Prohibition of the use of bonus points from job travel
From the New Year, it becomes the employer’s responsibility to report and deduct taxes for private travel paid with points from job trips.
“Although it has been taxable, my impression is that it has been widely accepted to use the points for what you want,” said Per Arne Villadsen, managing director of the travel agency Berg-Hansen to Aftenposten newspaper.
As a manager of the travel agency, he must comply with the new tax rules both as an employer and as a counsellor for the customers.
“Based on talks with the IRS, I have understood that there is no expectation that the employer should have an overview of this. They also have no legal responsibility,’’ said Villadsen.
He sees two possible solutions for Norwegian jobs from the New Year. Employers can ban private use of points contractually or they can create a system for employees to report private use of such points.
Labour’s Nina Melsom of the NHO receives a lot of inquiries about this.
“The first thing a company must do is to get an overview of the arrangements for employees in the company. Our advice is to clarify whether
employees should be allowed to use such schemes,” she said.
In addition, from the New Year, employers must pay employer’s social security contributions for the employee’s private use of bonus points from the job breaks.
‘’Obviously, an additional burden is imposed on the employer, both in terms of additional reporting duty and additional employer’s contribution. Our members are wondering how they can manage to fulfil the new duty in a good way,” Melsom said.
© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today
