Accountable plan
In accounting, accountable plan means an employer reimbursement arrangement under which an employee's business expense reimbursements are not wages: the expense has a business connection, the employee adequately accounts for it within a reasonable time, and any excess is returned within a reasonable time. Fail one test and the reimbursement is taxable wages.
Authority: IRS Pub. 463 — accountable plans (opens in a new tab). Sources
For founders
The same idea written for a founder: what it costs a startup that ignores it, and what to do in a real month.
What it is not called
Each of these means something else. Use one here and an accountant reading the product notices.
- expense policy alone
- per diem (one kind of allowance)
Components that render the terms it depends on
No component names this concept outright, but it's built from terms that components do name. These render expense.
Also in Payroll
Defined in Lexicon. This page is generated from that document, so the two can't disagree.