Is this taxable Income? An employer requires all employees to live at their hotel(A) for their convenance. They do not provide a cash allowance and it is a condition of employment to live at the hotel. The employer provides lodging to all of their employees. This potential employee has a child with medical conditions and needs to be close to medical assistance. The employer offers the potential employee to live at their hotel(B) own by the parent corporation one block away which has medical facitlites located in the hotel. The potential employee would be working at hotel(A) and living at hotel(B). Would her lodging paid for by her employer be added to her taxable income?
housing allowance
Sep 19, 2008
6 Replies
One block away shouldn't matter. Employer requires all employees to live on premises, and unless it's a country block, like where i live, I see no difference.
ChEAr$, Harlan Lunsford, EA n LA
Harlan Lunsford wrote: ...
But isn't the value of the lodging compensation either location?
It's excludible from gross income if it meets certain requirements, all of which would clearly be met if the potential employee was lodged at hotel A. The issue is hotel B in place of A (see my other reply).
-Mark Bole
Is the parent corporation the employer? This could be a sticking point. Or put another way, does the employer (who provides and requires employee lodging at hotel A) carry on a significant part of its business activities at hotel B?
Of course, it is the employer's responsibility to figure this out, not the employee's. If the employer really wants to hire this person and the lodging is taxable, surely they could just gross up the income to cover the extra tax.
I'm also curious what kind of hotel (a) includes medical facilities that (b) are not usable if you live one block away from them...
-Mark Bole
...
Learned something...
I should have mentioned, IRS Pub 15-B is a good starting point for the rules regarding fringe benefit exclusion rules.
-Mark Bole
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