The USPS Commuter Program can help postal employees save on parking costs and commuting fares for buses, subways, van pools and ferryboats. Register online at wageworks.com or call 877-924-3967, TTY 866-361-8017

USPS Chooses WageWorks to Provide Commuter Program for All Postal Employees--Wageworks announced today that USPS is working with to provide a commuter program to its entire career workforce. The WageWorks Commuter Program saves employees up to 40 percent on commuting costs by giving them a convenient way to pay for public transportation, parking and vanpool expenses with pre-tax income. Over 700,000 USPS career employees across the country will be eligible to participate in the program when the phased implementation is completed. (1/13/05)

Tax-Break ‘Commuter Program’ Update

 Jan. 11, 2005

Working with a company called wageworks.com the Postal Service is setting up a plan that will allow career employees to pay commuting expenses on a pre-tax basis. The program is in the test phase and thus far is available only to management employees. All APWU-represented employees are expected to be eligible to take part in the program by the end of the summer.

The APWU has received numerous inquiries about the USPS-WageWorks timetable. The initial phase began last fall and has been limited to management employees working at USPS headquarters in Washington. Phase Two, now expected to launch in February, will include all career employees in the Capital Metro Area, comprising the Washington and Baltimore metropolitan areas as well as Richmond, VA. USPS and Wageworks officials hope that all career employees will be eligible by the end of the summer.

Under this program, no federal income, Social Security, Medicare, or (in most cases), state or local income taxes will be withheld from the pre-tax amount of eligible commuting expenses. Postal employees are now eligible under IRS rules to purchase as much as $105 per month, pre-tax, in public-transportation fares. To qualify as “pre-tax purchases,” the fares necessarily have to go through the employer. Once the system has been set up, the pre-tax purchases can be used for anything classified as mass transit: buses, trains, van-pools, or any combination of these. Employees can also be reimbursed as much as $200 per month for work-related parking expenses.

WageWorks will send transit chits directly to the employee and also let the USPS know how many pre-tax dollars to deduct from your pay.

Once the WageWorks Commuter Program is operational, you will be able to purchase transport-related expense items beyond the limits listed above. But you will have to use taxed dollars to purchase any amount over the $105/$200 cap.

APWU-Update: Tax-Break 'Commuter Program'

Tax-Break ‘Commuter Program’ Launched for Postal Workers

December 8, 2004

1/08/05: updated information in bold

Working with a company called WageWorks, the Postal Service has set up a plan that allows employees to pay commuting expenses on a pre-tax basis.

Under this program, no federal income, Social Security, Medicare, or (in most cases), state or local income taxes are withheld from the pre-tax amount of eligible commuting expenses.

APWU-represented employees are now eligible under IRS rules to purchase as much as $100 per month, pre-tax, in public-transportation fares. These purchases can be used for anything classified as mass transit: buses, trains, van-pools, or any combination of these. Employees can also be reimbursed as much as $195 per month for work-related parking expenses.

Through the WageWorks Commuter Program, you can purchase transport-related expense items beyond these limits. But any amount over the $100/$195 cap will be paid with taxed dollars.

Under an agreement between the USPS and the Department of Transportation, implementation will be gradual to allow the Postal Service to assess the program and make any necessary changes before making the program widely available. The first phase, which is limited to career management employees working at USPS Headquarters in Washington, DC, began in September 2004.

Phase 2 will include all career employees in the Capital Metro Area and USPS headquarters field units; Phase 3 will include all career employees in the New York Metro Area and an additional area or areas to be selected in coordination with WageWorks. The final phase will include the remainder of all career employees. The implementation dates of Phases 2, 3, and 4 have not been announced.

To enroll, postal employees can call WageWorks at 877-924-3967 (toll-free) or go to www.wageworks.com. After completing the required information online, consumers create their own usernames and passwords, and can place an order for whatever is needed in terms of tokens, paper passes, swipe cards, etc.

The transportation-expense elections need to be made before 11:59 Eastern Time on the 10th of the month, two months before the commuting month (to start receiving this benefit in February, you need to enroll by Dec. 10). You can change your order at any time; it just won’t go into effect until about two months later.

WageWorks sends transit chits directly to the employee and lets the USPS know how many pre-tax dollars to deduct from your pay. By the way, this special payroll deduction does not affect the total number of allowable allotments.

(source: APWU)

USPS, APWU Discuss Commuter-Costs Benefit

April 13, 2004

The APWU is holding discussions with the Postal Service concerning a pre-tax “Commuter Benefit.” Working with a company called WageWorks, the Postal Service is setting up a plan that would allow commuting-related expense items on a pre-tax basis.

 APWU-represented employees would be eligible under IRS rules to purchase from WageWorks as much as $100 per month’s worth of “pre-tax” public-transportation fares. These purchases typically are for use on anything classified as mass transit: buses, trains, van-pools, or any combination of these.

 Employees also could be reimbursed as much as $195 per month for parking as a work-related expense. If a worker’s actual expenses are greater than that, employees could still purchase whatever they needed through WageWorks. Any amount over the expense cap, however, would have to be paid with taxed dollars.

 Participating employees would either call a toll-free number or go to www.WageWorks.com, and place an order for tokens, paper passes, swipe cards, etc. WageWorks then sends the chits to the employees and lets the USPS know how much to deduct from their pay.  (The system, of course, would have to have been tested and proven secure.)

 The commuter benefit would be paid by a special payroll deduction and would not affect the total number of allowable allotments currently available.

 The proposed program is similar to Flexible Spending Accounts except that there is no “use it or lose it” provision. Because of this, the Commuter Benefits program should prove to be very valuable. 

(source: APWU)