4 ms·

Raising salaries is a permanent commitment and much harder to push through. Paying one-off bonuses, though, is much more feasible.

dagw 4y ago
A manager can generally just decide to take his team out for dinner and spend $100 pr. person without issue. They most likely cannot hand out a $100 cash bonus to their team because they feel like it.
- bombcar 4y ago
  Part of that is the IRS can crawl very far up your company if there is unreported wages; but nobody really bothers about bonus meals even though technically there may be tax implications.
  - dagw 4y ago
    Indeed. Paying my $100 restaurant bill costs the company ~$100. Making sure an extra $100 shows up in my bank account costs a lot more than $100 due to taxes.
    - bombcar 4y ago
      and if your manager hands you a $100 bill, and expenses it (or took it from petty cash) now you're suddenly the recipient of tax fraud. is the IRS going to actually care? probably not, unless it was systematic and notable, but see: https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-governments/de-minimis-fringe-benefits https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-... >Cash Benefits >Cash is generally intended as a wage, and usually provides no administrative burden to account for. Cash therefore cannot be a de minimis fringe benefit. An exception is provided for occasional meal or transportation money to enable an employee to work overtime. The benefit must be provided so that employee can work an unusual, extended schedule. The benefit is not excludable for any regular scheduled hours, even if they include overtime. The employee must actually work the overtime. > Meal money calculated on the basis of number of hours worked is not de minimis and is taxable wages. (this stuff is why some managers will just buy pizza for everyone from their personal money, and never bother expensing it, paperwork is not worth it)

dagw 4y ago

A manager can generally just decide to take his team out for dinner and spend $100 pr. person without issue. They most likely cannot hand out a $100 cash bonus to their team because they feel like it.

bombcar 4y ago
Part of that is the IRS can crawl very far up your company if there is unreported wages; but nobody really bothers about bonus meals even though technically there may be tax implications.
- dagw 4y ago
  Indeed. Paying my $100 restaurant bill costs the company ~$100. Making sure an extra $100 shows up in my bank account costs a lot more than $100 due to taxes.
  - bombcar 4y ago
    and if your manager hands you a $100 bill, and expenses it (or took it from petty cash) now you're suddenly the recipient of tax fraud. is the IRS going to actually care? probably not, unless it was systematic and notable, but see: https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-governments/de-minimis-fringe-benefits https://www.irs.gov/government-entities/federal-state-local-... >Cash Benefits >Cash is generally intended as a wage, and usually provides no administrative burden to account for. Cash therefore cannot be a de minimis fringe benefit. An exception is provided for occasional meal or transportation money to enable an employee to work overtime. The benefit must be provided so that employee can work an unusual, extended schedule. The benefit is not excludable for any regular scheduled hours, even if they include overtime. The employee must actually work the overtime. > Meal money calculated on the basis of number of hours worked is not de minimis and is taxable wages. (this stuff is why some managers will just buy pizza for everyone from their personal money, and never bother expensing it, paperwork is not worth it)