The State of California, Department of General Services (DGS), Office of Business and Acquisition Services (OBAS), Business Services Section (BSS) procures transit vouchers in advance to be distributed to employees of DGS who reside in the Sacramento area, San Francisco Bayarea, Marin/Sonoma County area, and San Diego area for redemption with a public transit provider or vanpool operator. Providing subsidized transit vouchers follows the U.S. Internal Revenue Service Code Section 132(a)(5); Section 132(f), titled the Qualified Transportation Fringe Benefit. The Federal tax code allows employers to provide tax-free transit, vanpool, and/or parking benefits to their employees in one of the following ways: employer covers the full cost of the qualified transportation fringe benefit; subsidy/incentive program in which employer allows employees to reserve income on a pre-tax basis to cover the costs of a qualified transportation fringe benefit; employee paid pre-tax and/or the employer and employee share cost of the transportation fringe benefit; or a combination of subsidy/incentive and employee paid pre-tax. California State employees who utilize mass transit to commute to and from work are entitled to receive the Commute Program Benefit.
