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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 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 In some cases, (for Vision and Child Care elections) failure to re-enroll during Open Enrollment means you will lose the opportunity to utilize the benefit for that year. Again, these benefits are tax free (meaning that neither FICA taxes, nor FITA FICA taxes are withheld)! Cafeteria Plan offering will contain the following three benefits: Health Savings Account (HSA) - Employee ContributionAlong with your enrollment in either the HS 1500, 3000 or 5000 (HSA), you wish to make a monthly Employee Contribution to your personal HSA bank account, (In addition to the Reliant Employer Contribution). If so, then you will need to also enroll in the Cafeteria Plan to sign up for your Employee Contributions. Reliant strongly urges you to consider making monthly tax-free Employee Contributions to fund your HSA bank account. See also Health Saver (HS) Plans. Remember that Employer Contributions are made to the Health Savings Account by Reliant in addition to contributions you can make from your paycheck. Vision Plan BenefitVision premiums are paid for by you, the employee, out of your monthly paycheck. See also Vision Insurance. Child-Care BenefitFor 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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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 Reliant's normal Open Enrollment SeasonElections submitted as part of the hire or annual Open Enrollment processes. Annual elections made outside of Reliant's Open Enrollment period are subject for review and may be deemed ineligible if they are submitted past the payroll changes deadline (usually by December 20th, to be effective starting January 1st).
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. These selections are included in Reliant's Open Enrollment Form. Please submit your form by the open enrollment Open Enrollment deadline each year. |
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 for the value of your Cafeteria Plan Elections.
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).
The contributions selected for Vision and Child Care Benefit will be applied to paychecks for the entire year or dates of employment for the year. Partial year contributions are not allowed.
Benefits eligible employees may make, change, or revoke HSA salary reduction elections at any time during the plan year.
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. However, the HSA election is only available to employees that are benefits eligible with Reliant and have elected Reliant's medical insurance.
Resources
- Cafeteria Plan Enrollment Form - 2018
- Health Saver (HS) Plans
- Vision Insurance
- Full Cafeteria Plan document (PDF)
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