Fringe Benefit Frills

RAJIB KUMAR

The dream team’s Fringe Benefit Tax at last gives me some opportunity to make the crossroads deadline…. I was thinking to write on the very fact that I was not able to write anything this time round; no kidding!

Webster defines fringe benefit as: “An employment benefit paid by an employer without affecting basic wage rates.”

Lot has been debated in the corporate circuit on the whim factor of Income Tax Officers toward assessment.

The following pointers shall be helpful for income tax officers and corporate CEOs alike:

Fringe Benefit Heads:

1. Car Parking (with THE STATE (THE STATE as in Webster “one of the constituents units of a nation having a federal government”) failing to make the grade on that count in metros like ours);
2. Dental insurance (independent and/or dependent of Chinese dentists on the oblivion course in Kolkata and/or Pvt players in the welfare state charging 10 L and more for BDS etc. etc.)
3. Mental insurance (need not be highlighted with high levels of depression and other psychotic disorders and the failure of THE STATE to provide civil amenities thereof for early or late intervention)
4. Coffee (No Kidding with espresso coffees charged at Rs. 20 upwards at the geometrically growing coffee shops)
5. Coffee Cups (Corollary/extension to previous, earthenware notwithstanding while on the railroad or elsewhere)
6. Floor Space (Marbled/Carpeted…comparative analysis on the executive’s floor space status at home; can be interpolated on weighted scale
based on mutually agreed parameters)
7. Furniture Benefits (higher tax for imported furniture)
8. Cash advance (same as with credit card usage except role reversal)
9. Undertime (if overtime can have direct financial implications undertime then surely)
10. Oxygen (as THE STATE fails to provide fresh non polluted air so consumers are definite fringed)
11. Water (as THE STATE fails to provide pure drinking water)
12. Heat (as THE STATE fails to check cold deaths in different parts of North India every year)
13. Hot Water (suggestion: price and decay period of heating element can be taken as the quantifying unit)
14. Internet Usage (can be assessed on same lines as thought in terms of telephone usage by the team; accrue on traffic from 5.30 pm onwards)

Further another front on the same subject can be considered to address the revenue hole as under:

Fringe Benefit Tax (Statutory) for non-employees/ associates/facilitators

Suggested heads:

1. Lunch & Refreshments for Income Tax Officers
2. Lunch & Refreshments for Sales Tax Officers (with reference to 1 (above), this sure will improve center-state relations)
Waivers:

Fringe Benefit Tax can however be waived for Punjabi Thalis, Idlis and Dosas and of course Pastas.