Accountable Plan

A plan used by a business to reimburse its employees for expenses they incur for work purposes. For example, an employee on a business trip may be required to pay for a hotel room with his/her own money and later receive a reimbursement. Under an accountable plan, the reimbursement the employee receives is not included in his/her income. Because it is not part of one's income, the reimbursement is not a tax write-off, which is why the accountable plan was devised.

Accountable Plan

A plan for reimbursing employees for expenses such as meals, entertainment, travel, and transportation incurred for business purposes on behalf of the employer. A plan is an accountable plan if the employer requires the employee to adequately account for all business expenses and to return any excess reimbursements. For employees under an accountable plan, reimbursements aren't entered on the tax return as income and the expenses aren't deductible.

References in periodicals archive ?

Requirements for an accountable plan are found in IRS Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses (http://bit.

Starting a business from home: legal, tax, and financial concerns

Rather than reimbursing employees for actual expenses, an accountable plan can instead pay predetermined mileage or per-diem travel allowances up to the amounts paid to federal employees.

How accountable plans save employers when reimbursing employees: basics for tax-favored expenses vs. taxable compensation

We say we're against it, yet we have no coherent, measurable and accountable plan to reduce it.

We are not facing up to the truths about our NHS; Professor Marcus Longley, Director of the Welsh Institute for Health and Social Care (WIHSC), speaks about the challenges facing the NHS in Wales

Most employers take advantage of the accountable plan rules to deduct travel and entertainment expenses.

Deducting expenses for sporting events under an accountable plan

Amounts paid to an employee under an accountable plan for tickets to a sporting event must meet several conditions, in addition to the usual accountable plan requirements, to be deductible as a business expense by the employer.

Deducting tickets to sporting events

This program improved outcomes and behaviors: Meetings started and ended on time, had a defined purpose and the right people were in attendance; meetings stayed on topic and participants developed an actionable and accountable plan for follow up.

Making Effective Leadership Training Investments

If your company has what the IRS calls an accountable plan, everyone can benefit from the tax treatment.

Making expense accounts accountable

The court's definition in TLC is inaccurate to the extent in relies on the accountable plan rules, which cover only employee reimbursement arrangements, in determining the existence of a reimbursement or other expense allowance arrangement to identify who bears the expense under

Federal tax tips

This includes wages, employee benefit and deferred compensation plans, employer-provided fringe benefits, reimbursement of payments to employees under an accountable plan for the employee's business travel expenses, and payments made by the employee to providers of the employee's travel, meals, and lodging when the employee is traveling on government business and is reimbursed under the accountable plan.

IRS finalizes 3 percent withholding regulations; efforts to repeal law still in play

An accountable plan is one that requires the employee (a) to adequately account to the employer for expenses and (b) return any excess reimbursement to the employer.

Chapter 53: company car or reimbursement plan

It is not just the terms of your accountable plan that matter.

The Courts have spoken: are your expense reimbursement plans in good shape?

Along with the revenue procedure, the IRS issued Revenue Ruling 2002-35, which clarifies that payments to employees for equipment they are required to provide as a condition of employment are wages for federal employment tax purposes, unless such payments are paid under an accountable plan.

IRS revises rules for pipeline construction employees. (Newsline: for the latest industry developments)