Revenu Quebec recently released its annual update to guide IN-253-V, “Taxable Benefits” for the 2019 taxation year. This document contains useful information about the most frequent benefits provided to employees, such as vehicle allowances, insurance, meals and lodging, travel, membership dues, and cell phone fees. Along with a description of each benefit, the guide outlines whether a certain benefit must be included in the income of the employee receiving the benefit.
Notable changes found in this year’s guide include:
- The reasonable per-kilometre automobile allowance rates increased in 2019 to $0.58 for the first 5,000 kilometres and $0.52 for each additional kilometre;
- The operating benefit rate for an automobile made available to an employee in 2019 increased to 25 cents per kilometre where the employee was engaged principally in selling or leasing automobiles, otherwise, the rate is increased to 28 cents per kilometre;
- The maximum price for calculating the value of a benefit related to meals and lodging provided to a hotel or restaurant employee for 2019 increased to $8.71 and $50.50, respectively; and
- The prescribed interest rate used to calculate the benefit of low interest loans made to an employee or shareholder was 2% for 2019.
