Timekeeping And Taxation Of Travel Pay

The rules governing travel pay vary based on a number of factors, including whether workers are traveling on assignment, driving company vehicles or their own cars, etc.

And some of these factors, such as "commuting time", "waiting time", or "on-call time" are additionally governed by FLSA rules - and oft times are rife with employee fraud. It's enough to drive even experienced payroll managers bonkers!

Learning Objectives:

This audio conference covers the IRS rules regarding what is considered travel versus commute and what is an allowable expense versus taxable wages.

By attending this training session, you and/or your team will learn:

• What is considered bona fide travel by the IRS
• The IRS rules for transportation expenses: mileage, car rental, airfare, hotel, meals, and entertainment
• Which employees are entitled to travel time pay
• How and when to compensate an employee for travel time away from a work site
• How to communicate the rate of pay and the requirements of travel
• The travel tracking necessary to compensate the employee properly
• What are the accountable plan rules as they pertain to travel expenses? How quickly must receipts be provided by an employee? How often do expense reports needs to be submitted?
• What is considered a wage or a taxable commute benefit?
• The IRS guidelines regarding commute costs
• "Breaks in service" allowing travel expenses to avoid reclassification as wages?
• The concepts of "co-locating" and "tax turtles" also will be addressed
• The "One-Year" rule: Is there such a thing as breaking residency and restarting the reimbursement clock?
• Typical problems that arise with travel and other FLSA issues, such as meals during travel

About Your Speaker:

Mark Schwartz has over 15 years experience in state and federal payroll tax audits, collections, and payroll consulting.

As an auditor, Mark prided himself on his ability to educate his auditees on state and federal payroll tax requirements. Whatever issues he found in audits, he ensured the auditee knew how to comply in the future. He worked to minimize company disruptions in the audit process.

In addition to his real-life experiences, Mark has a Masters in Business Administration, and currently uses his entertaining and helpful personality to help organizations prepare for payroll tax audits - whether they've already got the notice or are still hoping they don't!

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.