Realize saving by paying for your transit tickets before taxes, thus lowering your overall taxable earnings.*
*Pre-tax purchase provides a 12–46% savings (actual savings dependent on tax bracket).
The Parking & Transportation Department is contracting services with WageWorks, a commute benefit management company, to provide pre-tax transit ticket sales. P&T is extending this option to student employees at UC Berkeley that meet the requirements outlined below.
Program Benefits
WageWorks provides extensive pre-tax transit ticket purchase choices for UCB student employees including most bus systems, BART, trains, ferry service and more. The service includes monthly transit pass delivery via mail directly to you or a Smart Card value download.
P&T will provide a $2 per month subsidy towards transit ticket purchases - this subsidy will be offered to students purchasing any transit ticket through WageWorks. The monthly pre-tax spending limit for public transportation is $115. If monthly transit commuting expenses exceed the pre-tax limits, the remainder of the expense will be deducted on an after-tax basis.
Eligibility for Wage Works Pre-Tax Transit Purchases
Student employees on UC Berkeley payroll with appointments of 40% or more time, for a period of 60 days or more can participate. Students must be paid monthly “by exception time.” Generally students paid “by exception time” do not complete timesheets (recording only exceptions to time worked such as vacation and sick leave) and are paid on the 1st of the month. A good number of graduate student employees are on exception time, while most undergraduates are paid hourly and are not eligible.
WageWorks Enrollment
You can enroll, cancel and make changes to your ticket order via the WageWorks website 24/7. You can also take these actions via the phone, Monday through Friday between 5:00am and 5:00pm.
* 877-924-3967 (Monday through Friday between 5:00am and 5:00pm)
First time going to WageWorks - make sure to sign in as a first time user. Use the full name the UCB payroll has on file and the last four digits of your Student ID number to authenticate into the system. You should be able to authenticate if you meet the eligibility requirements described above. Once you have selected your user name and password, select the “commuter” tab and take your action.
