The IRS recently announced special tax relief for leave-based donation programs set up by employers to assist victims of Hurricane Harvey and Tropical Storm Harvey.
Basics of Employer Programs
Under a leave-based donation program, an employer can allow its employees to forgo their vacation, sick, or personal time off in exchange for cash payments made by the employer to charitable organizations. Under IRS regulations, leave-based charitable donations are ordinarily included in the donating employee’s income. In addition, the opportunity to elect such contributions raises the concern that eligible employees might be taxed on income that could have been donated because the ability to make the contribution triggers “constructive receipt.” Read more