Order of Pay 

1. Employee Benefits
2. Direct Charges to MTD Fund
3. Payroll
4. Reimbursements and Transfers

Employee Benefits

Medical, dental, and Reliant's employment insurance (which covers Reliant's employer liability insurances as well as the employee's life and disability insurance (LTD, Basic ADD) and HSA ER (employer) contribution) will be deducted from the MTD fund each month. (See Reliant's Benefits & Insurances - Overview) These charges can take the MTD fund negative as they are guaranteed covered expenses. 

Direct Charges to MTD Fund

These expenses are directly charged to the MTD fund as incurred and will affect the ending balance of the MTD fund available to be used on the next payroll cycle. 

• Internal charges for MTD and promotional materials
  
  • Expenses billed directly to Reliant from our designated partners. Any required employee readiness assessments/materials related to your ministry role (including associated postage costs).

• Required Reliant Training, Coaching, and Events

  • For questions regarding what is required by Reliant, please contact your liaison.

• Transfers Required by Partner

Payroll

• 403B Employer Portion

  • Class 1 (career employees) 403B ER (employer) match will paid out of the MTD fund with a calculated match of $1 for every employee $1 contribution up to a maximum of 5% of the eligible earnings paid (earnings that have been shorted and the amount of employee contribution that was reduced due to lack of funds will not be matched).
  • For those who are Class 2 (special fixed-term intern category), 403B contributions, their 403B ER (employer portion-not a match) comes out of the MTD fund balance before paying any other paycheck items listed below.
• Cell phone allowance
  • This is a non-taxable allowance given on each paycheck to cover an employee's monthly mobile phone service and may be reduced in cases of insufficient funding. Any reduced amount will not be eligible to recoop at a later date.
• Pre-Tax Deductions and FICA Tax reserve
  
  • As part of the payroll calculation, Reliant will use the available funding to first pay taxable wages equivalent to the amount of the pre-tax deductions, following the order of payment listed below. 
    • Employer FICA taxes are the portion of Social Security and Medicare taxes that are paid by Reliant directly from the MTD fund for which the employee is responsible. The calculation for FICA will be adjusted when determining taxable wages to reserve sufficient funding for this expense to cover the taxes on the wages (minus shorts) being paid.
    • Vision premiums and Childcare deductions will be fully guaranteed and need to be paid out of taxable wages. Therefore, the cost of guaranteeing those taxable wages needed for the deductions (even if there are insufficient funds to cover those wages) could create a negative ending balance in the MTD fund. Please note that the amounts for these deductions can only be adjusted during open enrollment or with a qualifying life event.
    • HSA employee contributions will be paid subject to available funds and, in cases of a shortage, may be reduced. The reduced amount will not be eligible to receive at a later date. However, HSA ER (the employer portion) is a part of the employee benefits listed above and will be guaranteed because it is included in the premiums paid for by Reliant's employment insurance.
    • Traditional 403B employee contributions will be paid from taxable wages, subject to available funds, and therefore, in cases of a shortage, may be reduced, affecting the percentage of the 403B employer match.
• Other Payroll Deductions
  • • Optional Life deductions will be fully guaranteed and could create a negative ending balance in the MTD fund.
    • 403B Roth deductions will be subject to available funds and, therefore, in cases of a shortage, may be reduced, affecting the percentage of the 403B employer match.
• Earnings
  • • Taxable wages
      • Only enough taxable wages to cover the above pre-tax deductions are paid first before parsonage.
    • Parsonage
      
      • As part of the payroll calculation, after covering pre-tax deductions, Reliant will use the available funding to pay parsonage wages before remaining taxable wages. However, in the case of insufficent funding resulting in a short, the employee will receive a short parsonage. At that point, the parsonage shorted turns into backpay to be received at a later date. Once sufficient funding becomes available to pay the accumulated backpay, the payment of backpay will be made as taxable wages, meaning the employee has lost the pre-tax benefit of the parsonage that was prevously shorted.
    • Remaining Taxable Wages
      • An employee's taxable wages will be paid (subject to available funds) up to the amount remaining on each paycheck after what was already paid to cover their pre-tax deductions. Unpaid taxable wages that were shorted due to insufficient funding turn into backpay to receive on a later date once funding becomes available.
    • Backpay
      • Primary backpay is paid when there are sufficient funds after covering the employee benefits, direct charges to the MTD fund, primary's normal paycheck, as well as their spouse's full paycheck in a dually employed situation.
      • Spouse backpay is paid when there are sufficient funds after covering the employee benefits, direct charges to the MTD fund, the primary's normal paycheck, the spouse's full paycheck, and the primary's entire remaining accumulated backpay.
      • There is also an order of pay for how the backpay payments are paid out for each employee. Reliant pays the oldest tracked backpay (by year) first since there is a limited time of eligibility. Accumulated backpay for both primary and spouse does expire and become ineligible to receive after the allotted time has passed. (See Backpay for more details on timing of eligibility.)

Reimbursements and Transfers

• Reimbursements 
  • Payments for reimbursements are based on available funding remaining in the MTD fund after paying the employee's full benefits, direct charges to fund, and all paycheck expenses, including all accumulated backpay. In the case of a dually employed couple, the accumulated backpay for both spouses must be at zero before either is eligible to receive reimbursements. 
  • The timing of reimbursements received determines when they are eligible to be processed and paid out. Reimbursements (including expense advances) submitted to be paid from the MTD fund are paid in the order they are received with the oldest reimbursements being paid first.
  • Expense Recovery Bonuses are treated as taxable wages and therefore follow the above payroll order of pay.
• MTD Transfer Requests
  • There is a required accumulated balance amount (outlined in Reliant's MTD Fund Transfer policy) that must be in the MTD fund before a transfer can occur. Therefore, all of the previously listed expenses (benefits, direct charges to fund, all paycheck expenses, including all accumulated backpay, and reimbursements) take priority and must be covered in full before the employee would be eligible to request an MTD transfer from the MTD fund.