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• Expenses that qualify under IRS guidance for non-taxable reimbursed business expenses are referred to as a “Reimbursement”. Reimbursements can be paid out of the MTD account for which you are responsible or from project funds. 
• Requests for recovery of expenses that do not qualify for non-taxable reimbursement under the IRS guidance are referred to as “Expense Recovery Bonus” or ERB. These expenses will be recuperated through a bonus which will be considered additional taxable wages (compensation) for the missionary. 

Accountable Reimbursement Plan Guidelines

In the course of raising financial support and conducting ministry, it is reasonable to expect that missionaries will incur legitimate ministry-related expenses. Any expense that does not support the ministry of Reliant and does not reflect proper stewardship is considered non-reimbursable and non-recoverable regardless of the source of funds. Reliant expects that missionaries will demonstrate scrupulous integrity when deciding whether an expense is ministry related or personal in nature. Missionaries may not use, or attempt to use, Reliant's non-profit status for personal benefit (e.g. avoiding state sales tax on personal or ministry items). Misuse or attempted misuse of Reliant's non-profit status is grounds for discipline, up to and including termination, in Reliant's sole discretion. Submission timeframe for all Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus requests must be received within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, in incurred,

Reliant's Accountable Reimbursement Plan states that missionaries must follow the following basic guidelines when submitting a reimbursement. (See Documentation Guidelines for more details.)

1. 1. Current approved Reliant reimbursement request forms are required for expense submission.
   2. Itemized original receipts and all other appropriate substantiating documents must be received by the Reliant finance department within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, is incurred or is paid by the employee.

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1. 1. (See receipt guidelines below for more details.)
   2. Employees must provide a written explanation for each expense submitted clearly documenting:

      • Description of the item

      • Who the item is for which includes
        • Actual first and last names of the people involved
        • The ministry relationship of the person(s) to the missionary. If expense relates to five or more people, list them as a group with the specific number in the group (e.g. 12 ministry partners). Actual names are not necessary for groups of five or more people. The groups must have the same uniform ministry relationship (e.g. ministry partners, members of church music team, etc.). Otherwise, use of actual first and last names is required, if relationship is not uniform.

1. 1. • Specific ministry purpose of the expense (be as detailed as possible). For more secure locations, please see Secure Lexicon for more details. 
      • Cost of the item (the portion of the cost that is ministry related if not 100%)
      • Date of the expense (a new reimbursement form is needed for each month you incurred an expense) 

Expense advances, primarily relating to large, expected travel expenditures, may be available. Please refer to the Expense Advances for details. If advance payments to cover anticipated expenses are made by Reliant, missionaries must return all unused portions within 90 days.

Exception requests are available for submission in the event of a denied reimbursement or a late submission. 

*Please refer to all Reimbursement Standards, which detail receipt information and other specific criteria.

Submission Timeframe

For all Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus requests must be received within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, in incurred, or is paid by the employee. However, flights/rental cars/hotels for travel expenses that were paid for prior to the month of travel can either be reimbursed when purchased or in the month that the travel actually occurs as both the payment date and travel date will be listed on the receipt for documentation. 

Late submissions will only be accepted on a case by case basis by the submission of an exception request. The exception request must include a valid reason for the late submission and include supervisor approval.

Please view Payment Dates & Deadlines for more details on the timing of receiving a reimbursement based on the submission date. 

Receipt Guidelines

Reliant requires that itemized receipts for expenses greater than $75 must be submitted along with the reimbursement form. (The only exception to the $75 limit is that a receipt is always needed for all hotel/lodging receipts regardless of the amount requested for reimbursement.)

Receipts must include itemized information related to what you purchased, dollar amount paid, date, who was paid, and if applicable (such as for a flight or hotel) your name listed as the "payee".

Credit Card Receipts

Credit card statements or credit card signature receipts that don’t include the list of purchased items are not acceptable documentation for an expense. However, typically it is the credit card receipt that shows any tips that have been added to the purchase. If you would like to reimburse the tip amount for an expense over $75 where an itemized receipt is required, please attach both the itemized receipt and the credit card receipt showing the amount for the tip. 

Hand-Written Receipts

Hand-written receipts are acceptable when a printed itemized receipt is not available as long as it contains the following criteria.

