Vocations · Professional Development · Benefits

Ride on
pre-tax money.

Type what the train, bus, vanpool or work parking costs. The calculator shows what the commuter benefit sets aside before tax and what you keep.

Work out my savingWhat you get

The commuter benefits calculator

The worked example is a downtown office reached by train, with a garage space. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
The amount set aside before tax each month and year, the tax saved, the commute’s real cost and anything over the limits, for transit and parking separately. It prints as a summary for benefits enrollment.
Who it is for
Employees who pay for transit or parking to get to work, job seekers weighing a benefits package, and early-career workers enrolling for the first time.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Type the monthly transit cost.
  2. Type the monthly parking cost.
  3. Pick your federal bracket.
  4. Add your state rate.
  5. Enroll through your employer.

Work out my saving

How the saving is worked out

The federal qualified transportation fringe, in plain numbers.

The worked example: a downtown office by train and carCommute$445train $185, garage $260Before tax$445both under $340Tax rate34.65%22 + 5 + 7.65Saved$1,850a yearThe worked example: a downtown office by train and carCommute$445train $185, garage $260Before tax$445both under $340Tax rate34.65%22 + 5 + 7.65Saved$1,850a year
Costs up to each monthly limit come out of pay before tax; the saving is that amount times every tax it skips.

Two limits

Federal tax law lets an employer pay for, or take from your pay before tax, the cost of transit passes and vanpools up to one monthly limit, and qualified parking at or near work up to another. For 2026 each limit is $340 a month. The limits rise most years, so the page lets you change them.

Every tax it skips

Money set aside this way skips federal income tax and usually Social Security and Medicare, and in most states state income tax too. Your bracket is the rate on your last dollars of income, so the saving is that rate plus the others on every dollar set aside.

Sources

  1. Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15-B, Employer’s Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits: qualified transportation benefits (irs.gov).
  2. Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2025-32, inflation adjustments for 2026 (irs.gov).
  3. U.S. Code. 26 U.S.C. 132(f), qualified transportation fringe (uscode.house.gov).
  4. Internal Revenue Service. Federal income tax rates and brackets (irs.gov).

An estimate for planning; your employer’s plan sets what is offered and how it is paid. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.