Indicted?
Guilty? OK, sentence away.
All businesses give top-level employees illegal perks. Heck, I wasn’t even top level at one of the top ten largest insurance companies in the world but received lots of undocumented perks.
But the jurisdiction wouldn’t get any press from going after big pharma, big tech, big oil, or financial corps doing business in NYC for illegal perks. They believe that they landed a whale, but it’s actually a trout.
Sometimes when a law is broken it goes unnoticed sometimes it does not.
Publication 15-B (2022), Employer's Tax Guide to Fringe Benefits
For use in 2022
For example:
Benefits not allowed. A cafeteria plan can't include the following benefits discussed in section 2.
Archer MSAs. See Accident and Health Benefits in section 2.
Athletic facilities.
De minimis (minimal) benefits.
Educational assistance.
Employee discounts.
Employer-provided cell phones.
Lodging on your business premises.
Meals.
No-additional-cost services.
Retirement planning services.
Transportation (commuting) benefits.
Tuition reduction.
Working condition benefits.
It also can't include scholarships or fellowships (discussed in Pub. 970).
https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15bWhen Free Isn’t Free: Your Guide to Fringe Benefits at Work
July 8, 2021
Excerpt:
Is it illegal to receive fringe benefits?
Not all at all—some may even be required by law (more on that in a moment).
However, the failure to appropriately report taxable fringe benefits as income may be illegal.Do I have to pay tax on all of my fringe benefits?
This is where things get tricky. Here’s your rule of thumb:
A fringe benefit is taxable unless the law specifically excludes it (or if the employee pays for the value of the item).Whose job is it to report fringe benefits?
Typically,
the burden falls to the employer: Taxable fringe benefits must be included on an employee’s Form W-2 each year.Phew... you got lucky here. It is mostly up to your employer to report taxable fringe benefits. https://news.bloombergtax.com/daily-tax-report/when-free-isnt-free-your-guide-to-fringe-benefits-at-work