Accountable Plan - Tax savings

You can have significant tax saving for both the company and employees when you use an accountable plan in your business for certain expenditures.

How you deduct a business expense under a reimbursement or allowance arrangement depends on whether you have: 

• An accountable plan, or 
• A nonaccountable plan. 

If you make the payment under an accountable plan, deduct it in the category of the expense paid. For example, if you pay an employee for travel expenses incurred on your behalf, deduct this payment as a travel expense. If you make the payment under a nonaccountable plan, deduct it as wages and include it in the employee's Form W­2. 

An accountable plan requires your employees to meet all of the following requirements. Each employee must: 

1. Have paid or incurred deductible expenses while performing services as your employee, 
2. Adequately account to you for these expenses within a reasonable period of time, and
3. Return any excess reimbursement or allowance within a reasonable period of time. An arrangement under which you advance money to employees is treated as meeting (3) above only if the following requirements are also met. 

An accountable plan is a reimbursement arrangement adopted by the company that requires employees to substantiate their business-related expenses to the company within a reasonable time (no more than 60 days from the date of the expense) and to refund to the company any excess advances within a reasonable period (no more than 120 days from the date of incurring or paying the expense); no advances can be made more than 30 days prior to the time of the expense.

With an accountable plan, reimbursements are not reported as income so the employer avoids payroll taxes and W-2 reporting. The employer deducts the business expenses. The employee does not have any income to report and does not have any expenses to claim as miscellaneous itemized deductions. Not having additional income means that adjusted gross income is minimized; this in turn may increase eligibility for certain tax breaks and/or avoid triggering certain phase-outs or additional taxes.

There is no IRS form used to adopt an accountable plan. The law does not even require that an accountable plan be in writing. However, formalities count when it comes to accountable plans. It’s wise to put the terms of the plan in writing. Corporations should add the adoption of accountable plans in their minutes. It is most important to operate an accountable plan in accordance with its terms.

We can help you to set up your accountable plan

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