Purpose

To notify agencies of changes in maintenance rates for employee housing and meals

Affected Employees

Employees with deductions for employee housing and/or meals using Deduction Code 401 (Taxable Maintenance) or 402 (Non-Taxable Maintenance)

Effective Date(s)

Paychecks dated June 12, 2019 (Administration)
Paychecks dated June 20, 2019 (Institution)
Paychecks dated July 18, 2019 (CUNY)
Paychecks dated July 24, 2019 (SUNY)

Background

In accordance with the Division of the Budget Policy and Reporting Manual, Item B-300 and Item B-300A issued May 21, 2019, maintenance rates have been increased.

Note: Item B-300 and B-300A includes information for specific unions/bargaining units.

The Determining Taxability of Maintenance Deductions attachment can be used as a guideline for establishing the taxable status of maintenance deductions for State employees.

OSC Actions

OSC created Control-D report NBEN725 (Employees with Maintenance Deductions) with an “as of date” of May 24, 2019 to identify employees who have maintenance deductions in each agency. This report is now available for all agencies except SUNY and CUNY.

The NBEN725 for SUNY and CUNY will be available on June 7, 2019. A PayServ bulletin board notice will be posted when it is available.

Agency Actions

Agencies are required to become familiar with IRS regulations on employer provided lodging, specifically the conditions for excluding the value of employer provided lodging from employee’s taxable income, and to make appropriate procedural changes to ensure compliance. Please see IRS Publication 15-B (Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits) for additional information and guidance.

Agencies must report changes to maintenance deductions by inserting a new effective date row on the General Deductions page. The effective date should be the first day of the pay period for the check date in which the deduction will be effective.

Note: This deduction should be immediately end dated when an employee is no longer receiving employer provided maintenance.

Questions

The Division of Budget Policy and Reporting Manual, Item B-300 and Item B-300A issued May 21, 2019, are available from the Division of the Budget at: http://www.budget.ny.gov/guide/bprm/index.html.

Tax related questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Tax and Compliance mailbox.

Deduction related questions regarding this bulletin may be directed to the Payroll Deduction mailbox.