The Transportation Reimbursement Incentive Program (TRIP), through Health Equity | WageWorks, allows you to lower your commuting costs by using before-tax dollars to pay for qualified transportation expenses, such as commuter transit passes and parking.
If you enroll in TRIP, you’ll receive a Health Equity | WageWorks Transit Commuter Card you must use to pay for your transportation passes. Your account is replenished each month through payroll deductions to purchase your transit pass, pay for your qualified parking, or reimburse yourself for qualified expenses based on the arrangements you make when you enroll. Health Equity | WageWorks provides a Commuter Savings Calculator to help you estimate how much more money you could take home when you use a pre-tax benefit.
TRIP allows you to change your contribution from month to month and unused balances can be carried forward each year. You can enroll, change or stop your TRIP election at any time during the year.
You can manage your account online through the Health Equity | WageWorks Web Portal. The Health Equity | WageWorks EZ Receipts mobile app also allows you to view your account balance. For additional information about Health Equity | WageWorks, please visit the Health Equity | WageWorks website or contact Health Equity | WageWorks Customer Service by phone at 1-877-924-3967.
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If you enroll for TRIP, you will receive in the mail a Health Equity | WageWorks Transit Commuter Debit Card and/or a Parking Commuter Debit Card. Upon receipt, you will need to activate your Health Equity | WageWorks Transit Commuter and/or Parking Commuter Debit Card(s) in order to pay for your eligible commuter expenses.
Use your Health Equity | WageWorks Parking Commuter Card to pay for your parking expenses related to getting to and from work. TRIP works much like a Flexible Spending Account, as you elect to have a portion of your pre-tax income transferred to an account for future reimbursement for transportation expenses. Unlike a Flexible Spending Account, TRIP elections and unused amounts are carried forward from one year to the next.
Under TRIP, you are required to use the Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Transit Debit Card and/or the Health Equity | WageWorks Parking Commuter Debit Card as method of payment for your eligible transportation expenses. Health Equity | WageWorks will not accept the Commuter Card Special Handling Form or Substitute Receipt Form as a means to claim funds for your transportation expenses (except as noted below).
The Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Card Special Handling Form should ONLY be used when:
The Health Equity | WageWorks Substitute Receipt Form should be used ONLY IN LIEU of the receipt for instances where the service provider does not provide receipts (such as payments made by token/ticket machine, parking meter or cashbox). Your Health Equity | WageWorks Substitute Receipt Form must be submitted along with your completed Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Card Special Handling Form in order for your claim to be processed.
*Note: The Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Card Special Handling Form should only be used as a means to claim funds for your transportation expenses purchases through commuter systems that do not accept the Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Debit Card as a form of payment. Please note the following commuter vendor systems do not accept the Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Transit Debit Card:
For instances in which a paper claim is required (i.e., instances where you could not use your Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Debit Card), please be mindful of the claims filing deadline. You may file claims (only for the instances described above), using the Health Equity | WageWorks Commuter Card Special Handling Form after you incur the eligible expense, up to 180 calendar days from the date of service (i.e., the date expense was incurred). Health Equity | WageWorks will deny claims filed after the 180 calendar day period from the date of service.
The post-tax commuter benefit allows you to pay for eligible commuter expenses that exceed IRS pre-tax contribution limits (for 2021 the limits are $270 per month each for transit and parking). This means that if you are enrolled in TRIP, you’ll be able to use your Health Equity | WageWorks Debit Card to pay for all eligible commuter expenses. This added convenience eliminates the need to pay for eligible expenses upfront and out-of-pocket and to then submit claims to Health Equity | WageWorks for reimbursement.
To enroll in TRIP, follow the steps listed below:
*Processing time is approximately 1 ‒ 2 pay periods from the date the change is made online. If enrolling, it will take approximately 2-1/2 weeks from the date you execute the change via the bswift benefits enrollment system for you to receive your Commuter Debit Card from Health Equity | WageWorks. At that time you can register to view your account information on the Health Equity | WageWorks site.
If you terminate employment, please note the following: