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发帖数: 43471 | 1 2014年irs就打算让google, fb付咖啡汉堡钱
https://www.wsj.com/articles/silicon-valley-cafeterias-whet-appetite-of-irs-
1409612488
Silicon Valley Cafeterias Whet Appetite of IRS
Free, Employer-Provided Meals Are Viewed as a Taxable Fringe Benefit
The IRS views 'employer-provided meals' as a tax priority. Pictured, a
Google cafeteria in New York last year.
KEITH BEDFORD FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Mark Maremont
Sept. 1, 2014 7:01 pm ET
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There is a grumpy new face in line at Silicon Valley's lavish freebie
cafeterias: the Internal Revenue Service.
Staffers at technology companies such as Google Inc., GOOG 0.17% Facebook
Inc. FB 0.30% and Twitter Inc. TWTR -1.82% long have enjoyed free gourmet
meals, courtesy of their employers. The groaning buffets, in-house pizza
joints, and kitchens stocked with organic produce are an intrinsic part of
the culture in much of Silicon Valley, encouraging both collaboration and
longer work hours.
The IRS, arguing that these freebies are a taxable fringe benefit, has given
new attention to the issue in recent months during routine audits of some
companies, tax lawyers said. When employers haven't been withholding taxes
related to the meals, the IRS increasingly has sought back taxes that can
amount to 30% of the meals' fair-market value, the lawyers said.
In another sign of a new focus on the issue, the IRS and U.S. Treasury
Department last week included taxation of "employer-provided meals" in their
annual list of top tax priorities for the fiscal year ending next June. The
agencies said they intend to issue new "guidance" on the matter, but gave
no specifics about timing or what the guidance would say.
"I suspect this is going to be guidance on these free cafeterias, that the
benefit has got to be included in income," said Anne G. Batter, an
employment-tax attorney at Baker & McKenzie in Washington.
An IRS spokesman declined to comment.
Tax lawyers expect some employers will fight the IRS over the matter, and
said the issue is likely to be decided in the courts. Any broad IRS
crackdown could spur complaints about petty government interference with the
culture of a crucial industry.
But allowing free meals to go untaxed, critics say, distorts the economy and
gives some employers an unfair edge. |
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