Can an employee buy transit passes without going through the employer?
A10: Qualified transportation fringes are employer-provided benefits which allow employers to treat benefits provided to employees in a tax preferred way. If an employee purchases a transit pass with their money, there is no way that the employee can obtain the tax savings. The employee cannot deduct the amount when they file their personal income tax forms. However, the employer can treat the amount they provide to their employees in the form of qualified transportation fringes as tax free and excludible from gross income of the employee thereby giving employees a financial savings.
