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There is no limit to how often furniture can be purchased, nor is there a max cap amount on the purchase, but remember to follow the Standard criteria for what is reasonable and necessary to the specific ministry role. 

Employees may submit a request on the expense submission form for a fully non-taxable equipment expense recovery by explaining how the furniture is 100% necessary to perform ministry-related work and provides only marginal or no personal benefit (such as the furniture being purchased for a church/ministry location rather than being used in a home for small groups). 

For Field Staff working 20 hours/week or more and intending to remain (20 hours or more) with Reliant for at least 12 months after the furniture is purchased. 

Field staff working fewer than 20 hours a week are not eligible to purchase furniture. An appeal may be made through an exception request.

Associates are not eligible to purchase furniture due to the taxable component.  (If an associate 

However, there is a 90-Day Eligibility Extension for Taxable Expenses for Associates who are in "pre-employment" status. (See Associates for details)

Key Change to the Standard: 

No max limit amount (there used to be assigned limits); however remember criteria of reasonable and necessary will always apply

Furniture can be purchased as needed (it used to be only every 2 years for each type of item)

Furniture is now 75% nontaxable and 25% taxable. It was previously 100% taxable

For field staff working 20 hours or more and intending to remain on staff for at least 12 months

Normal meals with co-workers are not eligible to be reimbursed through normal reimbursement but should be included in the recurring expense through support goal submission. 

Alcohol may not be purchased using Reliant funds. (To simplify the reimbursement process, we suggest purchasing alcohol on a separate bill from the meal being reimbursed.) If it was included on the same bill, subtract the cost of the alcohol from the reimbursement total and add a note explaining why the request to reimburse is less than the total amount on the receipt. The expense submission form will ask to verify that no expense amounts submitted include the cost of alcohol.

Associate staff may be eligible to reimburse reasonable meal expenses with other Reliant staff as long as there is a valid ministry purpose where the associate is performing their associate ministry role and the meal is not primarily social/fellowship in nature. Associate meals are reimbursed at the discretion of Reliant.

Remember to review non-employed spouse and family costs. A non-employed/non-associate spouse attending a ministry-related meal with a Reliant employee/associate spouse can have their meal also be reimbursed as nontaxable if both roles during the meal can be clearly described as ministry related with a bonafide business/ministry reason for spousal attendance. If there is a bonafide business/ministry reason for spousal attendance–meaning the spouse's attendance is required and the spouse has a direct role in the ministry being conducted on the trip--the field worker may request a non-taxable reimbursement along with an explanation of the bonafide business/ministry reason for the spouse's required attendance. However, if a non-employed/non-associate spouse attended but did not participate in the ministry work, that spouse's portion of the meal would be taxable. 

Children's meal expenses are always taxable and recovered through an ERB. 

Expense Recovery Bonus for family meal expenses (not associated with travel) is a benefit and can be used when needed in order to be able to fulfill the ministry role. This is meant to be an infrequent occurrence rather than a regular practice. 

Key Change to the Standard: The dormitory meal plan passes increased from $160/semester to $480/semester.

Include the type of meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner) and the meal's location.

Also, include the participant information in the ministry purpose if others were in attendance. (If fewer than 6 people, include the first and last names and their relationship to the ministry. If greater than 6 people include the number of people present and the group's relationship to the ministry. 

• If the meal is with another Reliant staff, please include in the ministry purpose "Reliant staff member serving at X location" 
• Always provide a legitimate reason why a spouse or family members were present at the meal. Itemize the meal expenses for spouses and family members that exceed the cost that would have been incurred if eating alone. Or, list these taxable spouse/family expenses as a percentage of the total meal expenses. 

Also, make sure to describe clearly the ministry that occurred and how the meal was related to the overall ministry appointment, even if the majority of the ministry happened slightly outside of the meal.

Add the book title and why it was needed for your ministry to the ministry purpose section of the expense submission form.

Books given as Gifts or textbooks for Continuing Education are reimbursed in those expense categories.

Key Change to the Standard: The book's author is no longer needed on form submission.

Needs pre-approval through continuing education form before reimbursement can be submitted

All continuing education expenses must be submitted using the Continuing Education form. 

Employees working 20 hours or more per week are eligible for this benefit.

Hourly employees may be eligible upon receiving special approval.

Associates are not eligible.

Gifts to other Reliant staff (employees or associates) cannot be reimbursed. See details on Gift Cards in the separate expense category below.

There is an annual limit of $25 for the amount of a gift given per recipient per calendar year.

The cost of the gift is generally considered to be the value of the gift. Incidental costs (not adding substantial value to the gift), such as packaging, mailing, insurance, postage, etc., may be reimbursed above the $25 limit. 

Reliant workers are responsible for keeping a record of the dollar amount of the gifts given to individuals over the course of the calendar year.

Donor Gifts: If both the husband and wife are Reliant field workers consider this $25 per recipient as a limitation for the couple in gift giving to donors

Corporate Gifts: Larger gifts may be given to a group of people, such as gifts to organizations, companies, or churches. An example of a corporate gift is a delivered gift basket for the group to share. The limit for corporate gifts is $150. A corporate gift would not be used for donors, ministry partners (those connected to field workers' primary ministry), or family/friends. 

Event Gifts: Gifts, prizes, or gift bags given to the entire group of people attending an event are considered "token gifts" and do not count against the $25 annual limit for that recipient.

Financial Gifts (Donations): Donations, tithes, and other financial gifts are not reimbursable through Reliant. In some cases, field workers may want to speak to their church or ministry about making financial gifts to individuals or other ministries on their behalf. 

Include in the ministry description the first initial and last name of the gift recipient as well as the relationship of the recipient as part of the ministry role and the specific ministry purpose of the gift. 

Group items, given to 5 or more people: 

• If the group comprises people who share a uniform relationship with the field worker, list them as a group with a specific number of people and a description of their ministry relationship. Example: "12 ministry partners."
• If the group comprises people with different relationships with the field worker, list each person's first initial and last name. 

Key Change to the Standard: Reliant will no longer reimburse gift cards given to other Reliant employees or associates. In the past, Reliant would allow the gift card to be reimbursed but would then add it to the other Reliant employee's payroll as taxable income. 

For gift cards received by a Reliant employee, see Gift Cards for details.

Key Change to Standard: Reliant employees no longer have to turn in gift cards that they receive. 

Key Change in Standard: Reliant no longer needs the field worker to collect a W-9 from a vendor (for Reliant to send the vendor 1099 for that year) if the vendor is paid by the Reliant field worker (in the form of reimbursement) and not sent payment directly from Reliant.