It’s been a little over two years since “Local Law 53”, New York City’s Commuter Benefits Law, went into effect. And with the longest economic growth the city has experienced over the past 70 years, adding more businesses and jobs, we thought it would be a good time to remind those employers about what the transit benefit ordinance entails.
Who Is The Commuter Benefits Law For?
If you employ 20 or more full time, non-union employees in any of the five boroughs of New York City, offering a pretax transit benefit is the law. This applies to non-government, for-profit and non-profit employers, as well as chain businesses and temporary help firms.
Joining the San Francisco, Berkeley and Richmond in California; and Washington D.C.; New York City made transit benefits the law to ensure more employees would have the chance to save money on their transit commute which also reduces traffic congestion and carbon emissions.
What Are Transit Benefits?
Transit Benefits are a big plus for employee, employers, local economies, and the environment. A pretax transit commuter benefit allows employees to receive the amount of their commute from their paycheck, prior to taxes, up to the current IRS limit of $260. This means they can save up to 40% a year on their commuting costs.
And since these pretax deductions reduce the amount of payroll to be taxed, employers save money as well, especially when more employees enroll for commuter benefits.
How to Start a Commuter Benefits Program?
There are a variety of ways to make saving with commuter benefits a reality, depending on the size of your business, the number of employees and other factors that would be unique to your organization.
As the nation’s leading provider of commuter benefits programs, we offer the simplest and easiest solution for employers to abide by the New York City commuter benefits law. And we do it in just four steps. Take a look:
Sign up:book a meeting. If you prefer, you can call at 800.531.2828
Complete registration: Register your company on our platform. Don’t worry, we’ll guide you every step of the way!
Upload your eligibility roster: Upload your list of employees into the system
Pass out our sign up guide: Our custom-made sign up guide takes you out of the mix by walking employees through creating their user accounts and selecting their monthly benefit elections.
We also provide educational materials to help you engage your employees to successfully join the program.
If you want to learn more about commuter benefits, download the 101 Guide below:
