Transit Pass Parity with Parking Benefit Starting in 2016

In the year-end tax and spending bills passed by Congress, one of the items now provides for permanent parity between eligible transit passes and the parking benefits previously allowed in the Internal Revenue Code under Section 132.

Prior to this change in the law, the IRS had already announced that the 2016 limits for transit passes was to be the same as it was in 2015, no more than $130 per month.  The 2016 limit for a qualified parking benefit was to have been $255 in 2016, a slight increase from 2015's $250.  Now, and presumably forever more (until Congress changes its mind yet again), both benefits will be set at the higher amount.

This is good news for employees typically in urban and suburban areas around the country who wish to utilize public transit. In fact, many cities now require employers to offer both transit and parking benefits to their employees on a pre-tax basis.  So now both employers and their employees will be able to utilize the advantage of the higher limits.

Posted on December 21, 2015 by Gary B. Kushner, SPHR, CBP, President and CEO

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