IRS Offers New Guidance on Mass Transit Passes

The Internal Revenue Service has issued a new revenue ruling on mass transit passes provided as fringe benefits to employees and how to pay for them.

Revenue Ruling 2014-32 updates the IRS’s previous guidance on the use of smartcards, debit or credit cards, or other electronic media to provide qualified transportation fringe benefits to employees.

The new revenue ruling also provides guidance on the use by employees of debit cards for paying mandatory shipping fees on transit passes. 

The revenue ruling provides that after Dec. 31, 2015, employers can no longer provide qualified transit fringe benefits under a bona fide cash reimbursement arrangement in cases in which a terminal-restricted debit card is the only readily available transit pass in the employer’s geographic area.