Receipts from Mobile/Banking App

For receipts from mobile apps (such as Venmo, Square Cash, PayPal, Google Wallet, or a banking app), please be sure to include a clear description in the memo or "what's it for?" section of the transaction, to document what expense the payment is related to. Be sure to also include with your reimbursement submission any information that is required for a valid receipt, that is not visible on the mobile app "receipt" (see the guidelines above for what details must be included on the itemized receipt for it to be acceptable.) 

Receipts for Shared Expenses

If a Reliant missionary pays an individual for a portion of an expense that requires a receipt, that receipt must come from the individual who collected the money and paid for the full expense. Make sure to include all details required for a receipt detailed above. For this type of situation, using the handwritten receipt guidelines or the app receipt guidelines above could be helpful. Remember, if it is for a hotel purchase, an itemized receipt is always required no matter the amount being reimbursed.

Sufficient Funds

Sufficient Funds Required

If the MTD account a missionary is responsible for with Reliant does not contain sufficient funds to provide full reimbursement for the amount requested by the employee on a reimbursement request form, the Finance Department will hold the form and delay reimbursement until sufficient funds are available in the staff MTD account, in accordance with Reliant's approved order of pay.

General Policy on taxable expenses: Although Reliant may normally pay certain expense reimbursements in such a way that they are not included in the employee's federal taxable income, the employee bears ultimate responsibility for the proper tax treatment of all payments received from Reliant, and should consult with his or her tax adviser to determine the appropriate reporting and treatment of such payments.

Reimbursements Without Sufficient funds

If reimbursement submissions do not have sufficient funds to fully cover the total amount for the reimbursement, then they will be stored as "back reimbursements". They will be paid out in the order from which the reimbursements were received once funds become available for the whole amount of each individual reimbursement. If funds are not available to immediately pay the Expense Recovery Bonuses (ERB) (previously known as taxable reimbursements) then Reliant will short-check those bonuses and include them with backpay.

Requesting a Reimbursement be Partially Paid Out (forfeiting any un-reimbursed expenses)

If a missionary would like to request a reimbursement be partially paid out using the available funds, they must agree to forfeit any un-reimbursed amount from that reimbursement.  For example, if there is a $1,000 reimbursement that's next in line for the order of reimbursement payout and only $650 is available to pay out.  The missionary may elect to send an email to reimbursements@reliant.org asking the reimbursement team to pay the $1,000 reimbursement using the available funds, and acknowledging that they forfeit any un-reimbursed portion of that reimbursement. Note: this action is completely voluntary and at the discretion of the missionary.  

Here's a sample email of how to word the email.

"I would like to request that my April (Year-20xx) reimbursement totaling $X be paid out on X date using the available funds in the MTD account for which I am responsible.  I acknowledge that any un-reimbursed funds from this reimbursement will be forfeited and unable to be reimbursed at a future date. "

Exiting Employment with Unpaid Reimbursements

If a missionary is exiting employment and has reached their final month of payroll without receiving enough funds to fully cover the total amount of a submitted reimbursement, Reliant will automatically reimburse a portion (based on available funds) of the submitted reimbursement without the missionary needing to submit a request for partial payment of the reimbursement.

Resolution of Removed or Denied Reimbursement Requests

If expenses are removed from or denied on a reimbursement request (see Denied Expenses & Re-submission for more details), they may be resubmitted if the reason was for improper documentation or a formal exception request may be made based on the nature of the item if the item was denied. If the item is removed for improper documentation or a similar situation, it may be resubmitted under the guidelines provided for proper documentation in the Reimbursement Standards. If the item is related to a policy issue, a formal exception request must be submitted.

Late submissions will only be accepted on a case by case basis by the submission of an exception request. The exception request must include a valid reason for the late submission and include supervisor approval.

Reliant's Accountable Reimbursement Plan states that missionaries must follow the following basic rules:

Please refer to all Reimbursement Standards, which details limits and other specific criteria. Current approved Reliant reimbursement request forms are required. The following basic items are required with the submission of these forms:

1. 1. Itemized original receipts and all other appropriate substantiating documents must be received by the Reliant finance department within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, is incurred or is paid by the employee. 
   2. Employees must provide a written explanation of the expense clearly documenting:

      • Description of the item

      • Who the item is for
      • Actual first and last names of the people involved
      • The ministry relationship of the person(s) to the missionary**
        • **Group items
          • If expense relates to five or more people, list them as a group with the specific number in the group (e.g. 12 ministry partners). Actual names are not necessary for groups of five or more people.
          • The groups must have the same uniform ministry relationship (e.g. ministry partners, members of church music team, etc.). Otherwise, use of actual first and last names is required, if relationship is not uniform.
      • Specific ministry purpose of the expense
      • Cost of the item (the portion of the cost that is ministry related if not 100%)
      • Date of the expense
        
   3. Expense advances, primarily relating to large, expected travel expenditures, may be available. Please refer to the Expense Advances for details. If advance payments to cover anticipated expenses are made by Reliant, missionaries must return all unused portions within 90 days.

