Based on following text in your own words, list anddefine the four categories of employment income,providing an example (other than regular pay) foreach category.
Employment Income
An individual working for an employer receives compensation orpay, known as remuneration, for the services they perform. Where anemployee-employer relationship exists, remuneration is referred toas employment income. Employment income can be categorized intoearnings, allowances, benefits and taxable expensereimbursements.
Earnings
Earnings are dollar amounts the employer pays an employee forthe work they perform. Earnings can be paid as:
· a salary
· a rate for each hour worked
· a rate per piece of goods produced or picked
· a disability payment for time off work due to illness
· a payment for vacation time
· a premium payment for overtime hours worked
· a premium payment for hours worked on shift
Deciding which types of earnings are paid and how they arecalculated is primarily a decision made by the employer. Earningsare pensionable, insurable and taxable, and therefore subject toall statutory deductions.
Allowances
Allowances are additional dollar amounts paid to employees forthe use, or anticipated use, of their personal property forbusiness purposes. Allowances can also be provided to employees tocover the cost of personal living expenses associated withemployment. The most common types of allowances cover the costsincurred by the employee for car, meals, uniforms, safety shoes orother particular types of clothing for business reasons. Undercertain conditions, allowances are not considered employment incomeand therefore are not subject to statutory withholdings.
Benefits
Benefits are dollar values attributed to something the employerhas either provided to an employee or paid for on an employee’sbehalf. Usually, when an employer provides an employee withsomething (for example, a company-leased automobile is given to theemployee for both business and personal use) or pays for somethingon an employee’s behalf (for example, group term life insurancepremiums), it results in a benefit to the employee. There arecertain situations where benefits are not included in employmentincome and therefore are not subject to statutory withholdings.
Expense Reimbursements
Similar to allowances, expense reimbursements are also dollaramounts paid to employees to cover expenses that they incur whileperforming their job. For the most part, expense reimbursementsgenerally fall outside of payroll because they are business-relatedand therefore not employment income to employees. These expensesare claimed on an expense report, supported by receipts, andusually submitted directly to the accounting department forreimbursement. As such, they are not considered in the calculationof an employee’s pay. Some organizations choose to reimburseexpenses through payroll in which case they are not subject to anystatutory deductions; they will, however, affect the net pay. Anyreimbursements made to an employee for personal living expenses areconsidered taxable to the employee, included in income and subjectto statutory withholdings.
