The issue of Voyager miles is again on SARS’ radar because of the fringe benefit implications involved.
It is common practice for employees who travel extensively on business to accumulate significant Voyager miles in their private capacity. Even if the employee initially pays for the ticket cost and is then reimbursed by the employer, this is regarded as a liability to the employer, with the Voyager miles belonging to the employer. If the employee is able to use these Voyager miles for their personal travel, they would be regarded as having received a fringe benefit, with the value of this fringe benefit being the actual cost of that flight.
It is imperative that the employer treat these benefits as a fringe benefit in the month that the benefit is received by the employee. Should the employer fail to comply they could be given a penalty equal to 10% of the cash equivalent of the value of the taxable benefit.