SPECIFIC EXPENSE ACCOUNT POLICIES FOR A SMALL BUSINESS

Expense accounts, also called expense allowances, are plans under which companies reimburse employees for business-related expenses. These expenses include travel, entertainment, gifts, and other expenses related to the employer’s business activity. Of particular interest to businesses and their employees is the tax treatment of business-related expenses, the types of expenses for which employees will be reimbursed, and the manner in which those reimbursements are made.

For tax purposes, a company’s expense account plan is either accountable or non-accountable. An accountable plan must meet the following requirements of the Internal Revenue Service: there must be a business connection; expenses must be substantiated (usually through a receipt); and any amount received by an employee in excess of actual expenses must be returned to the employer.

Substantiation means that the employer must be able to identify the specific nature of each expense and determine that the expense was business-related. Expenses may not be aggregated into broad categories, and they may not be reported using vague terminology. If the company’s plan is in fact an accountable plan, then all money received by an employee under the plan is excluded from the employee’s gross income. It is not reported as wages or other compensation, and it is exempted from withholding.

Companies that fail to require employees to substantiate their expenses or allow employees to retain amounts in excess of substantiated expenses are considered by the IRS to have non-accountable plans. Funds that employees receive under non-accountable plans are treated as income, subject to withholding, and such expenses are deductible by the employee only as miscellaneous itemized deduction. Even then, the expenses are deductible only if they exceed 2 per cent of the employee’s adjusted gross income.

It is in the best interest of both employer and employee that all affected parties have a complete understanding of expense accounts and reimbursable   expenses. Employees who find that they are incurring business-related expenses need to determine from  their employer exactly what types of expenses are reimbursable, and companies – especially small business owners – need to make sure that employees do not take advantage of expense  account policies with excessive spending on lodging, food, and entertainment, or fraudulent reporting thereof. In an effort to control spiraling travel and other business-related expenses, some companies have developed reimbursement policies that spell out in detail the various travel expenses that qualify for reimbursement.

Account policies for a small business

Small business owners are encouraged to carefully document all business-related expenses, both for tax purposes and to minimize their exposure to expense account fraud by employees. Specific steps and policies that should be considered include:

1. Establish strong internal control systems for tracking expense accounts and activities. These systems include written policies for expense reporting and reimbursement, including what and cannot be expended, regular schedules for submitting expense accounts reports, and original documentation requirements (receipts) for confirmation of expenses.  
2. Institute report procedures to verify legitimacy of submitted expenses. Steps that can be taken in this regard include uniform standards for review of expense reports, comparison of year-to-year costs, comparisons of submitted mileage expenses with actual mileage information for areas traveled (which can be obtained from various Internet travel sites).
3. Establish and maintain careful hiring practices, including comprehensive background/reference checks before hiring new employees. Companies that take the extra effort to find quality employees for their work force are less vulnerable to fraudulent activity.
4. Be careful not to institute unreasonably stingy policies.  Expense accounts, if left unmonitored, can develop into significant source of income loss for small businesses. But owners and managers should also realize that today’s competitive business environment requires many companies to devote considerable financial resources to entertaining their clients and business partners in order to ensure a stable and positive relationship.

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