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There is no limit to how often equipment can be purchased, nor is there a max cap amount on the purchase, but remember to follow the Standard criteria for what is reasonable and necessary to the specific ministry role. 

Employees or Associates may submit an exception request along with the expense submission form for a fully non-taxable equipment expense recovery by explaining how the equipment is 100% necessary to perform ministry-related work and provides only marginal or no personal benefit (such as stat phones).

Equipment is a category that has a high amount of reimbursements purchased for church/ministry projects. Equipment (such as sound equipment, lights, and projectors) that will be stored and primarily used by the church/ministry should be reimbursed using a project fund.

For Field Staff working 20 hours/week or more and intending to remain (20 hours or more) with Reliant for at least 12 months after the equipment or furniture is purchased. 

Field staff working fewer than 20 hours a week are not eligible to purchase equipment. An appeal may be made through an exception request.

Associates are not eligible to purchase equipment due to the taxable component. 

However, there is a 90-Day Eligibility Extension for Taxable Expenses as an Associate (please review the above information under the Associate drop-down for more details).

Key Change to the Standard: 

• No max limit (there used to be assigned limits per type of equipment)
• Can now purchase equipment as needed (it used to be only every 2 years for each type of item)
• Equipment is now 75% nontaxable and 25% taxable. It used to be 100% taxable
• For field staff working (20 hours or more) intending to remain on staff for at least 12 months

Normal meals with co-workers are not eligible to be reimbursed through normal reimbursement but should be included in the recurring expense through support goal submission. 

Alcohol may not be purchased using Reliant funds. (To simplify the reimbursement process, we suggest purchasing alcohol on a separate bill from the meal being reimbursed.) If it was included on the same bill, subtract the cost of the alcohol from the reimbursement total and add a note explaining why the request to reimburse is less than the total amount on the receipt.

• Associate staff may be eligible to reimburse reasonable meal expenses with other Reliant staff as long as there is a valid ministry purpose where the associate is performing their associate ministry role and the meal is not primarily social/fellowship in nature. Associate meals are reimbursed at the discretion of Reliant.
• Employee and their spouse ministry-related meal expenses are usually reimbursable if both roles during the meal can be clearly described as ministry related. If a spouse attended but did not participate in the ministry work, the spouse's portion of the meal would be taxable. Children's meal expenses are always taxable. Expense Recovery Bonus for spouse and family meals is a benefit and can be used when needed in order to be able to fulfill the ministry role. This is meant to be an infrequent occurrence rather than a regular practice. 

Key Change to the Standard: The dormitory meal plan passes increased from $160/semester to $480/semester.

• Include the type of meal (breakfast/lunch/dinner) and the meal's location.
• Also, include the participant information in the ministry purpose if others were in attendance. (If fewer than 6 people, include the first and last names and their relationship to the ministry. If greater than 6 people include the number of people present and the group's (or groups') relationship(s) to the ministry. 
  • If the meal is with another Reliant staff, please include in the ministry purpose "Reliant staff member serving at X location" 
  • Always provide a legitimate reason why a spouse or family members were present at the meal. Itemize the meal expenses for spouses and family members that exceed the cost that would have been incurred if eating alone. Or, list these taxable spouse/family expenses as a percentage of the total meal expenses. 

• Also, make sure to describe clearly the ministry that occurred and how the meal was related to the overall ministry appointment, even if the majority of the ministry happened slightly outside of the meal.

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  If over $75, remember to include both the itemized receipt and the credit card receipt showing the tip with your submission.

  
  

Add the book title and why it was needed for your ministry to the ministry purpose section of the expense submission form.

Books given as Gifts or textbooks for Continuing Education are reimbursed in those expense categories.

Key Change to the Standard: The book's author is no longer needed on form submission.

Needs pre-approval through continuing education form before reimbursement can be submitted

All continuing education expenses must be submitted using the Continuing Education form. 

Employees working 20 hours or more per week are eligible for this benefit.

Hourly employees may be eligible upon receiving special approval.

Associates are not eligible.

Types of Gifts: (See Ministry Gifts for more details)

For donors, gifts must be clearly related to ministering to that person or showing sincere appreciation for their charitable giving or given as a uniform gift to a large group of donors. 

• Hostess gifts/Appreciation gifts
• Sympathy gifts
• Group gifts
• Token gifts/prizes
• Corporate Gifts (Applicable for Events or Departments)
• Giving of Money and/Or Donated Goods to People/Ministries

*See details on Gift Cards in the separate expense category below.

Gifts to other Reliant staff (employees or associates) cannot be reimbursed.

Annual limits for giving: Reliant workers are responsible for keeping a record of the dollar amount of the gifts given to individuals over the course of the calendar year.

The cost of the gift is generally considered to be the value of the gift. Incidental costs (not adding substantial value to the gift), such as packaging, mailing, insurance, postage, etc., are excluded. 

• $25 per recipient per calendar year for ministry contacts that are not Reliant donors
• $15 per Reliant donor per year  
  • Reliant maintains a lower limit for donor gifts because one Reliant donor could potentially receive gifts from several different Reliant missionaries. 
  • If a husband and wife give as separate Reliant donors, the limit is $15 for each person per calendar year. If they give as a couple, the limit is $15 for the couple. 

Include in the ministry description the first initial and last name of the gift recipient as well as the relationship of the recipient as part of the ministry role and the specific ministry purpose of the gift. 

Group items, given to 5 or more people: 

• If the group comprises people who share a uniform relationship with the field worker, list them as a group with a specific number of people and a description of their ministry relationship. Example: "12 ministry partners."
• If the group comprises people with different relationships with the field worker, list each person's first initial and last name. 

For gift cards received by a Reliant employee...

Key Change to Standard: Reliant employees no longer have to turn in gift cards that they receive. See Gift Cards for more details.

Key Change to the Standard: Reliant will no longer reimburse gift cards given to other Reliant employees or associates. In the past, Reliant would allow the gift card to be reimbursed but would then add it to the other Reliant employee's payroll as taxable income. 

Key Change in Standard: Reliant no longer needs the field worker to collect a W-9 from a vendor (for Reliant to send the vendor 1099 for that year) if the vendor is paid by the Reliant field worker (in the form of reimbursement) and not sent payment directly from Reliant. 

Helpful Guidelines:

• Fees for recreation activities such as bowling or mini golf should cost less than $20 and be connected to a valid ministry occurring before, during, or after the activity.
• Golfing fees are limited to $50 per occurrence when the purpose is exclusively the development of a major donor contact (gives $1,000 or more) or a potential board member.
• Due to the pandemic and the increase of social distancing and online social networking, online gaming platforms (only if the primary use of the subscription or purchase is to maintain ongoing personal connections with ministry contacts, such as the case with Collegiate or high school ministry) may be recovered through an Expense Recovery Bonus with a max recovery of $75/month.

These recreation expenses are not reimbursable: gym memberships, admission to theme parks, recreation for general fellowship with ministry contacts, etc.