Page History
| Standard Name: | Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus Standard |
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| Relevant Policies: | Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus Policy |
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| Last Revision Date: |
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The new Reimbursement and Expense Recovery Bonus Policy and Standard is effective beginning January 1, 2023. |
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General Guidelines
Stewardship Responsibility
As noted in the policy linked above, field staff are expected to utilize sound judgment and careful financial management in regard to ministry-related expenses. This means ensuring that Reliant financial resources are used appropriately; support the ministry; comply with Reliant policies, applicable laws, regulations, and donor restrictions; and consider the reputation of the ministry in the sense that we strive for propriety in both fact and appearance. Our stewardship responsibility also means utilizing Reliant's non-profit status for ministry purposes alone and not for personal benefit (e.g. avoiding state sales tax on personal items).
General Criteria for Determining A Permissible Expense
As noted in the policy linked above, the general criteria for determining whether an expense qualifies for reimbursement are that the expense must be
- Reasonable in that the expense is not extreme or excessive, and it reflects the amount that would normally be spent in that specific situation;
- Ordinary in that one would normally expect this kind of expense to occur when performing ministry work;
- Necessary to achieve a valid ministry objective consistent with the mission of Reliant and its ministry partners;
- Directly related to the job/ministry of the field staff; and
- Sufficiently documented and timely submitted
Note: Reliant reserves the right to determine whether or not an expense fulfills the above criteria and to decline reimbursement of expenses that do not meet the criteria.
Submission Request Types
Payment of a ministry expense may be done through the following types of submission requests:
Reimbursement: Submission of expenses that qualify under IRS guidance as non-taxable reimbursable 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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Key Change to the Standard: Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) is the new term for what was formerly known as a taxable reimbursement. |
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 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 in order 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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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. |
Alternative Expense Submission Types
While most expense submissions by field staff will be in the form of either a Reimbursement or an ERB, there are several alternative means of recovering the cost of ministry expenses. They include:
- 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.
- 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.
Relevant Forms
All expense submissions should use the appropriate form, each of which is listed below with accessible links. Please open a new form for each month's expense submission (rather than copying a form that has previously been submitted) in order to ensure the use of updated forms and to aid accurate and timely expense processing.
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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 an ERB or a related Advance. |
Links for Applicable Expense Submission Forms
- Current approved Expense Submission Request Forms are required for expense submission.
- U.S. Expense Submission Form
- International Expense Submission Form
- Project Fund Expense Submission Form
- Continuing Education Form (all costs associated with continuing education must be submitted using only this form and pre-approval is required)
- Spiritual and Ministry Planning Retreat Form (all costs associated with Spiritual and Ministry Planning Retreats must be submitted using only this form and pre-approval is required)
- 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 or a late submission.
- Grants are available for expenses related directly to a project fund. The full grant process involves submitting a grant request and following the Board's policy on grant reporting.
- Per Diem - U.S. / Per Diem - International is available to use for travel expenses incurred during longer periods of traveling (5 days or more)
- Support Goal- support goal submission is specific to program teams. Please reach out to the appropriate program liaison for assistance.
With each expense submitted on the relevant form there should be:
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An explanation for each expense submitted, including:
Itemized original receipts and other appropriate substantiating documents (if applicable) must be submitted with the form. *Please refer to all Reimbursement Standards below, which detail receipt information and other specific criteria. |
Submission Timeframe
For all Reimbursements and ERBs, requests must be received within 60 days after the end of the month in which the expense is incurred. An expense is incurred when an item is purchased or, in the case of pre-payment for travel, when the travel has actually taken place, as long as both the payment date and travel date are listed on the receipt for documentation.
Late submissions exceeding this timeframe require an exception request. Late submissions are not guaranteed reimbursement and will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The exception request must include a valid reason for the late submission and include supervisor approval.
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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 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 Reimbursement/bonus funds based on the submission date.
