Nearly one month after it was announced that maximum allocations for pre-tax SmartBenefits maximums were going to be cut nearly in half, commuters will be pleased to learn that the new tax bill approved by Congress has restored the $230 benefit limit -- though only for one year. The maximum benefit was scheduled to decrease to $120 per month when the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act expired on January 1. more ›

Yesterday, we reported that two federally-mandated changes would force a reduction in the maximum SmartBenefits allocation that thousands of Washington-area employees could make. New laws will cut the maximum amount one can set aside, pre-tax, from $230 to $120 -- in addition, parking and transit benefits will now have to be kept in separate pots, and cannot be used interchangeably. more ›

Today, interim WMATA General Manager Richard Sarles passed along some distressing news for those who use Metro to commute to work in the District every day: allocations for pre-tax SmartBenefits maximums are about to be cut, nearly in half. Due to changes mandated by the federal government, the maximum allowable monthly allocation will decrease from $230 to $120 and commuters will no longer be able to bunch transit and parking benefits together. The change will go into effect on January 1, 2011. more ›

Metro says it has in fact been granted an extension on implementing required changes to its SmartBenefits program. Last month, the transit agency announced that it would seek a year-long extension on the changes, which have been mandated by the IRS, after some controversy arose over a provision that would have required unused benefits to be returned to the employer at the end of each month, regardless of whether the employee was contributing their own pre-tax salary to it. Today's announcement reported the extension has in fact been formally granted, giving WMATA until Jan. 1, 2011 to implement the revised program, so for the time being, employers may continue to assign monthly benefits directly onto their employees' SmarTrip cards. more ›

As Metro General Manager John Catoe alluded to recently in one of his weekly online chats, WMATA has decided to go ahead and delay implementing those confusing changes to SmartBenefits we've been hearing so much about, as iMetro reports (hat tip to GGW).

Last night at the budget forum, John Catoe addressed this issue. The conversion of the Smartbenefits program to the new IRS-compliant system has been delayed. An extra year was given for WMATA to come up with a better solution than what was proposed (the three purse system). So rest assured that the SmartBenefits system will remain in its current state at least through the year of 2010. Catoe informed us that this decision was reached on Tuesday, November 17th.

Do you depend on SmartBenefits to pay for your daily jaunts around Metro-land? If so, pay attention: WMATA has announced some changes to the way that your transportation cash will be distributed. The coolest change? Instead of having to go to the farecard machine to download allocations to your SmarTrip card, your monthly balance will automatically be added whenever you tap your card to any Metrorail faregate, parking target or bus farebox, saving you precious seconds. The downside? Beginning in 2010, if, for whatever reason, you don't use any public transportation for an entire month, the funds allocated will be credited back to your employer. While a scenario -- outside of extended foreign travel -- where you don't use touch any sort of Metro farebox for 30 consecutive days is difficult to imagine (and most employers would presumably just roll it over), we can already imagine the kinds of epic complaints that could arise. The changes will also allow the option to allocate funds to a flex account which can be transferred between both parking and transit. more ›