Employer Provided Vehicles

[S T]

Have a business client that wants to furnish a company Truck for one of their employees. Small Contracting Firm and the Business will pay for all expenses of the Vehicle. The employer is requiring the Employee to commute to work in the Truck and periodically pickup materials, etc - there will be a written policy agreement that the employee can not use the Company Truck for personal use other than commuting.

Seems like this meets all the requirements for the "commuting Valuation Rule" at $1.50 per one-way commute trip - $ 3.00 per day per commute, to be included in W-2.

Questions:

Besides the $ 3.00 per day commute - is the gas also included at 5.5cents per personal miles (commute miles) on the Employee's W-2

The Employer (taxpayer) is able to deduct the Company vehicle 100% for depreciation an all associated costs. gas, insurance, etc?

Thanks,

Sandy

[AJsTax]

Tools?

Will the truck be used to carry the contractors tools to and from the work site every day? Will the employee often go directly to the work site and home from the work site rather than going to the office both ends of every day. Is the carrying of tools for the convenience and cost savings for the employer? If those are true statements and even more so if the employee could be on call for emergency repairs, then I would have a problem charging the employee for any of the mileage.

[S T]

Tools

Thanks for the thoughts on the tools, etc. Most of the time the Employee will be going from home to the office (commute) does carry some work tools and will pick up supplies or materials part of the time during the commute.

At $ 3 per day (RT Commute) the added income is pretty low.

What I am not clear on is whether the Company paid gas has to be also included for the commute miles on the W-2?

Sandy

[erchess]

Avoid gas problems

by having employer give the employee a credit or debit card to pay for the gas. Then there's no question employer can deduct the gas expense and doesn't have to include it in the employee's income.

[S T]

Gas Provided by Employer

Thanks Erchess, the Employer is paying for all gas through a Credit Card

Just as I was reviewing the rules and regulations on what to include in the Employee's
W-2, the question arose as to whether I should include gas for the personal use (commute) which in this case is the commuting miles and whether that rate is 5.5cents per mile for the commuting miles. This is referenced under the Annual Lease Value Method, but not mentioned under the Commuting Value Method

It does appear that the Employer can deduct 100% of all costs including depreciation for this Business Truck, even though furnishing to Employee for Commuting Miles.



Thanks,

Sandy