Reference no: EM13602651

Stephen Colbert was employed as a Vice President of Finance with a large national consulting firm based in Hollywood, CA. Stephen was well paid for his efforts but many of the consultants were paid more than he was. In fact, many of the consultants looked down on Stephen as the "Troll from Accounting" that held up their paychecks or expense reimbursements when their paperwork was not in order. As a former IRS auditor, Stephen was used to that sort of treatment! During the close of the books of the firm at year end, it was not unusual for Stephen to work quite late. In January 2011, Stephen's department was understaffed due to losing some employees to a sickness that spread throughout the department caused by some old lunch meat that had been left in the break room refrigerator. As a result, during the year end close of the books, Stephen had to work until about 2:00 am on 10 consecutive nights. As a practical accountant-type dedicated to a more sustainable lifestyle, Stephen typically took the bus to work. On nights where he knew he might have to be at the office until after the last bus, he planned ahead and drove his car which he did on the first night of these 10 nights. However, Stephen was required to park a considerable distance from his office as that was the only parking nearby. On the first late night, Stephen was concerned for his personal safety (the office was not in a particularly safe part of town) and was also worried about staying alert while driving home after a 17 hour work day. Rather than risk it, he called a cab and had the cab drive him home. He took the bus the following morning and then repeated this for each of the next 9 days. On two of the nights, Stephen knew he was out of milk to put on his breakfast cereal and asked the driver to make a very short detour to stop at the nearby 7-11 convenience store (open 24 hours) to allow him to buy some skim milk. Finally on the eleventh day, he finished his work on time and drove home and celebrated the successful close of the books by watching 10 episodes of his favorite comedy talk show that he had recorded for the past week and one half.

Each night, Stephen incurred a $25 cab ride and tipped the driver $3 (which was a reasonable and customary tip for that part of the country). Thus, he spent $28 a night for 10 nights for a total of $280. Stephen felt like he had sacrificed enough of his blood, sweat and tears, not to mention his own money and submitted an expense report to reimburse his costs for the bus. As an employee, the costs to commute would NOT typically be deductible to Stephen and the company did not have a tradition of reimbursing for typical commuting costs for Stephen or any other employee. Since, except for a rubber stamp approval from his boss, for the most part Stephen controls the expense reimbursement process, he naturally approved his own reimbursement and Accounts Payable Department cut him a check around the end of January 2011.

Your task:Explains only whether the $280 is taxable income to Stephen Colbert.