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Which of the following employee benefits has the greater value? (Assume a 28 percent tax rate.) a. A nontaxable pension contribution of $4,300 or the use of a company car with a taxable value of $6,325. b. A life insurance policy with a taxable value of $450 or a nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage valued at $340.

User Coreuter
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2 Answers

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Final answer:

The nontaxable pension contribution and the nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage have greater values compared to the company car and life insurance policy with taxable values, respectively.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine which employee benefit has the greater value, we need to compare the after-tax value of each benefit. Let's calculate the after-tax value of each option:

a. Nontaxable pension contribution of $4,300: Since it is nontaxable, its value remains $4,300.

Company car with a taxable value of $6,325: To find the after-tax value, we need to calculate the tax owed. 28% of $6,325 is $1,770. Therefore, the after-tax value is $6,325 - $1,770 = $4,555.

b. Life insurance policy with a taxable value of $450: The tax owed on this benefit would be 28% of $450, which is $126. Therefore, the after-tax value is $450 - $126 = $324.

Nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage valued at $340: Since it is nontaxable, its value remains $340.

Comparing the options, a. Nontaxable pension contribution of $4,300 has a greater value than the company car with a taxable value of $4,555. Similarly, b. A nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage valued at $340 has a greater value than the life insurance policy with a taxable value of $324.

User Chirantan
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Answer:

The correct answers are A. the use of a company car with a taxable value of $6,325. And B. a nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage valued at $340.

Step-by-step explanation:

For non taxable benefits there's no need to calculate anything as we already know their values.

Therefore we only want to calculate the values of the company car and of the life insurance policy, both after tax.

To do that we calculate the value of the tax for each benefit and then we substract the result to the value of the corresponding benefit to get the value of the benefit after tax.

For the company car it would be:

Car's tax = Car's value before tax × 28% tax = $6,325 × 0.28 = $1,771

Company's car value after tax = Car's value before tax - Car's tax = $6,325 - $1,771 = $4,554

As for the life insurance policy the calculations would be:

Insurance policy's tax = Policy's value before tax × 28% tax = $450 × 0.28 = $126

Insurance policy's value after tax = Policy's value before tax - Insurance policy's tax = $450 - $126 = $324

An alternative way to do these calculations would be:

Company's car value after tax = $6,325 × (1 - 0.28) = $4,554

Insurance policy's value after tax = $450 × (1 - 0.28) = $324

Since $4,554 > $4,300 we conclude that the use of a company car is more valuable; and since $324 < $340 we conclude that a nontaxable increase in health insurance coverage is more valuable.

User StevGates
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