@Capurato wrote:
My company is paying for me to fly for work. Thoughts on conducting an inflight shop and collecting the fee and reimbursement when I didn’t purchase the ticket with my own money?
@cooldude581 wrote:
if you are trying to double dip on you plane ticket cost it depends.
@sandyf wrote:
There is also the question of the legality of someone writing off a reimbursement for expenses for an airline ticket on their Schedule C when they already had been reimbursed by their employer at the job that sent them on the trip. Seems to me that would be considered double dipping by the IRS.
@JasperJohnson wrote:
Easy fix, rather than claim a $0.00 expense for the plane ticket (it wouldn't have been an expense even if you weren't double dipping) claim it as additional income and pay taxes on the price of the reimbursed plane ticket.
@BirdyC wrote:
@JasperJohnson wrote:
Easy fix, rather than claim a $0.00 expense for the plane ticket (it wouldn't have been an expense even if you weren't double dipping) claim it as additional income and pay taxes on the price of the reimbursed plane ticket.
That objectively sounds like a reasonable solution--but only insofar as the IRS is concerned. It doesn't address the ethical issue of the MSC "reimbursing" someone for monies they didn't spend. I highly doubt this is OK with any MSC. They don't care how you handle it with the IRS, I imagine, but they sure must care how you handle it with them. They reimburse you for an expense they assume came out of your own pocket, but which someone else paid. Not good.
@sandyf wrote:
Note to Jasper...there have been numerous threads throughout the time I have been on the forum of shoppers being upset when a msc denied their request for reimbursement for a meal when the meal had been paid for by someone else such as a friend at another table. They seem to never pay reimbursement even if you claim you were treated by someone you knew and now have to treat them back. This double dipping on an airline ticket seems to me to fit the same thought pattern for a msc. Yes I think they definitely would mind.
@JasperJohnson wrote:
How would they know who paid at the restaurant? You can always block the cc info and say it is for security reasons. I have one company that deducts points if you don't black that part of the receipt out.
@sandyf wrote:
Note to Jasper...there have been numerous threads throughout the time I have been on the forum of shoppers being upset when a msc denied their request for reimbursement for a meal when the meal had been paid for by someone else such as a friend at another table. They seem to never pay reimbursement even if you claim you were treated by someone you knew and now have to treat them back. This double dipping on an airline ticket seems to me to fit the same thought pattern for a msc. Yes I think they definitely would mind.
@JasperJohnson wrote:
If the MSC didn't have to pay you for the ticket that is budgeted in the shop, what do you think will happen to the money. My guess is the MSC would take it as profit.
From most of what I've read, the MSC companies get a flat fee to complete X shops. The client doesn't know how much the MSC had to pay ICs to get it done. Anything left in the pot after the shops are done belong to the MSC company.
The only double dipping I think to be black and white is when two companies hire you for the same hourly job and you bill the same hour twice. Doesn't matter if you say you did the work of two people. Some people do the work of two people and get paid for one every day.
@Capurato wrote:
I am going to avoid the inflight shops when traveling on the company dime just to avoid all appearances of conflict. It’s not worth the $25 IMO.
@Capurato wrote:
My company is purchasing the flight for me (corporate credit card in my name) and I receive a receipt through the United App. I have no issue completing as many gate/club and other shops, however I was thinking I could do the inflight shop and just collect the $25 job fee and NOT the $75 flight reimbursement since I am not the one paying for the flight.
@myst4au wrote:
Before working for that company, I taught at a major research university. Occasionally, a student would come in and ask if there was anything they could do to get a better grade. If they seemed to be offering me a bribe, I could have reported them. Instead, I tried to humorously de-escalate the situation by pointing out that since my job was at risk.
@Capurato wrote:
My company is purchasing the flight for me (corporate credit card in my name) and I receive a receipt through the United App..
@JasperJohnson wrote:
Without hearing the conversation, is it possible the student was asking for extra credit work rather than offering a bribe?
@myst4au wrote:
Before working for that company, I taught at a major research university. Occasionally, a student would come in and ask if there was anything they could do to get a better grade. If they seemed to be offering me a bribe, I could have reported them. Instead, I tried to humorously de-escalate the situation by pointing out that since my job was at risk.
@Capurato wrote:
My company is purchasing the flight for me (corporate credit card in my name) and I receive a receipt through the United App. I have no issue completing as many gate/club and other shops, however I was thinking I could do the inflight shop and just collect the $25 job fee and NOT the $75 flight reimbursement since I am not the one paying for the flight.
I am going to avoid the inflight shops when traveling on the company dime just to avoid all appearances of conflict. It’s not worth the $25 IMO.
@walesmaven wrote:
Jasper, all of your questions about mileage deductions are fully covered by specific IRS rules and can be found in the appropriate IRS online publication.