Small Business

Generally, you must determine the value of noncash fringe benefits no later than January 31 of the next year. Before January 31, you may reasonably estimate the value of the fringe benefits for purposes of withholding and depositing on time.
For employment tax and withholding purposes, you can treat fringe benefits (including personal use of employer-provided highway motor vehicles) as paid on a pay period, quarter, semiannual, annual, or other basis. You do not have to choose the same period for all employees. You can withhold more frequently for some employees than for others.
You can add the value of fringe benefits to regular wages for a payroll period and figure income tax withholding on the total. Or you can withhold federal income tax on the value of fringe benefits at the flat 25% rate that applies to supplemental wages.

You can exclude the value of a minor cost ( "de minimis") benefit you provide to an employee from the employee's wages.
A de minimis benefit is any property or service you provide to an employee that has so little value (taking into account how frequently you provide similar benefits to your employees) that accounting for it would be unreasonable or administratively impracticable.
Examples of de minimis benefits include the following. Occasional meal money and taxi fares for overtime work.
Transportation fare.
Occasional parties or picnics for employees and their guests.
Occasional tickets for theater or sporting events.
Personal use of an employer-provided cell phone provided primarily for noncompensatory business purposes.
Holiday gifts, other than cash, with a low fair market value.
Group-term life insurance payable on the death of an employee's spouse or dependent if the face amount is not more than $2,000.

The use of a company car is tax free to the extent you use the car for business.
If you use the vehicle for personal use your employer has the resposibility of calculating taxable income to you.
You are required to maintain records such as a mileage log to document and substantiate your business use.
You are not sunject to additional taxable income if your vehicle is considered a limited personal use vehicle.
Llimited personal use vehicles include garbage, dump, flatbed or refrigerated trucks, hearses or ambulances, one passenger delivery trucks, police, fire or public safety vehicles, school and passenger buses and farm vehicles

The employer must report as income in Box 1 of Form W-2, (a) the discount portion of stock acquired by the exercise of an employee stock purchase plan option upon disposition of the stock, and (b) the spread (between the exercise price and the fair market value of the stock at the time of exercise) upon a disqualifying disposition of stock acquired by the exercise of an incentive stock option or an employee stock purchase plan option.
An employer must report the excess of the fair market value of stock received upon exercise of a nonstatutory stock option over the amount paid for the stock option on Form W-2 in boxes 1, 3 (up to the social security wage base), 5, and in box 12 using the code “V"
For more information about employee stock options, Speak to your local CPA or see sections 421, 422, and 423 of the Internal Revenue Code and their related regulations.

Fringe benefits are taxable and included in a recipient's pay Unless the law specifically excludes it.
Fringe Benefits are various non-wage compensations provided to employees in addition to their normal wages or salaries.
The most common of these benefits include health, dental, accident and life insurance, daycare, tuition reimbursement, disability income protection, retirement benefits, sick leave, vacation pay, profit sharing, funding of education and adoption benefit plans.
Normally, employer-provided benefits are tax-deductible to the employer and non-taxable to the employee. The exception to the general rule includes certain executive benefits such as for golden parachute plans.

Employer contributions to the HSA of a qualified individual (determined monthly) are exempt from federal income tax withholding, social security tax, Medicare tax, and FUTA tax.
For 2013, the employer can contribute up to $3,250 for self-only coverage or $6,450 for family coverage to a qualified individual's HSA.

An employee can generally exclude from gross income up to $5,000 of benefits received under a dependent care assistance program each year. This limit is reduced to $2,500 for married employees filing separate returns.
The employer can exclude the value of benefits from the employee's wages if you reasonably believe that the employee can exclude the benefits from gross income and qualify for the dependent care credit.
The employer cannot exclude dependent care assistance from the wages of a highly compensated employee unless the benefits provided under the program do not favor highly compensated employees.

Premiums paid by employer to recipient are not taxed if policy coverage is $50,000 or less. .

An employer can exclude the value of an employee's use of an On-Premises gym (or property leased by the employer, not necessarily located on the main business premises) or other athletic facility you operate from an employee's wages if substantially all use of the facility during the calendar year is by your employees, their spouses, and their dependent children.
Athletic facilities include gyms, golf courses, tennis courts, swimming pools.
The facilities must be available to all employees on a nondiscriminatory basis.