For the most seamless experience, it's best to have employees complete all pre-tax enrollments directly through your benefits administration system. However, if your system doesn’t support commuter elections, you can easily bridge that gap by enabling the commuter election feature within Forma.
Commuter elections on Forma allows your employees to enroll and update monthly Transit and Parking elections within their Forma account.
How does commuter election on Forma work?
- If enabled, Forma will send a Commuter Welcome Email to any employee whose record indicates Commuter Eligible = TRUE on the demographics file. The file should be processed the day the election window opens. For more information about this email, see Forma Email Matrix.
- Employees log in to Forma to enroll or edit commuter elections. To learn more, employees can refer to the article “How do I manage my pre-tax commuter elections on Forma?”
- When there is a request to make or change commuter elections, the employee will receive a confirmation email from Forma
- When an employee enrolls in a commuter benefit for the first time, the account will be created immediately and they will see their commuter benefit under the “coming soon” section on the benefits page once it’s set up.
- Forma sends a monthly Commuter Election Notice including all the new enrollments and election change requests for the upcoming month.
- The Commuter Election Notice is used by your payroll team to make payroll deductions.
- Contribution files (if applicable) are sent to Forma with the election amount based on what was provided in the monthly Notice. Alternatively, auto-deposit can be used to fund employee commuter accounts.
Setting up your commuter benefits program
If you offer commuter benefits—whether through Forma or another provider—our team will assist you in setting up your plan rules during the implementation process. Below is a breakdown of the key details you’ll need to decide on.
Plan Configuration Options
Monthly Contribution Limits
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Minimum Monthly Election:
Set the lowest contribution amount employees can elect per month. -
Maximum Monthly Election (Pre-tax):
Define the highest pre-tax contribution allowed per month (up to the IRS limit). -
Post-tax Contributions (Optional):
You can allow employees to contribute beyond the pre-tax maximum:- Set a post-tax maximum amount.
- Contributions exceeding the IRS limit will automatically be considered post-tax.
- Employees can elect up to the total of the pre-tax + post-tax maximums.
Funding Methods
You have two options for funding employee contributions:
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Contribution Files (Most Common):
Submit files from your payroll system that show employee contribution amounts. -
Auto-deposit (Optional):
Automatically deduct and deposit contributions.
Learn more: Auto-deposit Overview
Additional Setup for Forma Commuter Elections
If you choose to enable employees to make commuter elections directly through Forma, you’ll need to configure the following:
Cutoff Date
This is the last day of the month when employees can make or update their commuter elections to take effect the following month.
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Example:
- Cutoff Date: 15th of each month
- Election made by April 15 → Starts in May
- Election made after April 15 → Starts in June
Recommendation:
We suggest using the 15th of the month as your cutoff date. This provides enough time for payroll processing and gives employees ample time to make their elections.
Funding Frequency
Forma will calculate pay period deductions based on your payroll schedule:
| Payroll Frequency | Calculation |
|---|---|
| Monthly | Monthly election ÷ 1 |
| Semi-Monthly | Monthly election ÷ 2 |
| Bi-Weekly | Monthly election ÷ 2 |
| Weekly | Monthly election ÷ 4 |
Important:
- If using Auto-deposit, match the funding frequency to your auto-deposit calendar.
- If using Contribution Files, match the frequency to your payroll schedule.
Commuter Election Notice
Forma will send your payroll team a monthly Commuter Election Notice detailing:
- Which employees enrolled in commuter benefits
- Their contribution amounts based on funding frequency
Delivery Options:
- SFTP (from_twic folder)
- Email (provide specific email addresses)
Timing: Notices are sent 2-3 business days after the cutoff date.
Commuter Welcome Email (Optional)
Forma offers the option to send a dedicated Commuter Welcome Email to employees as soon as they’re eligible to enroll (marked “TRUE” in the ‘Commuter Eligible’ column of your demographic file).
Timing: Sent at 9:30 AM PST on the first day the employee becomes eligible.
Note: This is separate from the standard Forma Welcome Email.
Pre-tax file configuration when using commuter elections on Forma
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Include all employees who are eligible for commuter benefits on the pre-tax demographics file
- Include the optional “Commuter Eligible” field on the file and indicate which employees are eligible for this benefit by entering “TRUE”, otherwise, “FALSE”.
- If the “Commuter Eligible” field is not included, all employees will be considered eligible to make commuter elections on Forma by default.
- You may send contribution files to fund employee commuter accounts if you are not using auto-deposit. Payroll deductions should be made based on the information sent in the monthly Election Notice from Forma.
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Do not send pre-tax election files for commuter Transit or Parking records. Sending a file will override the election records your employees have created on Forma.
- When an employee is terminated through the demographics file, the commuter accounts created through Forma will be terminated accordingly.
- When an employee loses eligibility, they can continue to access the commuter funds they've already accumulated. Update the “Commuter Eligible” field to “FALSE” in the demographics file to prevent new elections from being made.
Limitations
- Employer elections are not supported with this feature. If applicable, employer contributions should be included in the regularly scheduled contributions file. Please note that auto-deposit should not be used when employer subsidies are submitted via the contributions file.
- If you have different pay groups eligible for commuter benefits, you can only select one funding frequency for Forma to calculate the pay period election. If necessary, your team can calculate different pay period elections based on the information in the monthly Election Notice and send contribution files separately.
- Employees can only make elections for the upcoming month. Let’s say the 15th of the month is the cutoff date. An election made on May 15th will be effective in June; on May 16th, the request will be effective in July. Employees cannot make elections for August or beyond in advance. To make August elections, requests must be submitted between June 16th to July 15th.
- Commuter Election Notices do not indicate that a previously enrolled employee is terminated and should have zero elections. This report only shows direct employee requests. For example, if John makes a $100 election request on June 1 and then was terminated on June 10, you will still see John’s $100 election on July’s report. However, auto-deposit (if applicable) will not be processed since he is terminated.
- There is a blackout period when employees make changes to their commuter elections. The updates will display on the date they take effect, the 1st of the month.