Pit & Quarry, October 2015

Should the bonus or award be in the form of goods or services employees must include the fair market value in their income The same applies to holiday gifts Though employees who receive turkeys hams or other similar items of nominal value from their employers at Christmas or other holidays may exclude the value of the gift from their income Benefiting from benefits Fringe benefits things that if the employees purchased for themselves would normally be considered personal or family expenses are rewards given to employees for their service and play a crucial role in employee retention and recruiting Fortunately while so called fringe benefits are a form of pay other than money many are specifically excluded from the workers taxable income An aggregate producer can usually While each employee has different needs the recent trend has been pointing toward health insurance as the most important and highly valued benefit for employees deduct the cost of providing many of the benefits sought by job applicants and current employees Adding to the value of many of these benefits is the fact that the cost can often be excluded from the recipients income A word of caution however fringe benefits that are not specifically excluded under the tax rules must be included in the employees taxable income They may also be subject to the payroll taxes that the employer pays No matter which benefits employees may be clamoring for or which benefits the competition is offering every owner or manager needs to assess how those benefits will impact their business If for example popular benefits such as generous time off policies or health insurance are offered the operation is going to be able to attract and keep more and better employees But will those benefits be worth their cost If the shoe fits While each employee has different needs the recent trend has been pointing toward health insurance as the most important and highly valued benefit for employees In addition to being mandatory for some larger employers health insurance is usually tax deductible to the employer and tax free for the employee Some crushed stone sand and gravel producers have discovered that especially if they employ a lot of part timers health benefits may not be required or all that important because the employee is getting health benefits from another source from another full time job through a spouses employer or through a parents health insurance In that case a smart producer would focus on offering other less expensive benefits that would still be considered valuable by employees Many aggregates operations may qualify for the so called Small Employer Tax Credit to offset the costs of providing health insurance to employees Through 2015 the credit a direct reduction in the quarry operations tax bill will reach 50 percent Changing benefits Employers are not required to provide fringe benefits such as paid time off severance pay retirement plans or holiday pay However while employers can often change or eliminate their paid time off PTO policies they cannot take away PTO hours if they have been accrued Employees will be entitled to their PTO leave or the employer will be required to pay workers for the unused time Similar rules may or may not apply to unused sick leave LABOR SHORTAGE Call Now 631 750 1644 www amcastonline com i n n o v a t i o n i n a g g r e g a t e s y s tems leave your vsi in the dust with the rocky sand crusher Now stocking conveyor belting in two and three ply performance wear parts Wear resistant crusher castings for the recycling aggregate and mining industries Manufacturers of Blow Bars Jaws Cones Mono Aprons Apron Liners WRI 52 PIT QUARRY October 2015 www pitandquarry com