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• Reimbursement: Submission of expenses that qualify under IRS guidance as non-taxable reimbursed business expenses is referred to as a “Reimbursement.” Please note that, although Reliant Reimbursements are processed in such a way that they are not included in the employee's taxable income, the employee bears ultimate responsibility for her/his income tax return(s), including the proper tax treatment of all payments received from Reliant, and should consult with her/his tax adviser as needed to determine the appropriate reporting and treatment of such payments.

• Expense Recovery Bonus: Submissions requesting recovery of expenses that do not qualify for non-taxable reimbursement under the IRS guidance are referred to as “Expense Recovery Bonus”or ERB. ERB payments take the form of a bonus which will be treated as additional taxable wages (compensation) for the field staff. Due to the fact that only paid employees can receive a taxable bonus, associates are not eligible to submit a request for an ERB.

  Note
  Key Change to the Standard: Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) is the new term for what was formerly known as a taxable reimbursement.

  There will be tax taken out of the employee's payroll for the item purchased and recovered using an ERB, based on their current tax settings. To help offset the amount of tax that will be taken out, a 25% bonus for estimated taxes will be automatically added to all ERB submissions to account for the estimated taxes associated with this taxable bonus. If the bonus for estimated taxes is not sufficient to cover the taxes an employee incurs and the employee, therefore, suffers financial hardship as a result, an appeal may be made to request an additional hardship payroll bonus. These appeals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Employees that wish to opt out of including the bonus for estimated taxes will need to select the box on the form that says "only reimburse the core expenses and not the estimated taxes associated with this bonus." If the employee opts out of including the bonus for estimated taxes and later regrets that choice, Reliant may approve the bonus request retroactively. Retroactive bonuses for estimated taxes requests will be accepted if they are received within 60 days of the date on which the reimbursement was taxed on the employee's payroll. Retroactive requests will be processed in the next available paycheck (which could be the following month after the request was received by Reliant), due to payroll processing deadlines.

  Note
  Key Change to the Standard: The bonus for estimated taxes has been increased to 25% (instead of the previous 20%). It is also now defaulted to automatically be added to the expense recovery bonus expense. In the past, the default was to not add the bonus, and field staff had to check the box to request that it be added.

  
  

  UI Expand
  title Taxable Implications from the ERB
  Note: Please be aware that the use of the Expense Recovery Bonus has taxable implications. The ERB is recovered through an increase in total payroll received for the amount of the expense (plus the amount of the bonus for estimated taxes). Depending on the amount of the ERBs, they can have significant taxable implications on the employee such as changes to tax bracket, effects on Parsonage usage amounts, or in the case of international employees it could affect their foreign earned income tax limit, etc. 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. If purchases are for project funds, there is the option to pursue recovery through grants which have no taxable implications on the individual submitting the expense.

  
  

• Expense Advance: Field staff may request advance payment for anticipated reimbursable expenses through an "Expense Advance." Advances are not available in all cases but will be considered for approval on a case-by-case basis.
• Exception Request: Field staff may request an exception to be considered for various reasons related to expense submission. 
• Continuing Education: All costs associated with continuing education (classes, course-related books, education fees, travel costs) must be submitted for pre-approval. Employees working 20 or more hours are eligible for this benefit. Hourly employees may be eligible upon receiving special approval. Associate staff are not eligible.
• Per Diem: Field staff may request per diem while traveling opting to receive a daily set amount for travel expenses (lodging and meals) instead of submitting individual expense receipts for those travel expenses. 
• Grant: For expenses related directly to a ministry project fund, field staffs staff and associates also have the option of requesting payment through a "Grant" rather than a project fund Reimbursement. (See Reimbursements vs. Grants for more details.) Grants are also often used for the expense of an item that will belong to the broader ministry/project on a long-term basis. There are no taxable implications on the individual submitting for expense recovery for a project expense through the grant process. 
• Support Goal: Certain recurring monthly expenses can only be recovered by submitting an updated support goal which in turn will affect payroll for the MTD account. We encourage employees to use this benefit to offset recurring monthly costs. Associates are not eligible for this benefit and therefore will not be able to recover certain recurring monthly expenses.

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• Current approved Expense Submission Request Forms are required for expense submission.
  • U.S.  Expense Submission Form
  • International Expense Submission Form
  • Continuing Education Form (all costs associated with continuing education must be submitted using only this form and pre-approval is required)
• Expense Advances, primarily relating to large, expected travel expenditures, will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
• Exception Requests are available for submission in the event of a denied Reimbursement or a late submission. 
• Grants are available for expenses related directly to a project fund. The full grant process involves submitting a grant request and following the Board's policy on grant reporting.
• Per Diem - U.S. / Per Diem - International is available to use for travel expenses incurred during longer periods of traveling (5 days or more)
• Support Goal- support goal submission is specific to program teams. Please reach out to the appropriate program liaison for assistance.

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