Payment Dates
| Reimbursement Submitted By... | Paid to the Bank Account of Field Staff By... |
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| Between 1st - 15th of the month | The last business day of the same month |
| Between the 16th - 31st of the month | The 20th of the following month, or the preceding business day if the 20th falls on a weekend or holiday |
| Expense Recovery Bonus (ERB) Submitted By... | Paid to the Bank Account of Field Staff By... |
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| Last day of the month | Payment included in the following month's paycheck |
Submission Review and Approval
If the criteria for determining a permissible expense are not met on the original submission, the expense may be resubmitted on a new submission form with the corrected information (in the event it was due to insufficient documentation) or an appeal may be submitted through an exception request in the event that the reason for denial was related to other criteria that require a director review for approval.
Non-Employee Expenses
There are expenses that are submitted that are not connected to full-time/part-time Reliant employees. Read the below options for more details on the different types of expenses submitted.
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Associate Expenses Associates are volunteers who have been approved to conduct ministry on behalf of Reliant. Expenses incurred by Reliant associates should meet the general criteria outlined in this standard. Associates are not eligible for any expense recovery that has a taxable component or that is submitted for recovery through a support goal.
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Family Expenses Expenses incurred related to a Reliant employee's family members (spouses that are not also a Reliant employee/associate and/or children) that coincide with a field staff's job or ministry may potentially be eligible for recovery, but typically only as a taxable expense. If unsure if the family costs are recoverable, prior to purchase, please submit a pre-approval form. As a reminder, Reliant does currently offer Child-Care Reimbursement through our Cafeteria Plan (tax-saving benefit). |
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Project Fund Expenses In addition to individual MTD accounts, Reliant also manages funds for ministries, non-profits, and churches. When an expense is not related directly to a field staff's specific job role but is more closely 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 expenses are attributable to the church/ministry, which is not taxed for expenses that are normally fully or partially taxed to the field staff MTD fund. If an expense is not for an item that will be considered the sole property of the church/ministry, then a field staff can still specify that the project fund (rather than an MTD account) should be the source of funds for a Reimbursement or ERB. In the case of an ERB, the taxable expenditure (including expenses with a partial taxable component) is processed in a manner similar to ERBs funded through MTD accounts. 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. |
Sufficient Funds
As noted above, expense submissions may draw on funds from either the MTD account for which the field staff or associate is responsible or a project fund pertinent to the field worker's ministry. In either case, sufficient funds are required before payment is issued for the expense submission. (See also "Lack of Funding for Reimbursements and ERBs" below for details on what occurs when sufficient funds are not available.)
Lack of Funding for Reimbursements and ERBs
If the funding source (i.e., MTD account or project fund) lacks sufficient monies to cover the submitted expense, then the expense submission is considered a back reimbursement or back pay, as described below.
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Back Reimbursement If the funding source does not contain sufficient funds to provide full reimbursement for the amount 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 funding source, according to Reliant's order of pay protocol. If a field staff has more than one back reimbursement, they will be paid out in the order in which the reimbursement submissions were received once funds become available for the whole amount of each individual reimbursement. If the funding source covers only a portion of a back reimbursement, Reliant will not automatically partially pay the reimbursement. Field staff may request a reduction in the back reimbursement for a partial payment or completely remove it from the queue, but in such cases, the remaining portion of a partial back reimbursement or the back reimbursement removed from the queue will not be eligible for reinstatement should funding become available later. To illustrate the process for partial reimbursement, suppose a field staff submits a $1,000 reimbursement that is next in line for the order of reimbursement payout and only $650 is available to pay out. The field staff may elect to send an email to reimbursements@reliant.org asking the reimbursement team to pay the $1,000 reimbursement using the available funds and acknowledging that the field staff forfeits any un-reimbursed portion of that reimbursement. Note: this action is completely voluntary and at the discretion of the field staff. Here's a sample email of how to word the email.
Unpaid back reimbursements will be retained by Reliant for the remainder of the calendar year in which the expenses were incurred, plus two (2) additional calendar years. Once this period has expired (i.e., after January 31st of that next year, when all expense reimbursements have been completely processed and paid by Reliant), any un-reimbursed back reimbursement expenses will be marked as expired and can no longer be paid. Example: expenses submitted in 2019 are eligible for payment as a back reimbursement until January 31, 2022, if the field staff has raised sufficient funds by December 31, 2021.
