Offering tax consulting & preparation services to your employees is a nice addition to your benefits menu, especially as the deduction for personal tax preparation fees (including payments to accountants, tax prep firms, and the cost of tax preparation software) has been repealed for tax years 2018 through 2025. Studies have shown [1] that non-traditional additions to an employee benefit plan can be a key to retaining workers in a tight labor market.
ShindelRock is pleased to partner with clients to offer the benefit to employees, and would be happy to help if this is something you are considering offering your employees in 2018. Here are a few things you should know before rolling the benefit out to your staff:
- The fair market value of the services provided is added to the employee’s taxable wages on their W-2 (it’s also taxable for Social Security & Medicare purposes). The employee will be responsible for paying the tax on the increase in wages when they file their personal tax return, but it’s still a very valuable benefit to offer, especially given the complexities of tax reform.
- If retirement planning services are also offered to employees, this is NOT a taxable fringe benefit as long as the company has a qualified retirement plan in place.
Contact your ShindelRock tax professional to see how your company can add this benefit to your plan before the 2018 tax season slips away.