Training Fund and Your Taxes

If you receive educational assistance benefits from your employer under an educational assistance program (Training Fund), you can exclude up to $5,250 of those benefits each year. This means your employer shouldn’t include those benefits with your wages, tips, and other compensation shown on your Form W-2, box 1. This also means that you don’t have to include the benefits on your income tax return.

In 2016, the Training Fund’s Tuition Assistance benefit was at the $5,250 cap, prorated by Full Time Equivalency (FTE).  According to IRS guidelines, it is tax-free. As such, the Training Fund will not send W-2s to members enrolled in the Tuition Assistance program.

Please note that Training Fund is not able to provide any tax related advice. Any questions about filing your taxes should be brought to a tax specialist.

Here is the IRS regulation that talks about $5,250 exclusion. https://www.irs.gov/publications/p970/ch11.html