[Foundation-l] Travel policy

Tue Jul 10 10:48:03 UTC 2007

On 7/10/07, Ray Saintonge <saintonge at telus.net> wrote:
> The Uninvited Co., Inc wrote:
>
> ><<< Anthere wrote:
> >Let me get the point through. Are you saying that "claiming a childcare
> >expense" is a "remuneration" for me ?
> >
> >
> >
> >I would like to start out by making it very clear that this is not about
> >you.  It is about travel policy in general.
> >
> >By the operating conventions of U.S. corporations, 501 (c) 3 or
> >otherwise, child care is not widely seen as a reimbursable travel
> >expense even if it may technically be permitted by tax law.
> >
> I don't think that 501(c)(3) gives any details about what is meant by
> travel expenses.  "Technically" permitted is still permitted.  That
> phrase is often used to mean, "It's allowed but I personally don't like
> it."  Can you provide a link to the law of any state where it forbids
> reimbursing child care expenses.
>
The comment was about all US corporations, not just 501(c)(3)s.
501(c)(3) doesn't say anything about travel expenses, of course, it
only deals with one particular qualification for US charities.  And
the US Code doesn't say anything about whether or not child care
reimbursement is "permitted by tax law".  What it says is that
dependent care reimbursements aren't taxable income.  Or more
specifically, that "Gross income of an employee does not include
amounts paid or incurred by the employer for dependent care assistance
provided to such employee if the assistance is furnished pursuant to a
program which is described in subsection (d)."  (section 129(a)(1)).
Subsection d is boring, you can read it at
http://www4.law.cornell.edu/uscode/html/uscode26/usc_sec_26_00000129----000-.html

I'm not sure what percentage of corporations reimburse for child care,
but I do get the sense it is growing.  But then again, the dependent
care program that was just adopted by the WMF is much much more
limited than those corporate programs anyway.  A dependent care
program generally reimburses for dependent care expenses of an
employee any time s/he is at work, not just when s/he is travelling.