Originally Posted by
megalowmatt
I think you're right. It's weird to me, though that the tax break is to be administered through the employer.
Like others have mentioned, I seriously doubt my employer wants to go through the hassle of reimbursing me for a $6 tube purchase every few months.
I do have a great health reimbursement account, though.
I'm not sure I would want to go through the hassle myself - but my workplace is large enough that we have an HR staff; if they put this in place, HR would deal with it along with all of the other little things they have to deal with.
Although this would really make more sense if there were some sort of ongoing expense that you needed to pay for, like, say, secure bike parking. Or, actually, if you joined a gym near work to use their showers after bike commuting, that might count.
My work provides bike lockers, so I'm not really going to complain.