Insurance shared with employer

[Marc Tardif]

* Brian Dolbec <brian_dolbec at telus.net> [2006-01-19 22:00 -0800]:
> On Thu, 2006-19-01 at 19:57 -0500, David Reed wrote:
> > In most cases in the U.S. it is a non-taxable benefit - I have a  
> > separate account/category - for this and my employer's contribution  
> > to my 403B.
> > 
> If you look at his email address it is a dot ca as in Canada.  Up here
> it is considered a taxable benefit and therefore shows in his gross
> salary/wages for tax calculations, just like mine are :(   Even RRSP
> deductions are still taxed at time of payroll.  You have to wait till
> you get it back on your tax refund check if your lucky enough to get
> one.

I don't quite understand the distinction between a taxable and a
non-taxable benefit. As pointed out by Brian, I am indeed in Canada
so I have created the following accounts for taxes enforced by the
government (as far as I understand):

  Expense:Taxes:EI (Employment Insurance)
  Expense:Taxes:QPP (Quebec Pension Plan)
  Expense:Taxes:QPIP (Quebec Parental Insurance Plan)
  Expense:Taxes:Federal (Federal taxes)
  Expense:Taxes:Provincial (Provincial taxes)

All the above taxes are deducted from my paycheck. However, I have
insurance benefits paid to an insurance company also deducted from my
paycheck. That insurance is what I was referring to in my original email
which is shared half and half with my employer. Does that constitute a
taxable or a non-taxable benefit?

Personally, I thought it was non-taxable because it was paid to an
insurance company instead of the government. So, following suggestions
proposed on this mailing list, I have created the following account for
insurance benefits:

  Expense:Insurance:Benefits

Also, to account for the amount of insurance benefits paid by my
employer, I have created the following account:

  Income:Insurance:Benefits

So, for each paycheck, I would add $50 to Income:Insurance:Benefits and
then I would add $100 to Expense:Insurance:Benefits. So, the net amount
that is actually deducted from my salary for insurance benefits is $50.

-- 
Marc Tardif