[lostboys67]

And also in the USA the IRS is very lenient when it comes to taxing benefits in kind.

Back when I worked for British telecom in new buildings they wanted to offer free tea and coffee - HMRC said no you have to pay tax and that was the end of that.

Of course then one senior manger worked out that there was tax allowance that allowed a tax free profit related bonus and the company gave every one a $300 tax free bonus as a F&^k you to the tax man

[jacques_chester]

In Australia, the Fringe Benefits Tax is similarly capable of sucking the frills and perks out of any situation.

I've worked in offices where we paid for coffee by an honour system.

A local council, which makes some revenue through parking metres, was required to put parking metres on its own carpark and charge its own employees, because it was Council land and this would make it a fringe benefit. There wasn't much sympathy, but still.