Ask HN: Providing accommodation to employees?

6 points·31reasons··4 comments

SF rent is through the roof and there is no tax benefits to people who rent apartments anywhere in the US even though they can't afford to buy the mortgage. Would it be possible to provide Accommodation to the empoyees as one of the Job Benefits ? Is the rent paid by the Company can be counted as expenses and not taxed ?

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Lodging is generally taxable. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/taxability-employerprovided-l...

Tax considerations aside, providing lodging would put the company in the business of being a landlord, which presumably most companies want no part of.

The link pretty much answers my question! Thanks.

Providing accommodations with employment seems like a slippery slope. You are a little mistaken about "no tax benefits to people who rent apartments anywhere in the US" though. There are some states that allow state tax deductions or credits for rent - Massachusetts is one of them. That only reduces your state tax liabilities though, not federal.

(And for what it is worth, California actually does have a renter's credit. Unfortunately, to qualify your adjusted gross income must be less than $35,659 as a single filer, or $71,318 for a married couple filing jointly.)

So yes Tax benefits for most engineers are pretty much off the table. I am more interested in seeing Accommodation as part of the Job Benefits. I am willing to take 10-20% less salary than other employees if I am provided accommodation by the Company. It could become a win-win situation if companies can write off accommodation as expenses.

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