Finally, there is some good news from the IRS: Tax-free transit benefits are now $230 per month per employee. That means you can give your employees up to $230 tax-free to be used for commuting to and from work on public transportation and vanpools. To make these benefits easy to administer and manage, Arlington Transportation Partners (ATP) and Arlington County Commuter Services have developed CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services.
CommuterDirect.com® is the only service that carries every transit provider in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region, including Metro, MARC, VRE, Ride-On, DASH, ART, and more.This program's simple online enrollment and account management features will save you hours of administrative time. Once you enroll your employees, your order is automatically placed each month. You can then choose to have the passes and fare media delivered directly to your office, your employees' homes or choose to have SmartBenefits automatically uploaded to employees' SmarTrip® cards, so you no longer have to spend time distributing passes.
The following are just some of the highlights of our convenient corporate service:
- Online Purchasing: Passes, tickets, tokens, SmarTrip® cards, and more can be purchased online.
- Payment Options: Pay for your purchases with American Express, Discover, VISA, or Mastercard. You may also authorize CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services to deduct the amount electronically from your company's checking account.
- Secure Ordering: CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services website is completely secure, and your name and other data will not be used for any other purpose.
- Automatic Order Renewal and Update Reminder: When things get hectic, there is no need to worry about your order. It is automatically placed every month, and before placing it, we will send you a reminder about making any changes to it.
- Easy Account and Order Updates: Revise your account and order online as often as you like.
- Benefits Management: You no longer have to distribute paper vouchers to your employees or keep track of how many vouchers of what denominations each employee needs each month. Your online account keeps track of the exact value of the transit or vanpool fare each employee gets each month.
- Reports and Record Keeping: Automatic report features make management a snap. IRS compliant reports, tax calculators, employee profiles, and benefit change forms are accessible to you in an instant. For record keeping, reports and data can be exported to Excel via our secure server.
- SmarTrip Cards Automatically Reloaded: Metrorail riders' SmarTrip cards can be automatically reloaded on a monthly basis using your CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services account. Download instructions.
- Distribution Choices: End distribution worries - the exact passes, tickets, and tokens your employees use to commute can be sent directly to your office, satellite office, or the employees' homes.
- IRS Compliant: CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services is fully compliant with IRS regulations.
There is just a small price to pay for all this convenience - $4.50 per participating employee per month. In addition, a $2.00 fee is charged for each home delivery via the U.S. Postal Service. A $25 fee is charged per bulk office delivery. There is no delivery charge for employees receiving SmartBenefits only. Even with the minimal fees, your company will still save on corporate taxes.
With the allowable tax-free transit benefit amount now being $230, it is a wonderful time to use CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services to implement a commuter benefits program. If you already have a tax-free transit benefit program, now is a good time to expand that program and simply develop it into a greater benefit for you and your employees.
ATP is happy to work with you to meet the individual needs of your company in setting up a CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services account. For more information, contact ATP at 703.247.9299 or solutions@transpartners.com, or visit CommuterDirect.com® Corporate Services website.