Pre-Tax Parking Qualifying Events

[Guest kaie]

My organization offers a pre-tax parking program under the 132 regs. I am trying to get more information on qualifying events that would allow participants to make or change their elections mid-year. For example, if an individual previously did not own a vehicle and used public transportion (subway) to commute to and from work, would purchasing a car mid-year allow them to enroll in the pre-tax parking program?

[oriecat]

To my knowledge Sec132 does not require annual elections, so employees could make new elections at any time that the company allows, as long as the 132 rules are followed.

[Lori Friedman]

kaie, I think you might be confusing the qualified transportation fringe rules with the Sec. 125 rules. Even though a transportation benefit walks-talks-looks-acts a great deal like a cafeteria plan, the governing laws are very different (and, in general, a lot less strident).

A qualified transportation fringe must be elected before the coverage period, and the election can be revoked or changed before the start of the next coverage period. Most arrangements define the coverage period as a very brief timeframe -- usually a month.