Bike Communting Benefit

[Letitia]

For all the bike commuters out there.  I read this in a blog I follow last week and decided to post an excerpt below.  The gist of the information is, the tax law that allows employers to give non-taxable benefits to commuters who use van pools and public transportation has been expanded to include bike commuters.  For what I have read the benefits are small around $20/month for each commuting month (at least 11 if not 12 here in southern CA).  Law goes into effect next year.  This was tacked onto that $700 billion bailout plan.  I'm not posting the blog link because I don't want to offend anyone or be accused of being partisian (which I am, but the club is not).

"There?s a provision of existing tax law called the ?Transportation Fringe Benefit.? Employers can offer the Transportation Fringe Benefit to their employees. It allows employees to receive a tax-exempt benefit of up to $215 per month for drivers participating in qualified parking plans or $110 per month for those who use transit or vanpooling.

Rep. Earl Blumenauer represents Portland ? the bike commuting capital of the United States ? and was formerly Portland?s Transportation Commissioner. He introduced the Bike Commuter Act last year that would amend section 132(f) of the IRS code of 1986 to include ?bicylces? in the definition of transportation covered by the qualified transportation fringe benefit.

His Act was incorporated into the bailout package and signed into law. Since the mechanism of the subsidy here runs through your employer, it?s possible (like, I would say) that many employers won?t realize this change has been implemented starting next year so people may need to show some initiative to actually get their new bike Fringe Benefit. I?ll try to stay abreast of this issue and let folks know what they need to do."

Letitia