If the company is paying for legal fees to help an employee on immigration status (not work visa, the employee already has a work visa, just trying to get immigration status) are the fees taxable as a fringe benefit?
Immigration Legal Fees- Taxability
Answers
Define ....."help" and when you say "taxable", you mean to the employee right?
1
yes to the employee, like how you treat fringe benefits
Who "benefits"? If it's the employer, then I would think that it's non-taxable, but if it's the employee then likely it would be. I searched the IRS website quick and could not find it, but there probably is something buried in there that addresses something along those lines.
Having worked in this area, the laws are uneven. The employer is supposed to absorb the fees for the VISA (but in that industry I was in, this is the exception, not the rule).
"...Added work involving immigration status"; I'm not sure what you mean.
If it's to renew a VISA, I answered that. If it is to go to a green card, I think Ross answered that.
The employee has a working Visa, it is legal fees to help the employee change immigration status so the employee will not have to depend on Visa (which expires in a few years). I also was looking for IRS regulation, but could not find anything.
Filed Under:
Human Capital