… what credit card would you want to use for that expense account to ultimately provide YOU, personally, with the most perks?
Most people do not get a choice of cards, you get whatever program your corp is signed up with. I have had accounts through various jobs with American Express, Master Card and Visa. In general the points or whatnot gained through use go to the corp not the person, though american express was good because it gave me access to private waiting rooms in airports that i could use.
I don’t get any perks with my corporate credit card and I didn’t get a choice of cards.
Is it not forbidden by law in the US to use perks accumulated by use of a company credit card for company purposes privatly, like redeeming miles?
In Germany, all official employees are forbidden from doing this, because taking private advantages from public expenses is stealing (there were several scandals, both with high-ranking politicans and with lowly officials).
For private companies, the employee would get a benefit from the company which would have to be taxed like another salary benefit. Which is why it’s always, always smartest to choose a program where the miles or whatever are converted into cash and credited to the company account automatically, so the employee is never put into temptation. (If the employee converts the miles without the company’s knowledge, it’s theft).
I just use my personnel credit card of choice and fill out an expense report every month or two. Last year I racked up $30K in business expenses; the year before over $45K; and I earned loads of frequent flier miles. Some people prefer using an corporate issued card because they don’t have enough cash on hand to float a loan to the company every month or just don’t like mixing corporate expenses with personnal/familay expenses. Most business travelers I know do this and I know of no law in the US stopping us from doing so.
And your company has never gotten any trouble from the tax office about official expenses booked on a private card?
Most companies here I hear from have a company expense account to make sure that things go smoothly for the finance section and so that the tax office doesn’t start questioning and denying expenses.
Still, I wonder why this practice of using personal miles you earned doing business stuff for your company is not considered either a theft or a taxable bonus in the US.
I used to have a corporate American Express but I asked my company to close it since I never used it. Like Si Amigo I use a personal card that ratchets up points that typically go to B&N gift cards, and fill in expense reports so that the money is deposited into my bank account. I’ll rack up many thousands of dollars of charges every month, but pay it all down every month with no cost to myself.
I don’t see why there would be a law against this. The closest I could envision would be considering the additional points as undeclared income but that would apply for points from both corporate and personal expenses.
Because this is the American Way my friend. We find your German socialist ways strange ourselves. 
Still I have heard of companies that wanted to claim all of thier employees hotel and flyer perks; I imagine that those companies have trouble retaining people since the practice is so wide spread here. But that’s a company specific policy, no law making them do so.
I’m not sure why the method of payment would be a big deal for this. In my case even if I had kept the corporate card it was pretty much in my name and I would make sure that it was paid off in a timely manner (I think there was a convenience method for paying the expense report directly into the card). Tax issues would stem from improper expenses - charging your kid’s birthday party to the company, etc. You could do that on a corporate card too. Surely a detailed audit would be more along the lines of checking if these hotel and airfare expenses in Chicago really were business related, regardless of the method of payment?
It isn’t clear who you are stealing from, if this is considered theft. As I say, the only thing that might be interesting is if this is considered undeclared income - but if that is an issue it is unrelated to expense reports: points earned on personal expenses should also be declared income for tax purposes.
[quote=“Driver8, post:11, topic:548463”]
What schedule form is there in the tax forms for POINTS?
I asked the question because I am being considered for a position on a Board of Directors and they have indicated that I simply submit a monthly expense report and I will use my own cards. I would rather get one that provides more perks (like frequent flier miles) and am not quite in the league to qualify for an American Express Black.
I’ve never heard of anyone having to declare cash back rewards or points on thier taxes (and please don’t give the tax people any ideas). The card you want is the one that most benifits you the most. If you want flyer miles, get a Visa Delta or United card. If you want motel stays, get a Visa hotel card. Cash back, get any of a number of AMEx cards (I like my CostCo AmEx for this). The main thing is you need to pay it off in full every month in order to avoid interest payments which would negate the purpose of getting points.
Agreed on the lack-of-choice. Amex and Diner’s both have “perks” such as airline miles etc. but you can’t accrue them unless you pay an annual fee yourself (the company won’t pay). So the points don’t generally go back to the company.
There’s no problem using a personal card for company expenses, provided that you do fill out an expense report itemizing the costs. Otherwise, the expenses can’t be claimed by the company and the employee gets a pretty pathetic deduction for them after all the limitations on Sch A.
if an employee earns points or rewards on their own cards, that’s not usually considered income - but it should (under the strictest interpretation) be considered a reduction of the expense associated with it. the So miles redeemed for travel is not income, just a reduction of the travel expense. Cash back rewards would be a reduction of interest, annual fees or purchase costs. Most of the time, nobody asks or cares.
If an employee were to use perks earned on a company card, the FMV (Fair Market Value) of the perks should be considered part of their W-2 wages, subject to FICA, withholding, etc. Unless, of course, the amount falls under the de minimis rules (say, less than $25 in value). But usually employees do not get to use the company’s points.
For the OP’s original question: the only perk I ever want is cash back. I don’t travel enough to make miles worth it, and I can always use my cash back on travel expenses if that’s what I want to do with it.
Congrats on your BoD prospects, Fried Dough Ho. I think you’ll probably want to talk to a tax lawyer.
I’ve actually never even heard of such benefits from personal travel being taxed. Periodically the government will make noises about taxing such benefits but I guess they figured it would be a) tough to enforce, and b) not worth it.
Government employees were (at one point, things may have changed) prohibited from using frequent flier miles earned while travelling on business. Either totally so, or at one point they were permitted to use them but only for upgrades etc. while travelling on future government trips.
A link on the topic:
http://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/frequent-flier-rewards-points-taxable-1282.php
[moderating]
Moved from GQ to IMHO since the OP is seeking opinions.
[/moderating]
We are required to get a corp card for business travel, and to use it. Charges from the card are downloaded onto your expense report (making things much easier) and the company pays the card directly after you fill out the report, which makes life much easier. No perks, of course. I wouldn’t be surprised if the company got cash back - I know they do for airlines, but I have no idea about cards. Charging personal expenses on a company card has always been forbidden, even when you had to pay it yourself.
Frequent flier miles you get to keep, but many companies make you book through a corporate travel office which checks for lowest fare and no doubt alerts someone if you are booking expensive flights on one airline to get miles. Flights for me have always been direct billed to the company, and don’t show up on your card.
30 years ago when I started with AT&T we didn’t have cards, and weren’t allowed to use personal ones. Airfare and rental cars were direct billed, and we got cash advances to pay for hotels and meals. I heard from one manager that they were worried about the company being liable for debts incurred on a personal card used for business, but he was not a reliable source for almost anything.