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• Reimbursement: Submission of expenses that qualify under IRS guidance as non-taxable reimbursed business expenses is referred to as a “Reimbursement.” Please note that, although Reliant Reimbursements are processed in such a way that they are not included in the employee's taxable income, the employee bears ultimate responsibility for her/his income tax return(s), including the proper tax treatment of all payments received from Reliant, and should consult with her/his tax adviser as needed to determine the appropriate reporting and treatment of such payments.

• Expense Recovery Bonus: Submissions requesting recovery of expenses that do not qualify for non-taxable reimbursement under the IRS guidance are referred to as “Expense Recovery Bonus”or ERB. ERB payments take the form of a bonus which will be treated as additional taxable wages (compensation) for the field staff. Due to the fact that only paid employees can receive a taxable bonus, associates are not eligible to submit a request for an ERB or for any expense that has a taxable (ERB) component.

  Note
  Key Change to the Standard: Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) is the new term for what was formerly known as a taxable reimbursement.

  There will be tax taken out of the employee's payroll for the item purchased and recovered using an ERB, based on their current tax settings. To help offset the amount of tax that will be taken out, a 25% bonus for estimated taxes will be automatically added to all ERB submissions to account for the estimated taxes associated with this taxable bonus. If the bonus for estimated taxes is not sufficient to cover the taxes an employee incurs and the employee, therefore, suffers financial hardship as a result, an appeal may be made to request an additional hardship payroll bonus. These appeals will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. Employees that wish to opt out of including the bonus for estimated taxes will need to select the box on the form that says "only reimburse the core expenses and not the estimated taxes associated with this bonus." If the employee opts out of including the bonus for estimated taxes and later regrets that choice, Reliant may approve the bonus request retroactively. Retroactive bonuses for estimated taxes requests will be accepted if they are received within 60 days of the date on which the reimbursement was taxed on the employee's payroll. Retroactive requests will be processed in the next available paycheck (which could be the following month after the request was received by Reliant), due to payroll processing deadlines.

  Note
  Key Change to the Standard: The bonus for estimated taxes has been increased to 25% (instead of the previous 20%). It is also now defaulted to automatically be added to the expense recovery bonus expense. In the past, the default was to not add the bonus, and field staff had to check the box to request that it be added.

  
  

  UI Expand
  title Taxable Implications from the ERB
  Note: Please be aware that the use of the Expense Recovery Bonus has taxable implications.  The ERB is recovered through an increase in total payroll received for the amount of the expense (plus the amount of the bonus for estimated taxes). Depending on the amount of the ERBs, they can have significant taxable implications on the employee such as changes to tax bracket, effects on Parsonage usage amounts, or in the case of international employees it could affect their foreign earned income tax limit, etc. 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. If purchases are for project funds, there is the option to pursue recovery through grants which have no taxable implications on the individual submitting the expense.

  
  

• Expense Advance: Field staff may request advance payment for anticipated reimbursable expenses through an "Expense Advance." Advances are not available in all cases but will be considered for approval on a case-by-case basis.
• Exception Request: Field staff may request an exception to be considered for various reasons related to expense submission. 
• Continuing Education: All costs associated with continuing education (classes, course-related books, education fees, travel costs) must be submitted for pre-approval. Employees working 20 or more hours are eligible for this benefit. Hourly employees may be eligible upon receiving special approval. Associate staff are not eligible.
• Per Diem: Field staff may request per diem while traveling opting to receive a daily set amount for travel expenses (lodging and meals) instead of submitting individual expense receipts for those travel expenses. 
• Grant: For expenses related directly to a ministry project fund, field staff and associates also have the option of requesting payment through a "Grant" rather than a project fund Reimbursement. (See Reimbursements vs. Grants for more details.) Grants are also often used for the expense of an item that will belong to the broader ministry/project on a long-term basis. There  There are no taxable implications on the individual submitting for expense recovery for a project expense through the grant process. 
• Support Goal: Certain recurring monthly expenses can only be recovered by submitting an updated support goal which in turn will affect payroll for the MTD account. We encourage employees to use this benefit to offset recurring monthly costs. Associates are not eligible for this benefit and therefore will not be able to recover certain recurring monthly expenses.

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Recurring Expense Recovery through Support Goal Submission

Ministry Expense Bonus

Reliant provides an optional monthly taxable Ministry Expense (ME) bonus for paid U.S. employees to help cover routine recurring monthly expenses associated with the ministry. (International Staff have their Ministry Expense amounts included with their needs-based salary. Therefore, these ME bonus amounts apply only to U.S.-based employees.) Full-time U.S. employees are eligible for requests up to $500/month. Part-time U.S. employees (20 hours or less) are eligible for requests up to $200/month. The bonus request is submitted through employee support goals. Associates are not allowed to request this bonus. Paid employees that opt out of a monthly ME bonus are not eligible to submit these expenses through any other submission types. 

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U.S. employees are also given the option to request monthly phone plan reimbursement through a submission request within the employee support goal. Expenses are paid out through a non-taxable monthly recurring payment into the account for which the staff is responsible. Reliant does not need receipts submitted for phone plan payment amounts. Employees will request the appropriate amount needed per month (up to the designated amount for full-time/part-time employees) based on the monthly expenses incurred with their individual phone plans. (International Staff have their monthly phone amounts included with their needs-based salary. Therefore, these amounts apply only to U.S.-based employees.) Full-time U.S. employees are eligible for requests up to $100/month. Part-time U.S. employees (20 hours or less) are eligible for requests up to $50/month. Associates are not eligible for the monthly phone reimbursement. (To purchase a phone through a one-time payment, you will follow the normal reimbursement and ERB guidelines.)

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Reliant also manages funds for ministries, non-profits, and churches as well as funds for individual MTD accounts. When an expense is not related directly to a field staff's specific job role but is more closely related aligned to a project or ministry, a project fund Reimbursement can be submitted. Reimbursements from a project require all the same documentation as those from an MTD account and are processed according to the same submission deadlines. Project fund reimbursements also require approval by a designated signer for the fund. 

These types of Reimbursements are paid directly from the project fund, based on available funds as well as based on the order in which they were received. The MTD account balance the field staff is responsible for does not incur the expense for these reimbursed costs (therefore the order of pay from the MTD account does not apply) so it is possible for an employee who has backpay and back Reimbursements to receive payment for a Reimbursement that was submitted to be paid from a project fund. Reliant pays project fund Reimbursements if there are available funds in the project fund. It is possible for a project fund to accumulate back Reimbursements. (See Project Fund Reimbursements for more details.) 

If an expense being submitted through a project fund will be owned, stored, and considered solely the property of the church/ministry (with no personal usage by the individual submitting the request) then, the church/ministry will not be taxed for expenses that are normally fully or partially taxed to the field staff MTD fund. 

If a project fund expense is not an item that will be considered the sole property of the church/ministry, then the project fund is still able to submit it as a taxable expenditure (including expenses with Project fund taxable expenditures (including expenses with a partial taxable component) that are is then recovered through an Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) can be reimbursed using a project fund, as long as it is a paid employee requesting the project fund reimbursement. The ERB for project funds can only be routed through a paid employee's payroll; therefore, Reliant associates may not request an expense recovery using a project fund for payment for any taxable expenditures. If the paid employee does not wish to have any taxable implications associated with their payroll from the project fund expense or, as in the case of an associate, is unable to have any taxable implications, then they may choose to pursue the route of requesting a grant (See Project Fundraising and Grants Program) for  for the project fund expense recovery rather than a project fund reimbursement. 

Lack of Funding for Reimbursements and ERBs

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