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As noted in the policy linked above, field staff are expected to employ sound expense management practices judgment and exercise prudent financial management in their stewardship of Reliant resources. As such, field staff share the responsibility of ensuring that these Reliant resources are used appropriately, ; support the ministry, and ; comply with Reliant policies, applicable laws and regulations, and donor restrictions. All field staff are expected to exercise due diligence when generating, reviewing, and approving the expenditure of Reliant funds. Field staff must use discretion and also ; and consider the reputation of the ministry when determining how much to spend on any given expense. Excessive and unnecessary expenditures must be avoided, and Reliant may, in its sole discretion, decline to reimburse excessive expenses. Field staff may not use, or attempt to use, Reliant's non-profit status for personal benefit (e.g. avoiding state sales tax on personal or ministry items).
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As noted in the policy linked above, the general criteria for determining a permissible expense is that it must be reasonable, ordinary, necessary, and directly related to the field staff’s job and ministry.be
- Reasonable Reasonable in that the expense is not extreme or excessive, reflects a fair prudent decision and the value that would normally be spent in that specific situation: and;
- Ordinary in that one would normally expect this kind of expense to occur when performing ministry work; and
- Necessary to achieve a valid ministry objective fulfilling the mission of Reliant; and
- Valid Ministry Purpose is always requested with each expense submission to explain how the expense is directly related to the field staff's job and ministry.
- Directly related to the job/ministry of the field staff; and
- Sufficiently documented and timely submitted
* *Reliant reserves the right to determine whether or not an expense fulfills the above criteria.
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- Expenses that qualify under IRS guidance for non-taxable reimbursed business expenses are referred to as a “Reimbursement”. Reimbursements can be paid out of the MTD account for which you are responsible or from ministry project funds. Reimbursements will be paid in the order in which they are received. Although Reliant may .” Please note that, although Reliant will normally pay certain expense reimbursements in such a way that they are not included in the employee's federal taxable income, 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.
- Requests for recovery of expenses that do not qualify for non-taxable reimbursement under the IRS guidance are referred to as “Expense Recovery Bonus” or ERB. These expenses will be recuperated through a bonus which will be considered treated as additional taxable wages (compensation) for the field staff. Due to the fact that only paid employees can receive a taxable bonus, associates and project funds are not eligible to submit a request for an Expense Recovery Bonus.ERB. and project funds?
- Field staff You may request advance payment for anticipated , reimbursable expenses through an "Expense Advance.". Advances Advances are not guaranteed , but will be considered on a case-by-case basis.
- Expense submissions For expenses related to a ministry project fund, field staff also have the option of requesting payment through a "Grant" rather than a Reimbursement. Grants are also used for the expense of an item that the ministry project will retain ownership of beyond its initial use. (See Reimbursements vs. Grants for more details)
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All submissions for expense reimbursements Reimbursements and bonuses ERBs should use the appropriate form listed below. Please use the direct form links provided by Reliant to open a brand new form for each month's expense submission (rather rather than copying a form that has already been submitted for a previous expense) , in order to capture form updates and formatting changes that occur based on information written on the form.
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Key Change to the Standard: The term Expense Submission is now used rather than simply Reimbursement when describing a submitted expense since an expense could be either a Reimbursement or a Bonus. |
- Current approved Reliant reimbursement request forms Expense Submission Request Forms are required for expense submission.
- U.S. Expense Submission Form
- International Expense Submission Form
- Continuing Education Form
- 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 Reimbursement or a late submission.
- Add link to grant form here (See Standard for Project Funds and Grant Making for detailed guidance)
Included on the form with each Included on the form with each expense should be:
- Itemized original receipts and all other appropriate substantiating documents must be received by Reliant central within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense occurs, is incurred or is paid by the employee. (See receipt guidelines below for more details.)
- Employees must provide a written explanation for each expense submitted clearly documenting:
Description of the expense
- Whom the item is for:
- First and last names of the people involved
- The ministry relationship of the person(s) to the field staff. If expense relates to five or more people, list them as a group with the specific number in the group (e.g. 12 ministry partners). Actual names are not necessary for groups of five or more people. Otherwise, use of actual first and last names is required, if the relationship is not uniform.
- Specific ministry purpose of the expense (be as detailed as possible). For more secure locations, please see Secure Lexicon for more details.
- Cost of the item (the portion of the cost that is ministry related if not 100%)
- Date of the expense (a new reimbursement Reimbursement form is needed for each month you incurred an expense)
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Key Change to the Standard: Under the previous policy and standard, approved late submissions were automatically considered taxable wages. Going forward, that will no longer be the case. Approved late submissions will be treated like any other expense regarding taxability. Therefore, if an expense reimbursement Reimbursement would normally be considered non-taxable, it will remain non-taxable if approved for late submission. |
Please review the table below for more details on the timing of receiving reimbursementReimbursement/bonus funds based on the submission date.
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| Reimbursement Submitted By... | Paid to Your Bank Account By... |
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| Between 1st - 15th of the month | Paid on the last business day of the same month |
| Between the 16th - 31st of the month | Paid on the 20th of the following month, or the business before |
| Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) Submitted By... | Paid to Your Bank Account By... |
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| Last day of the month | Payment included in the following month's paycheck |
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- Expense Recovery Bonus
- Back Pay (if applicable), including back pay accrued by either spouse, if married. Back Pay includes previously submitted Expense Recovery Bonuses waiting for funding as long as the bonus remains eligible for Back Pay (See Back Pay for Bonus below for more detail)
- Back Reimbursements (formerly known as cabinet expenses) are unpaid reimbursements Reimbursements waiting for funding and paid in the order they were received as long as the back reimbursements Back Reimbursements remain eligible for reimbursement Reimbursement (See Back Reimbursements below for more detail)
- Reimbursements are paid in the order they are received
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Key Change to the Standard: A "back reimbursementBack Reimbursement" was formerly known as a "cabinet expense". A back reimbursement Back Reimbursement is a reimbursement that is held back from paying due to a lack of sufficient funds. If there are multiple back reimbursements they are put into a queue and are paid in the order from which they are received. |
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Sufficient Funds Required
How funds come out of the different funds
For all types of expense submissions, sufficient funds are required no matter the fund that is being used to pay the expenses submitted.
In general, expense submissions are paid out of the MTD fund for which the field staff is responsible for
Project Funds are paid out of the project fund
Back Reimbursement
Reimbursements: If the MTD account for which a field staff is responsible does not contain sufficient funds to provide full reimbursement for the amount requested by the field staff on an expense submission request form, Reliant will hold the form and delay reimbursement storing the expense submission as a "back reimbursement" until sufficient funds are available in the staff MTD account, in accordance with Reliant's approved order of pay. Back reimbursements will be paid out in the order from which the reimbursement submissions were received once funds become available for the whole amount of each individual reimbursement.
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