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Why do you want to work for a company with an accountable reimbursement plan? If you are reimbursed for travel and other business related expenses as defined by treasury regulation 1.62-2, your company must adhere to the accountable reimbursement plan rules or the amount they reimburse you for will be included in your wages. The expenses would then be treated as unreimbursed employee expenses on schedule A of your individual tax return. You do not want this situation, because under an accountable reimbursement plan, your reimbursement would be 100% tax free. As an unreimbursed employee business expense, you are only getting a deduction and the deduction is limited to 2% of your adjusted gross income.
You must be careful to have receipts for all of your expenses and a mileage log to be reimbursed for mileage. If you cannot substantiate an expense, you will not be able to be reimbursed under an accountable reimbursement plan or you will need to return that portion for which you received an advance. It is important that you return any excess advances that go beyond what you actually spent or your employer under an accountable reimbursement plan must treat the excess as wages paid to you. Keep these accountable reimbursement plan rules in mind when you are negotiating a job offer and do not assume just because other employees have it that you will to. The employer is under no requirement to have an accountable plan that is companywide and often the availability of a plan can vary from department to department.
Comment below and let us know what you think. Tell us what your experiences have been with accountable reimbursement plans and ask us any questions you may have.
