KPMG staff should know which workplace perks are taxable, IRS says

The gap that matters

A lot of Big Four perks feel like part of the job: commuter help, meals, relocation support, a car for client work, or tuition reimbursement. The IRS sees them differently. Under Publication 15-B, fringe benefits are a form of pay, and unless a specific exclusion applies, they can land in gross income and on your tax bill. That is the paycheck trap for KPMG staff: a benefit that looks generous in an offer letter may be worth less after taxes than the number on the slide deck suggests.

Education is valuable, but only inside the rules

Educational assistance is one of the most important perks in professional services, especially at a firm where credentials, continuing education, and promotion cycles all matter. The IRS says a section 127 educational assistance program has to be a written plan for employees, and it can cover tuition, fees, books, supplies, equipment, and qualified student loan payments made after March 27, 2020. The tax-free portion is generally capped at $5,250 per employee per year, and the IRS says those benefits should not be included in box 1 of Form W-2 when they qualify. Anything above the cap is generally taxable wages.

That cap matters in a firm like KPMG because learning support is often part of the pitch to future managers and future partners. If your employer pays for a credentialing course, a grad program, or student loan help, the value depends on whether the plan is written correctly and whether the annual total stays within the exclusion. The difference can be the difference between a real tax break and extra taxable compensation dressed up as development.

Caregiving support can be real money, but it still needs to be reported correctly

Dependent care is another perk that can materially change monthly cash flow, especially during busy season when school pickups and late nights collide. The IRS says dependent care benefits are reported in box 10 of Form W-2, and the maximum amount excludable from income through a dependent care assistance program is $7,500 for 2026, or $3,750 if married filing separately. If benefits exceed the limit, the extra amount is taxable.

That is why KPMG’s expanded child and elder care support is more than a morale gesture. The firm said it increased back-up care for employees who need child and/or elder care, doubled the number of days available per dependent, and expanded discounted tutoring, academic support, and homework assistance for children in preschool through 12th grade. HR Executive also reported that KPMG quadrupled the number of total backup-care uses per dependent in 2020, which shows how quickly a benefit can become part of day-to-day survival for working parents. Darren Burton, KPMG’s vice chair of human resources, said the changes came after employee surveys and focus groups surfaced the pressure on caregivers.

Commuting help and parking are capped, not automatically free

Transportation benefits are where many employees misread the fine print. The IRS says fringe benefits are generally taxable unless an exclusion applies, and for 2026 the monthly exclusion for qualified parking is $340, while the exclusion for commuter highway vehicle transportation and transit passes is also $340. That means a commuting stipend can be tax-favored up to the cap, but the excess generally becomes taxable compensation.

The same section of Publication 15-B makes another point that matters for anyone who expects bike, transit, or ride help from an employer: the exclusion for qualified bicycle commuting reimbursements is gone for tax years beginning after 2025. That is the kind of quiet rule change that can make a perk vanish from the tax-free column even if the employer still offers it in some form.

Company cars are not a free ride

If your role comes with a vehicle, the personal use piece usually counts as taxable pay. The IRS says personal use of an employer-provided car or other highway motor vehicle is usually a taxable fringe benefit, and the employer must generally include the value of that use in income. The IRS also notes that commuting use of an employer-provided automobile or other vehicle more than one day a month is not excludable as a de minimis fringe benefit.

For KPMG-style roles, that matters less for rank-and-file office staff than for people who travel constantly, manage clients on the road, or sit in leadership roles that come with a car allowance. A vehicle perk can look like convenience, but if the personal-mile calculation is wrong, the value quietly shifts from perk to taxable pay.

Meals and relocation aid are where the rules get sharpest

Meals are not a blanket freebie either. The IRS says some meals can be excluded, including de minimis meals, and it notes that the de minimis meals exclusion can apply to meals at an employer-operated eating facility only if annual revenue from the facility equals or exceeds direct operating costs. The 2026 publication also says that for amounts incurred or paid after 2025, an employer can no longer deduct expenses tied to providing food and beverages through certain eating facilities, including those meeting de minimis or convenience-of-the-employer rules. That is an employer-level change, but it is a reminder that the cafeteria lunch you take for granted sits inside a moving tax target.

Relocation support is even more straightforward. The IRS says the exclusion for qualified moving expense reimbursements is generally gone for nonmilitary taxpayers, with narrow exceptions for active-duty members of the U.S. Armed Forces and certain intelligence community employees or appointees. For most employees, that means relocation aid is taxable compensation, not a tax-free perk, even if it is sold internally as a talent incentive.

Why this matters at KPMG

KPMG has been candid that rewards are a talent tool. Its Global Reward Services team says total rewards programs should be designed to attract and retain talent, and KPMG’s financial-reporting handbook says compensation packages can change rapidly with the marketplace. That fits the reality of a firm where salary, bonus, learning support, parental help, wellness spending, and travel-related perks all sit in the same overall package. If one piece is taxable and another is not, the headline number in the offer letter can overstate what actually lands in your pocket.

KPMG Canada’s benefits page shows how flexible these programs have become: a Wellness Pool, a Lifestyle Spending Account, 50 hours of personal care time, a remote-work and travel program, and family-building benefits with parental top-up pay. That design matters because a perk that looks like “extra money” may be reimbursement-based, capped, or taxable depending on how the plan is structured. The label is not the tax treatment.

How to audit your own offer and W-2

The practical move is to stop reading benefits as if they were all the same and check the plan mechanics instead. Look for a written educational assistance plan, note whether dependent care shows up in box 10, and compare commuting and parking support against the monthly exclusion. If the perk involves a car, meals, or relocation, assume tax treatment may differ from the way HR describes it and read the payroll language closely. The IRS’s own guide exists because these distinctions change what counts as wages.

For KPMG staff, that means the real paycheck question is not just “What did I get?” It is “What got excluded, what got reported, and what quietly became taxable compensation before it ever reached my bank account?” That is the difference between a benefit package and a pay package.