flexmastae

Anyone ever load money onto their Wageworks card and use it to purchase Amtrak tickets online via the website (or app?). I currently get a monthly pass that auto-purchases but I'm considering some reduced travel and single tickets may be more appropriate.

I can use the Wageworks card for online purchases of MTBA passes...just not sure if Amtrak is allowed online.

Anyone have experience?

Thanks,
Eric

physioprof

Unless the Wageworks card is functionally equivalent to a credit card, I'm pretty sure there is no way to use it on the Web site or app to purchase Amtrak tickets.

EDIT: Just checked the Wageworks Web site, and it appears that the Wageworks commuter card is a stored value Visa/Mastercard. So you should go ahead and enter it into the Amtrak Web site or app as any other credit card, and see if it works.

peetahvw

I've done it when I was communiting to NYC from PHL to get last minute tickets for when I missed the bus.

For what its worth, just make sure you maintain records that the travel you're purchasing fits the definition of "communiting" for IRS purposes.

diburning

Wageworks cards are very specific as far as the type of charges and/or the name of the commuter agency charging the card. If it works, it will work. If it doesn't work, then Amtrak's not approved.

izzik

If this purchase isn't related to commuting, you're potentially engaging in tax fraud.
Hope the risk is worth whatever money you're saving...

ne52

Can confirm it works fine online, at quik trak machine, and with agent for single trips. Amtrak is one of the approved suppliers so it will function like any other debit card. Whether or not your trip meets the definition of a commute is a different matter but the card will work.

ETA: Read the original post and question again. I had a similar situation and used WageWorks fine. My departure times were set so I was able to book my trips far enough out that I got the discount bucket fares. This and the number of days I had to be on site meant it was cheaper than getting a monthly for me. The downside was you lose the convenience of having choice of trains when your schedule does change. You end up needing to track credits/refunds more diligently and redeeming points at the last minute. WageWorks works fine for this and definitely not tax fraud if it's still your commute.

ibrandsguest

I have a flexible spending account card that also has mass transit benefits. It used to work on Amtrak.com (at least for trips that were around big cities in the Northeast, as that could count as commuting, for which the benefits were available). It stopped working, but I could just buy Amtrak tickets that qualified with my regular credit card and then submit the receipts or whatever to the plan administrator and then get reimbursed for them out of funds available in the plan, so in short, I was able to pay for Amtrak tickets with mass transit benefit funds.

miles_navigator

Bumping this thread.

Is it possible to buy Amtrak gift cards with WageWorks (or equivalent company) commuter benefits?

I am trying to spend down the amount so I can keep getting the free monthly subsidy my employer provides every month as one of my employee benefits. The card is capped for receiving contributions after a certain (large) amount so was considering the Amtrak gift card idea for use later when things go back to normal.

musicalbox

I don't have WageWorks but have a transportation benefits credit card from another company and it won't work for Amtrak gift cards, unfortunately. I use Amtrak to commute but not in a regular way so I can't use a monthly pass or 10 trip. I thought it would be a convenient way to pay for trips as they came up but no joy. Instead I buy flexible tickets for random future dates and exchange them as I find out when I'm actually traveling.

mbs191

YES! You absolutely can. Back pre-pandemic I used the Wageworks website to purchase PHL-NY monthly passes for commuting. INTERESTINGLY, if you use the Wageworks website then you could get a discount from the $1620 that it was for a monthly pass, down to about $1400 and change. And then, you could use your $270 tax free transit benefit a month and apply it towards that.

Right before the pandemic I obtained the Wageworks card, actually because HR kept asking me to for some reason, and figured I'd only use it twice a year - once my $270 added up after multiple months to the $1400 needed to buy a monthly pass. Not to get into it, but the very slow / hand process that Amtrak used to process Wagework monthly passes was getting very hard to deal with. But, with the pandemic, I wasn't commuting, the monthly pass got cut to $900 a month and now I don't need to commute in as often.

SO, to answer your question, Yes, I can buy a roundtrip on the Wageworks card for a 1 day trip, but yes, you do as other people have pointed out, need to be commuting for work, since that is what the tax free benefit of the wageworks card is for.

Hope that helps!