Revenu Québec Releases Taxable Benefits Updated Guide

Revenu Québec recently updated guide IN-253-V, Taxable Benefits. This guide addresses the most frequent benefits provided to employees, such as vehicle allowances, insurance, meals and lodging, travel, membership dues, cell phone costs, and, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, home office equipment. Along with a description of each benefit, the guide outlines whether a certain benefit must be included in the income of an employee receiving the benefit.

Notable changes found in this guide are indicated below:

• The reimbursement of personal computer equipment or office furnishings to a maximum of $500 required for remote work will not be considered a taxable benefit for an employee. This measure is designed to take into consideration the fact that many Quebecers are working remotely because of the COVID-19 pandemic;
• The reasonable per-kilometre automobile allowance rates increased in 2020 to $0.59 for the first 5,000 kilometres and $0.53 for each additional kilometre;
• The maximum price for calculating the value of a benefit related to meals and weekly lodging provided to a hotel or restaurant employee for 2020 increased to $8.93 and $51.25, respectively, while for 2021 the rate will increase to $9.26 and $52.25 respectively; and
• The prescribed interest rate used to calculate the benefit of low-interest loans made to an employee or shareholder was 2% for January through June 2020 and decreased to 1% for July through December 2020.