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Old 11-16-2011, 11:12 AM   #3988
glatt
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Arlington, VA
Posts: 27,717
The IRS is irritating me today.

We have this program here where you can take your pay pre-tax and put some on a fare card so that you can commute to work. It's a nice benefit and it promotes using public transportation. The IRS changed the rules of the program for 2012 so that your fund balance on your card doesn't carry over from month to month. So if I put $300 of my money on my card, and I get sick or take a vacation so I miss a few weeks of work, I'll forfeit MY money that I didn't use by the end of the month. It seems really unfair. I think many people won't realize what is happening with this rule until that first month where they lose a couple hundred bucks, and then this program will die as everyone drops out in droves.

It's kind of like the medical cafeteria plan out there, but with that, you have a year to spend all the money. That's reasonable. I'd be fine with a year. But a month is crazy. It's almost like they are trying to kill this program without actually killing it.
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