2016 Tax Series: 16 Sweet Fringe Benefits

What’s better than a salary increase? For many employees, the addition of an equivalent fringe benefit may be preferable, due to the tax consequences. For example, if an employee is in the 25% federal tax bracket and receives a $10,000 raise, he or she takes home $7,500 (not counting other taxes). But a tax-free benefit of $10,000 is actually worth $10,000.

There are more than a dozen statutory tax-free fringe benefits available for employees who participate in employer-based programs. Your small business clients may be contemplating use or expansion of one or more of these valuable fringe benefits. To provide more insights, this series will cover the “sweet 16” fringe benefits on the books for 2016.

Fringe Benefit #1: Reward Employees with Achievement Awards