor to see how a health reimbursement arrangement (HRA) can help you attract and retain top talent for your organization

This blog article was originally published on July 13, 2022. It was last updated on March 14, 2024.

1. https://www.newsweek.com/millennials-want-work-pay-commute-lunch-too-1801454?
2. https://listwithclever.com/research/best-and-worst-cities-for-commmuters-2022/
3. https://www.un.org/en/actnow/transport
4. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b
5. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/irs-provides-tax-inflation-adjustments-for-tax-year-2024
6. https://berkeleyca.gov/doing-business/operating-berkeley/tracc-commuter-benefits
7. https://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publicacts/fulltext.asp?Name=103-0291
8. https://www1.nyc.gov/site/dca/about/commuter-benefits-FAQs.page
9. https://phlcouncil.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/CM-Gym-4.21-Commuter-Benefits-Ordinance.pdf
10. https://www.ci.richmond.ca.us/DocumentCenter/View/29960/RichmondCBO?bidId=
11. https://www.seattle.gov/laborstandards/ordinances/commuter-benefit
12. https://www.baaqmd.gov/rules-and-compliance/commuter-benefits