Bill Text: NY A01486 | 2025-2026 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Authorizes the election of qualified transportation fringe benefits; authorizes any employer to offer employees the opportunity to use pre-tax earnings for the purchase of qualified transportation fringe benefits.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2025-01-10 - referred to ways and means [A01486 Detail]

Download: New_York-2025-A01486-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          1486

                               2025-2026 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    January 10, 2025
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. RIVERA -- read once and referred to the Committee
          on Ways and Means

        AN  ACT to amend the tax law, in relation to authorizing the election of
          qualified transportation fringe benefits

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  The tax law is amended by adding a new section 50 to read
     2  as follows:
     3    § 50. Election of qualified transportation fringe benefits. (a)  Defi-
     4  nitions.  For  the  purposes  of this section, the following terms shall
     5  have the following meanings:
     6    (1) "bikesharing arrangements" means a rental operation at which bicy-
     7  cles, as defined in section one hundred two of the vehicle  and  traffic
     8  law;  bicycles  with  electric assist, as defined in section one hundred
     9  two-c of the vehicle and traffic law; or electric scooters,  as  defined
    10  in  section  one  hundred fourteen-e of the vehicle and traffic law, are
    11  made available to pick up and drop off for point-to-point use  within  a
    12  defined geographic area;
    13    (2)  "employer" means an entity, including but not limited to a corpo-
    14  ration, nonprofit organization, partnership, joint venture, common trust
    15  fund, limited association, pool or working agreement, local  government,
    16  or limited liability company, that employs three or more persons in this
    17  state;
    18    (3)  "local  government"  means  the  same  as such term is defined in
    19  section three hundred eight of the real property tax law;
    20    (4) "qualified transportation fringe benefits" means:
    21    (A) any qualified  transportation  fringe  benefit  as  that  term  is
    22  defined in 26 U.S.C. § 132(f);
    23    (B) TNC prearranged trips, as defined in section sixteen hundred nine-
    24  ty-one  of the vehicle and traffic law, or rides provided by bikesharing
    25  arrangements or ridesharing arrangements for use by an employee in trav-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03022-01-5
        A. 1486                             2

     1  eling between the employee's residence, the employee's place of  employ-
     2  ment,  or  a  mass  transit  facility  that connects the employee to the
     3  employee's residence or place of employment; or
     4    (C)  membership in any transportation network company, ridesharing, or
     5  bikesharing membership program;
     6    (5) "ridesharing" means the  vehicular  transportation  of  passengers
     7  traveling  together  primarily  to  and  from such passengers' places of
     8  business or work or traveling together on a  regularly  scheduled  basis
     9  with  a  commonality of purposes if the vehicle used in such transporta-
    10  tion is not operated for profit by an entity primarily  engaged  in  the
    11  transportation  business  and  if no charge is made therefore other than
    12  that reasonably calculated to recover the direct and indirect  costs  of
    13  the  "ridesharing arrangement", including, but not limited to, a reason-
    14  able incentive to maximize occupancy of the vehicle. "Ridesharing" shall
    15  include  "ridesharing  arrangements"  commonly  known  as  carpools  and
    16  vanpools,  but shall not include school transportation vehicles operated
    17  by elementary and secondary schools  when  they  are  operated  for  the
    18  transportation  of  children  to  or  from  school  or on school-related
    19  events.
    20    (b) Election of qualified transportation fringe benefits  in  lieu  of
    21  taxable  dollar  compensation  for  certain employees. For taxable years
    22  beginning on and after  January  first,  two  thousand  twenty-six,  any
    23  employer may offer employees the opportunity to use pre-tax earnings for
    24  the purchase of qualified transportation fringe benefits.
    25    (c)  Rules  and  regulations.  The department may promulgate rules and
    26  regulations necessary to implement and administer this section.
    27    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to taxable
    28  years beginning on and after January 1, 2026.