RPB’s annual Long Term Disability (LTD) insurance plan open enrollment period for calendar year 2016 has
now begun. This is the time to enroll new employees as well as to renew coverage for existing employees
in the plan.
The enrollment and payment process for 2016 remains unchanged. Please complete a blank LTD invoice
form for each new person to be enrolled in the plan and return the forms with full payment, which can be
can be found by clicking here. To renew coverage for someone already enrolled, simply pay the premium
due. All LTD payments are due by January 4, 2016.
There will be no changes in 2016 for how premiums may be paid. We will accept payments from either the
insured employee or you, their employer. Please coordinate payments as necessary with your covered
employees.
Beginning in 2017, however, in order to serve our participants more effectively, we will only be able to
accept LTD premium payments directly from the employer and only via electronic ACH (Automated
Clearing House) through our Pension Tracking System (PTS).* This change will reduce the number of
payments to process, improve efficiency and accuracy, and free up our staff to better serve you.
We will provide additional information in the coming months to help make this transition as smooth as
possible and help you begin preparing as needed. If you have not already done so, we do encourage you to
adopt this approach for this year if at all possible.
For instructions on how to pay LTD premiums via PTS, please go to www.rpb.org and select “Congregational
Leadership / Long Term Disability” from the top navigation bar or type the following URL into your browser:
http://rpb.org/congregational-leaders/long-term-disability/.
For your information, below are the tax consequences of how LTD premiums are paid:
If premiums are paid with pre-tax dollars, all proceeds from future LTD claims will be taxable income to the
employee. Examples of how these kinds of payments can be made include:
- Premium is paid directly by employer and is NOT reimbursed by the employee;
- Premium is paid directly by employee, but employer fully reimburses the employee.
If premiums are paid with post-tax dollars, all proceeds from future LTD claims will NOT be taxable to the
employee. Examples of how these kinds of payments can be made include:
- Premium is paid by employer and IS reimbursed in full by the employee either via:
o BEST WAY: post-tax payroll deduction from the employee’s paycheck**;
o personal check from employee to employer
- Premium is paid directly to the RPB by the employee and is NOT reimbursed (note: will not be an
option beginning in the 2017 coverage year.)
*Please note that payments for new 2016 enrollees cannot be processed through PTS at this time and must
be paid by check to the Reform Pension Board.
**If LTD premiums are a paid benefit to a particular employee and that employee wishes to have the
premiums paid with post-tax dollars, the easiest way to handle this is to gross up the employee’s paycheck
by the amount of the premium and make a simultaneous post-tax payroll deduction from their paycheck.
The net effect is the tax paid by the employee.
We appreciate your congregation’s participation in the RPB Long Term Disability insurance plan. If you have
questions or require assistance, please contact Alyce Gunn, RPB’s Chief Financial Officer, at 646-884-9888
or at agunn@rpb.org, or Andrew Buchhalter, Participant Account Coordinator, at 646-884-9891 or at
abuchhalter@rpb.org.