Bicycle Commuting Benefits

[oriecat]

Does anyone have any good sources of info on developing and administering the new bicycle commuting benefits? I would like to discuss implementing this with my employer, but I'm feeling a little lost about how exactly it is supposed to work. A lot of the webpages I can find discuss a $20/month limit, yet it seems as though the code specifies it as an annual limit, which makes more sense since it seems like most people won't have expenses every month.

[masteff]

(who wants to do "real" work while waiting for a 3-day weekend roadtrip, so here's my stab at this...)

Webpages tend to just regurgitate facts if they don't actually understand them. "$20 per month" should be "$20 per qualified bicycle commuting month", so there's a qualification issue to it.

The way I read the new code section... I'd implement it by taking advantage of the 15-month reimbursement period to let employees apply after year-end for reimbursement. The application would require the employee to specify which months during the preceding year were "qualified bicycle commuting months". That number of months is then multiplied by $20 to arrive at the maximum reimbursement available. The employee would attach expense documentation to the application in order to receive up to the calculated reimbursement max. If you were worried that an employee might forget what months a "substantial portion" of their travel was by bicycle, you could have a monthly or quarterly reporting requirement.

Or if you don't mind the added administration, you could also allow someone to bring in a receipt mid-year and be paid out for months earned so far plus $20 per qualified month going forward until properly reimbursed. For example: I ride my bike a substantial portion of Feb and May (so 2 qualified months earned); in June I spend $90 on repairs and submit my receipt; I get $40 now ($20 * my 2 months earned); as I document future months of bike commuting, I'd get up to $20/month until I reached full reimbursement; if I don't ride my bike any more before year end, then I never get reimbursed for the remainder.

Or you could wait and see how long it takes to get revised regs.