Fringe Benefits - Tips For Valuation And taxation

The IRS has indicated that fringe benefits are now an audit focus and it is no laughing matter if you improperly report - even by mistake - the fringe benefits that you provide to your employees.

Experience has shown that these audits are going to be different from regular tax audits in that they're going to be more invasive. Will your organization's accounting and reporting stand up to these audits?

Fringe Benefits - such as awards, prizes, gift certificates, and the use of company vehicles - are benefits over and above the salary provided by employers. Whether offered as a reward for good performance or an incentive to achieve sales goals, some fringe benefits are taxable, while others need not be reported or taxed. As someone handling payroll, you must know the difference – or be subjected to fines.

This audio conference will help you to determine if your fringe benefits are currently being offered to employees correctly in order to ensure that they are compliant with federal and state payroll tax regulations. This may assist you in avoiding a costly audit in the future.

We'll cover the IRS guidelines for the items that they will focus on when an employment tax audit is being performed, as well as tips on how to perform your own internal review to catch anything that may actually cause an audit.

Learning Objectives:

By attending this audio conference, you will learn:

• Which benefits are taxable - and how they should be reported
• Which benefits are excludable from taxes - and how they should be documented
• How to compute the value of a "good" versus a "service" - and how to handle the payroll tax consequences for those items considered taxable
• How to perform your own internal review to catch anything that may actually cause an audit
• What the IRS guidelines are for an employment tax audit
• What to do if you have some items that should have been considered wages subject to payroll taxation

...and as always, this session will be interactive, so we'll be able to answer your questions on this topic throughout the presentation!

About Your Speaker

Dayna Reum, CPP, FPC, is a payroll professional with over 15 years experience in both teaching and handling payroll.

Ms. Reum holds both a Certified Payroll Professional and a Fundamental Payroll Certification designation, and is a frequent presenter on various payroll topics. Dayna has worked for companies such as PetSmart, Honeywell, and the American Payroll Association.

Dayna also serves on the National American Payroll Association on the national Strategic Leadership Task Force, has received a Citation of Merit and is a Gold Pin member of the APA. She is certified in HR hiring and firing practices, and is a Six-Sigma Greenbelt.

HRCI Credits

This program has been approved for 1.5 re-certification credit hours for HRCI's PHR and SPHR designations through the HR Certification Institute. For more information about certification or re-certification, please visit the HR Certification Institute website at www.hrci.org. The use of this seal is not an endorsement by HRCI of the quality of the program. It means that this program has met HRCIs criteria to be pre-approved for re-certification credit.

SHRM Professional Development Credits

This program is valid for 1.5 Professional Development Credits (PDCs) for the SHRM-CP or SHRM-SCP designations. For more information about certification or re-certification, please visit www.shrmcertification.org.