Receipt Guidelines

Reliant requires that itemized receipts for expenses greater than $75 be submitted along with the reimbursement form. 

Receipts must include information related to what you purchased, dollar amount paid, date, who was paid, and if applicable (such as for a flight or hotel) your name listed as the "payee". Credit card statements or credit card signature receipts that don’t include the list of purchased items are not acceptable documentation for an expense.

Resolution of Removed or Denied Reimbursement Requests

If expenses are removed from or denied on a reimbursement request, they may be resubmitted or a formal exception request may be made based on the nature of the item. If the item is removed for improper documentation or a similar situation, it may be resubmitted under the guidelines provided in the Reimbursement Standards. If the item is related to a policy issue, a formal exception request must be submitted.

Up-To-Date Time Cards Required  (are we just deleting this altogether and not even mentioning it in this standard or do we keep it as a reminder?)

Reliant hourly employees must have submitted a time card by the deadline in order to be eligible to receive reimbursements the next month (this rule applies to both employees in the scenario of a dually employed couple). No reimbursements may be paid if a time card was not received or if a time card was received late. 

For example, if the time card with November hours is considered "late," the employed missionary (and spouse in the scenario of a dually employed couple) will not be eligible to receive reimbursements in the month of December (this same rule applies to backpay). 

Sufficient Funds

Sufficient Funds Required

If the MTD account a missionary is responsible for with Reliant does not contain sufficient funds to provide full reimbursement for the amount requested by the employee on a reimbursement request form, the Finance Department will hold the form and delay reimbursement until sufficient funds are available in the staff MTD account, in accordance with Reliant's approved order of pay.

General Policy on taxable expenses: Although Reliant may normally pay certain expense reimbursements in such a way that they are not included in the employee's federal taxable income, the employee bears ultimate responsibility for the proper tax treatment of all payments received from Reliant, and should consult with his or her tax adviser to determine the appropriate reporting and treatment of such payments.

Reimbursements Without Sufficient funds

If reimbursement submissions do not have sufficient funds to fully cover the total amount for the reimbursement, then they will be store as "back reimbursements". They will be paid out in the order from which the reimbursements were received once funds become available for the whole amount of each individual reimbursement. If funds are not available to immediately pay the Expense Recovery Bonuses (ERB) (previously known as taxable reimbursements) then Reliant will short-check those bonuses and include them with backpay.

Requesting a Reimbursement be Partially Paid Out (forfeiting any un-reimbursed expenses)

If a missionary would like to request a reimbursement be partially paid out using the available funds, they must agree to forfeit any un-reimbursed amount from that reimbursement.  For example, if there is a $1,000 reimbursement that's next in line for the order of reimbursement payout and only $650 is available to pay out.  The missionary may elect to send an email to reimbursements@reliant.org asking the reimbursement team to pay the $1,000 reimbursement using the available funds, and acknowledging that they forfeit any un-reimbursed portion of that reimbursement. Note: this action is completely voluntary and at the discretion of the missionary.  

Here's a sample email of how to word the email.

"I would like to request that my April (Year-20xx) reimbursement totaling $X be paid out on X date using the available funds in the MTD account for which I am responsible.  I acknowledge that any un-reimbursed funds from this reimbursement will be forfeited and unable to be reimbursed at a future date. "

Exiting Employment with Unpaid Reimbursements

If a missionary is exiting employment and has reached their final month of payroll without receiving enough funds to fully cover the total amount of a submitted reimbursement, Reliant will automatically reimburse a portion (based on available funds) of the submitted reimbursement without the missionary needing to submit a request for partial payment of the reimbursement.

How to use this guide

The Summary Guidance for Reimbursement Standards, is intended as both a table of contents and a quick reference guide. You can click on any Expense Category to see detailed guidance, where applicable. Any items not addressed in this guide require approval from the supervisor and Reliant reimbursement team.

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