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Reliant offers a Cafeteria Plan Benefit for our missionaries. What is a Cafeteria Plan? These are benefits that are paid from your paycheck but are not taxed. It is similar to how you select the food items you want to eat when you go to a cafeteria. Reliant’s Cafeteria Plan allows employees to “select” certain benefits they would like to utilize.
When an employee submits their you submit your annual Cafeteria Enrollment Form each year, you are authorizing Reliant to make the deduction(s) from their monthly paycheck. Each authorization for Cafeteria benefits is designed to last for the rest of the calendar year in which the Cafeteria Enrollment Form is submitted. Therefore these benefits must be renewed each year during Open Enrollment. Failure to re-enroll during Open Enrollment means you will lose the opportunity to utilize the benefit for that year.
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For a description of the Child-Care Benefit, see Child-Care Benefit. If you desire to elect the Child-Care Benefit, you will need to also enroll in the cafeteria plan to sign up for your Child-Care Benefit Employee Contribution.
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Cafeteria Plan advantages
Reliant offers a Cafeteria Plan
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Reliant does this primarily for the tax free benefits it offers affords our employees. The The contributions/payments for any of these three benefits are processed on a pre-tax basis . So so they will be taken from your monthly paycheck before any paycheck before taxes. This includes both Federal Income Taxes or FICA Taxes are withheld. and FICA taxes, too! Thus, your tax savings could really add up! (In addition, there is no Employer FICA applied taken out of the MTD account you're responsible for, for these monthly contributions)
With the Child-Care Benefit, employees are able to submit child-care expenses for reimbursement using the tax-free employee contributions that are set aside from their monthly paychecks. This enables you to pay for your child-care expenses tax-free!
Governed by the IRS
A "Cafeteria Plan" is a concept that is made possible by IRS regulations. They allow certain deductions to be made in pre-tax manner. Please be aware that the IRS also sets maximums allowed benefits. Also, these benefits may need to be documented or reported with your annual tax return.
The IRS allows enrollment of Cafeteria Options until November 15th each year. Please follow instructions for submission if this date is later than Relaint's normal Open Enrollment Season.
Who needs to submit a cafeteria plan form?
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| All employees currently enrolled in the Cafeteria Plan need to submit a new Cafeteria Plan Enrollment Form EVERY YEAR. Please submit your form by the open enrollment deadline each year. |
Tax benefits for you
- HSA employee monthly contributions (through Reliant payroll) are treated as pre-tax deductions
- Vision Plan Benefits monthly premiums are deducted from your paycheck pre-tax.
- Child-Care Benefit employee monthly contributions are deducted from your paycheck before taxes as well.
- Employee's pre-tax contributions/payments are not subject to federal income or social security tax. (It also means NO employer FICA matching portion comes out of the MTD account you're responsible for.)
Cafeteria Plan advantages
Reliant offers a Cafeteria Plan primarily for the tax free benefits it affords our employees. The contributions/payments for any of these three benefits are processed on a pre-tax basis so they will be taken from your monthly paycheck before taxes. This includes both Federal Income Taxes and FICA taxes, too! Thus, your tax savings could really add up!
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Tax benefits for you
The payment for any benefit chosen in the Cafeteria Plan will be deducted each month from your paycheck.
You will see these payments are in the “pre-tax” category on your monthly pay stub.
Neither Federal Income Tax nor FICA Tax are deducted on your Cafeteria Plan benefit that you choose.
It also means NO employer FICA matching portion comes out of the MTD account you’re responsible for.
Things to keep in mind
The benefits offered on the Cafeteria Plan have to be elected by you each year. They DO NOT automatically roll over into the next year. You must submit a NEW Cafeteria Form EVERY YEAR.
So, even if you are planning to continue your participation in these benefits in the same manner as the previous year, a new selection must be made EACH YEAR during Open Enrollment (by November 15th).
Each Selection will last for the entire year.
The contributions selected for Vision, Employee HSA Contributions and Child Care Benefit will be applied to paychecks from January to December
, 2018, or the entire year. Partial year contributions are not allowed.
Changes to selections are only allowed mid-year if there is a qualifying event experienced by those utilizing the benefit. Qualifying events are things like births, marriages, changes in eligibility, etc.
To take advantage of Reliant's Cafeteria Plan, you can choose ANY one of the three options. You do not need to be enrolled in all three.
Things to keep in mind
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You do not need to be enrolled in all three.
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Employee HSA Contributions Changes
Cafeteria forms elections are designed to be elections for the entire year. The Cafeteria Plan outlines hardship situations for which the contribution can be modified. These include significant changes in family income, changes in family structures and financial hardship. Reliant encourages keeping your HSA election for the entire year. Exceptions may be requested by writing HR@reliant.org according the normal payroll submission deadlines. When changes are granted, changes only apply to future contributions. Employees seeking a change should expect that the change will apply to the rest of the calendar year.
Resources
- Cafeteria Plan Enrollment Form
- Health Saver (HS) Plans
- Vision Insurance
- Full Cafeteria Plan document (PDF)
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