I am trying to structure employee pay for a company that provides employees who do the job that I have done for the last couple decades. My problem is, the staffing companies that provide these employees have a pay structure, which I will have to compete with, that seems to run afoul of income tax laws in an effort to reduce tax burdens for themselves and their employees.
The reason I am here, in spite of the fact that it seems illegal on its face, is that almost every agency providing these services have similar pay structures. This suggests to me that perhaps there is a loop-hole that I just have not discovered yet and I am hopeful someone here might know.
These companies offer people like myself jobs paying, let's say $567.75/day on a six day work week which includes the following break-down:
$24/hour + 1.5 for OT - (($24*40)+($24*20*1.5))/7 days = 240/day
$190/day per diem (in an area with considerably lower GSA per diem rate)
$20/day reimbursement for PPE, tools, etc
$30/day reimbursement for communication devices (phone, laptop, internet, etc)
150 miles reimbursement at IRS mileage rate of $0.585/mile - 150 miles * $0.585/mile) = $87.75
Per my research, to be untaxable, these reimbursements would have to be part of an accountable plan, related to the business, accounted for by the employee, and excesses reimbursed. However, these companies do not pay taxes on these reimbursements, do not ask for or require accounting, and do not ask for or require reimbursement for excess.
If anyone here has thoughts how they can do this within the confines of the tax law, I would love to hear it. It would be nearly impossible to compete with this pay structure without doing something similar because taxable income is less than untaxable income.
The reason I am here, in spite of the fact that it seems illegal on its face, is that almost every agency providing these services have similar pay structures. This suggests to me that perhaps there is a loop-hole that I just have not discovered yet and I am hopeful someone here might know.
These companies offer people like myself jobs paying, let's say $567.75/day on a six day work week which includes the following break-down:
$24/hour + 1.5 for OT - (($24*40)+($24*20*1.5))/7 days = 240/day
$190/day per diem (in an area with considerably lower GSA per diem rate)
$20/day reimbursement for PPE, tools, etc
$30/day reimbursement for communication devices (phone, laptop, internet, etc)
150 miles reimbursement at IRS mileage rate of $0.585/mile - 150 miles * $0.585/mile) = $87.75
Per my research, to be untaxable, these reimbursements would have to be part of an accountable plan, related to the business, accounted for by the employee, and excesses reimbursed. However, these companies do not pay taxes on these reimbursements, do not ask for or require accounting, and do not ask for or require reimbursement for excess.
If anyone here has thoughts how they can do this within the confines of the tax law, I would love to hear it. It would be nearly impossible to compete with this pay structure without doing something similar because taxable income is less than untaxable income.