Parking is used for business purposes where the employee is required to use a vehicle in the performance of their job, such as travelling off-site to meetings or service calls. Examples of situations we do not consider to be business purposes include:

• Driving from the employee's home to the office and back (this is personal travel)
• Parking to facilitate working irregular or extended hours
• Where the employee leaves the office for a meeting but does not use a vehicle (e.g., walking or taking a taxi to a meeting)
• Where the employee uses a vehicle only to establish the regular use for business purposes criteria (e.g., driving to a meeting across the street, or where the employee would generally carpool or take a taxi)

We consider "regularly" to be an average of three or more days in a five day work week. If the employee needs the use of a vehicle for business purposes less frequently, we will accept a proration of the benefit. For example, if the employee uses a vehicle in the course of their duties one day per week, the value of the parking may be reduced by 20%, since the employee wanted a spot for business purposes 20% of the time.

Fair market value (FMV) is the highest price that can be obtained in an open market between an informed and willing buyer and an informed and willing seller who are dealing at arm's length. Generally, the FMV of a parking spot is the price that could be reasonably charged for the use of that spot in an open market (i.e., the market price for a similar spot in the surrounding area). Normally, the cost to the employer (e.g., where the employer owns the lot) is not a factor in determining the value of the benefit.

Scramble parking is where there are significantly fewer parking spaces than there are employees who want parking. In other words, on any given day, whether or not an employee is able to find a parking spot is random or uncertain.
Whether or not scramble parking is in effect is determined by the number of parking spaces regularly needed to accommodate employees desiring a parking space, not by the number of parking passes issued.