GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE
63
Understanding When Cash is a Taxable Benefit
Since “cash” generally is not mentioned, it should be taxable, right? Absolutely.
How Cash is Almost Always Taxable In the U.S., the taxability of something is not determined by finding an IRS code or regulation section that specifically says it is taxable, but rather the opposite. If there is no specific mention that allows something to be excluded from income, we are to assume it is taxable.
Well, there are always exceptions, and, under two very narrow circumstances, written into the regulations, employers are allowed to exclude from income cash amounts they provide employees for “occasional supper money or cab fare.” But outside of these situations, cash is taxable.
“For years our employers have tried to persuade us that the small benefits they provide employees can be excluded from employment taxes because they fall under an allowable legal exception called a “de minimis fringe.”
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