General Guidelines

Stewardship Responsibility

Missionaries are expected to employ sound expense management practices and exercise prudent financial management in their stewardship of Reliant resources. As such, missionaries share the responsibility of ensuring that these resources are used appropriately, support the ministry, and comply with Reliant policies, applicable laws and regulations, and donor restrictions. All missionaries and central employees are expected to exercise due diligence when generating, reviewing, and approving transactions that commit to the expenditure of Reliant funds. Missionaries must use discretion and also consider the reputation of the ministry when determining how much to spend on any given expense. Excessive and unnecessary expenditures must be avoided, and Reliant may, in its sole discretion, decline to reimburse excessive expenses. 

General Criteria For Determining A Permissible Expense 

In order to be reimbursed to an individual, a ministry expense must be:

• Necessary to perform a valid ministry purpose fulfilling the mission of Reliant; and
• Reasonable in that the expense is not extreme or excessive, and reflects a prudent decision to incur the expense; and
• Appropriate in that the expense is suitable and fitting in the context of the valid business purpose.

Necessary

An expense is necessary if there is a valid ministry purpose required to fulfill the mission of the Reliant. The primary beneficiary of a necessary ministry expense is Reliant or the participants in the ministry activity, not the individual. A necessary expense is a minimum purchase or service required to achieve a valid ministry objective.

Reasonable

Reasonable means that the amount being spent reflects the value that normally would be spent in that specific situation. An expense is considered reasonable if it is not extreme or excessive and reflects a fair and prudent decision and action to incur the expense. A cost may be considered reasonable if the nature of the goods or services acquired, and the amount involved, therefore, reflect the action that a prudent person would have taken under the circumstances prevailing at the time the decision to incur the cost was made. Major considerations involved in the determination of the reasonableness of a cost are: (a) whether or not the cost is of a type generally recognized as necessary for the operation of the ministry; (b) whether or not the individuals concerned acted with due prudence in circumstances, considering their responsibilities to the ministry, its employees, its participants, the Federal Government, and the public at large; and (c) whether or not the cost represents fair value for the good or service provided.

Appropriate

Costs are appropriate if they are suitable or fitting for a ministry purpose. For a cost to be appropriate it is also presumed that there is a valid ministry purpose, which is normally the responsibility of the missionary to determine.

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 *Reliant reserves the right to determine whether or not an expense fulfills the above criteria. 

Reimbursement Types

• 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 

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. 

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

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 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. 

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Please view Payment Dates & Deadlines for more details on the timing of receiving reimbursement/bonus funds 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.)

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If a Reliant missionary pays an individual for a portion of an expense that requires a receipt (the portion is over $75), they will need to submit two receipts.  The missionary submitting the expense will need both a copy of the original receipt with the full expense amount listed from the individual who collected the money and paid for the full expense as well as submitting a hand-written or mobile/banking app receipt for the portion paid to the individual to give Reliant a paper trail for both transactions. Make sure to include all details required for the hand-written or mobile/banking app receipts as detailed above. Remember, if it is for a hotel expense, a copy of the itemized receipt is always required no matter the amount being reimbursed.

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 for further review. If the item is removed for improper documentation or a similar situation, it may be resubmitted under the guidelines provided for proper receipt documentation in the Reimbursement Standards. If the item is related to a policy issue, a formal exception request must be submitted.

Sufficient Funds

Sufficient Funds Required

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Guidelines by Expense Type

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