Originally Posted by
Somewhere Over the Atlantic
I don't mean to dispute your ethical position on this, but wouldn't this also mean that someone paying for a business stay with a personal cashback charge card--and keeping the subsequent "cashback" for themselves--is doing something not terribly dissimilar?
Yes, some companies require such expenses to be incurred on company charge cards, but many (all of the Fortune 500 companies for which I've worked) allow for reimbursable charges to made on personal charge cards. I suspect that I'm not alone in this regard.
Again I may be in the minority and perhaps no one is getting hurt, but I think it is a little different as points and rewards for credit cards are a common practice and we're talking a few percentage points here and likely above board and understood by the employer.
The closest analogy I have to this is, is imagine you walked into the hotel and they gave you an unadvertised 20% discount and rather than passing it on to those that reimburse you, you conceal the discount from them and pocket the discount.
Of course if you reveal the full details of the program and your employer is fine with it, then more power to you and enjoy the potentially significant tax free raise you just got. Just hope the IRS isn't paying attention.