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Payment of a ministry expense may be done through the following four types of submission requests:

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.

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As with other taxable wages, estimated income taxes will be deducted from the employee's payroll for the item purchased and recovered using an ERB, based on the employee's current tax settings. To help offset the amount of tax that will be deducted, an automatice automatic 25% bonus will be added to all ERB submissions. for example, an ERB submission for a $100 expense would result in an ERB of $125 to account for the estimated taxes associated with this taxable bonus. Employees may opt - out of the 25% bonus for estimated taxes by selecting to exclude the tax bonus in the expense submission. 

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• 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.
• 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.
• Spiritual and Ministry Planning Retreats: All costs associated with spiritual and ministry planning retreats (mileage, lodging, meals, recreation activities) must be submitted through a separate form, and pre-approval is needed through a personal development plan. 
• 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 typically used for the expense of an item that will belong to the broader ministry/project on a long-term basis. 
• Support Goal: Certain recurring monthly expenses (e.g., monthly mobile phone service costs) can only be recovered by submitting an updated support goal. 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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