Commuter Benefits Overview
The money you spend on your work commuting expenses can be deducted from your paycheck pretax, within IRS limits. This means you can save up to $2,000 a year, depending on your tax situation. Eligible expenses include buses, trains, subways.
Optum Financial Commuter Benefits Questions
What are eligible transit expenses?
How can I see my available balance?
Do I have to spend all the funds by the end of the month?
Do I have to report this on my tax returns?
What if I don't receive my transit pass by the 1st of the benefit month?
Why will my money be deducted two months before I can use my transit card?
Why will my money continue to be deducted after I elect to discontinue my commuter benefit?
What happens if I terminate my employment?
How can I get more information?
- Sign in to your online account and select commuter benefits.
- Select the transit services you want.
- Receive your order at home by mail.
- The cost of your orders, within the IRS limits, are automatically deducted from your paycheck pre-tax.
What are eligible transit expenses?
- Buses
- Trains and subways
If your employer’s plan design includes the employer election model, you’ll enroll annually during open enrollment to save throughout the plan year.
- Enroll in commuter benefits through your employer.
- Choose how much you want to contribute, within IRS limits.
- Your contribution amount will be deducted from your paycheck before taxes.
- Use your Optum Financial payment card to access your funds for qualified transportation costs
When you use your payment card for qualified transit expenses, there is no paying cash up front, no claim forms to fill out and no waiting for reimbursements.
Use your card at transit providers to pay for qualified expenses like mass transit passes, tokens, fare card expenses. The cost of the expense is automatically deducted from your account. You can check your account balance at any time by signing into your account.
How can I see my available balance?
Do I have to spend all the funds by the end of the month?
Any remaining balance at the end of the month rolls over to the next month. While funds do roll over, you are still limited to spending $300 per account per month. Monthly, amounts change annually please visit Optium.com website for updates.
The IRS limits monthly contributions and expenditures to $300 for transit expenses for the 2023 calendar year.
The money that pays for your pass comes from your pay, and is taken out before federal income tax, FICA (Medicare), state income tax and other after-tax deductions.
Do I have to report this on my tax returns?
No. The IRS does not require any reporting for this type of program.
You can enroll at any time, visit Optium.com for the details of your program.
Each month, your transit media will be delivered by the first of the month in which it is valid. If you use the Edenred® card, it will be reloaded automatically on the first of the benefit month.
What if I don't receive my transit pass by the 1st of the benefit month?
If you haven’t received your pass by the 1st of the benefit month, please contact Optum Financial customer service at 1-833-229-4428. If you do not receive your Ventra Card, please contact CTA, Customer Service at 1-888-YOUR-CTA.
Ventra can be used for CTA (buses) and Metra (train). Use the Ventra app to purchase your Metra tickets by entering your MasterCard to the app to pay for the tickets.
Why will my money be deducted two months before I can use my transit card?
Once you make your transit election, your order amount is transmitted back to the City of Chicago. They will then withhold that amount from your next paycheck. The City of Chicago then sends those funds to Edenred® card to be used to purchase and mail the various pass orders. The enrollment and disenrollment process takes approximately 2 months.
Why will my money continue to be deducted after I elect to discontinue my commuter benefit?
Once you elect to discontinue your commuter benefit, your request will be sent to the City of Chicago. They will then stop your deduction.
If you want to enroll, change, or terminate your commuter benefit you would either call or go online to discontinue the benefit. We have a two-month run out, so deductions taken in November would be used to fund January, so if a person discontinued the benefit, they would have two more months of funding to use after the last month of deductions.
What happens if I terminate my employment?
Since the benefit has a two-month run out period, your expenses will be funded for two more cycles after your final termination date. Please note that if you have a large balance on your MasterCard, those funds cannot be reimbursed to you. Therefore, you risk forfeiting any unused balances after the end of that period. You can use up to the monthly limit until that time.
This program is sponsored by the City of Chicago and brought to you by Optum Financial.
Not to you. The City of Chicago covers all the administrative costs associated with running the program as part of the benefit package you receive.
How can I get more information?
For information about enrollment, participation, and eligible expenses, please visit Optium.com or you can call Monday through Friday 24 hours per day, seven days a week to talk to a customer service representative at 1-833-229-4428.