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Back Pay for ERBs
If funds are not available to pay an ERB, then Reliant will short-check those ERBs and include them with backpay, in accordance with Reliant's approved order of pay. In the order of pay, Expense Recovery Bonuses take precedence over Reimbursements, in accordance with IRS requirements. Back pay is eligible for compensation/payment during the year in which it is incurred plus two additional years. For example, if an ERB is submitted in March 2019 and the funding source lacks sufficient funds to pay it, the back pay resulting from the ERB is eligible to be paid until December 31, 2021.
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Exiting Employment with Unpaid Reimbursements If a field staff is exiting employment and has reached his/her final month of payroll without receiving enough funds to fully cover the total amount of a submitted reimbursement, Reliant will automatically reimburse a portion (based on available funds) of the submitted reimbursement without the field staff needing to submit a request for partial payment of the reimbursement.
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Order of Pay
Reliant will pay approved Reimbursements and ERBs following Reliant's Order of Pay. While Order of Pay considers a variety of additional payroll-related elements, expense submissions follow this order:
- Current ERB
- Back Pay (if applicable), including any previously submitted ERB 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), meaning unpaid Reimbursements waiting for funding and paid in the order they were received as long as the Back Reimbursements remain eligible for Reimbursement (See Back Reimbursements below for more detail)
- Current Reimbursement. (Again, reimbursements are paid in the order they are received).
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As a reminder, timecards must be up to date for hourly employees to be eligible to receive Reimbursements and ERBs. |
Resolution of Removed or Denied Reimbursement Requests
Upon its review of expense submissions, Reliant may remove or deny expenses or return submitted expense forms due to a variety of reasons. Explanations for the return or denial of submitted expenses can be found in Google comments within the Google Doc, the Reliant email of field staff, or Staffnet. Field staff are responsible for checking their Reliant email and Staffnet for reimbursement notes and to initiate with Reliant if there are questions about those notes. Reliant will notify field staff via email or Google Drive comments if a form is fully denied.
If expenses are removed from or denied on an expense submission request, the expense denied may be resubmitted on a brand new expense submission form for further review. Field staff should be sure to check the guidelines to ensure they have included proper receipt documentation and only include the items that were previously removed on the new form submission. There is no extension to the original submission timeframe deadline for re-submissions.
If the expense was removed due to a policy issue, a formal exception request must be submitted.
Receipt Guidelines
Reliant requires that itemized receipts for expenses greater than $75 must be submitted along with the appropriate form. (The only exception to the $75 limit is that a receipt is always needed for all hotel/lodging receipts regardless of the amount requested for reimbursement.)
Receipts must include the following itemized details:
- What was purchased
- Total amount paid
- Date
- Name of the company (or person) that was paid
- Name of field staff (if applicable such as for a flight, hotel, rental car, etc.)
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Hand-Written Receipts On the rare occasions when a field staff is unable to obtain a formal itemized receipt, hand-written receipts are acceptable as long as they contain the following information.
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Receipts from Mobile/Banking App For receipts from mobile apps (such as Venmo, Square Cash, PayPal, Google Wallet, or a banking app), field staff should be sure to include a clear description in the memo or "what's it for?" section of the transaction, to document what expense the payment is related to. The reimbursement submission should also include any information that is required for a valid receipt, that is not visible on the mobile app "receipt" (see the guidelines above for what details must be included on the itemized receipt for it to be acceptable.) In most cases, receipts for mobile apps will be for shared expenses. Please see the section below for details on receipts for shared expenses. |
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Receipts for Shared Expenses If a Reliant field staff pays an individual for a portion of an expense that requires a receipt (and the portion exceeds $75), he/she will need to submit two receipts. This includes both a copy of the original receipt with the full expense amount listed from the individual who collected the money and paid for the full expense as well as a hand-written or mobile/banking app receipt for the portion paid to the individual. These two receipts provide Reliant with sufficient documentation of transactions. The expense submission should include all details required for the hand-written or mobile/banking app receipts as detailed above. |
Guidelines by Expense Type
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