403(b)(9) General Overview

Reliant offers a 403(b)(9) retirement plan option to eligible employees. This type of 403(b) plan is under a subsection of the IRS code (9) for church plans, but it's basically just a special type of 403(b) plan with additional benefits for churches. For simplicity purposes, we will refer to it as a 403(b) plan in most of our documentation.  

Reliant's 403(b) retirement plan has a matching incentive for our career employees. Reliant will match funds (up to a certain percentage) that these employees contribute to the 403(b) plan. The matching incentive is designed to motivate career employees to contribute funds to the retirement savings plan. Reliant employees are 100% vested from the point they start contributing to the 403(b) Plan.  

Reliant's 403(b) Plan offers two types of savings opportunities for our employees: Traditional vs. Roth Contributions. Reliant auto-enrolls employees in the traditional contribution. Employees may opt to change to the Roth or give additional contributions to Roth as well as Traditional. 

Employees who have worked for Reliant for at least 90 days are eligible to begin participating in the plan. Upon becoming eligible to participate, employees will be auto-enrolled in the 403(b)(9) plan at a $50 employee contribution amount (see Enrollment & Eligibility). Upon reaching eligibility, Reliant will send an email stating the eligibility date has arrived and that the employee has been auto-enrolled with GuideStone. Employees will then need to register on the MyGuidestone site in order to access their account. If an employee wishes to make any changes to the contribution amount or type of contribution, the changes will need to be done through their MyGuidestone account after Reliant has informed them that their eligibility date has arrived. 

To change a contribution see Principal Changes to Contributions. Contribution changes must be submitted to GuideStone by the 19th to then be effective on the following month's paycheck. GuideStone informs Reliant of any payroll changes made by employees.

Reliant employer match for career employees is $1 match for every $1 an employee contributes to the 403(b) plan, up to a maximum of 5% of their eligible earnings. (See Employer Matching Contributions - Class 1, Career Employees for more details.) The match is paid directly from the MTD fund the employee is responsible for with Reliant. The employee's support goal is increased by the match amount. Employees are asked to submit a new support goal to reflect any changes to their 403(b) contributions, to ensure their goals are up to date. 

Withdrawals can be made from the 403(b) Plan Retirement account. (See Withdrawal (Age 59 1/2 or Higher) and Withdrawal as Parsonage (Age 59 1/2 or Older ). Withdrawals made before age 59½ may incur tax penalties.

Reliant employees are also eligible to receive a 403(b) loan. (See Loan Guidelines)

For questions or additional information about Reliant's 403(b) retirement plan please contact payroll@reliant.org.