Shannon Short joined the staff of RMI as the new Client Services Manager. Prior to RMI, Shannon worked at McCann Worldgroup, a global marketing communications company, where she oversaw the account management for various Fortune 500 companies including: Verizon, Rubbermaid and MasterCard.

Shannon graduated from the University of Utah in Mass Communications/Marketing. She has over 10 years experience in marketing, advertising and public relations.

Shannon will be responsible for coordinating annual reviews, client relations meetings, client goals setting, and working with all departments on projects and new client implementation.

Are Employment Related Moving Expenses Tax Deductible?
Employees can deduct moving expenses if they meet all three of the following requirements:

• The move is closely related to the start of work.
• The employee meets the distance test.
• The employee meets the time test.

Please note that different rules may apply to members of the Armed Forces or a retiree or survivor moving to the United States. The following is a summary of the general guidelines. For additional information please refer to IRS Publication 521 to learn more about these rules.

Move Related to Start of Work
The employee’s move must be closely related, both in time and in place, to the start of work at their new job location. Employees can generally consider moving expenses incurred within one year from the date they first reported to work at the new location as closely related in time to the start of work. If an employee can show that circumstances existed that prevented them from moving within one year of the date they began work, they might still be able to deduct the moving expenses.

If an employee is not required to live at their new home as a condition of employment and will not spend less time or money commuting from their new home to their new job location, they must meet the “related in place” requirement: The distance from the employee’s former home to the new job location must be more than the distance of the employee’s current home to the new job location.

Distance Test
The employee’s move will meet the distance test if the new main job location is at least 50 miles farther from their former home than their old main job location was from their former home.

Time Test
Employees must work full time for at least 39 weeks during the first 12 months after they arrive in the general area of the new job location.

Deductible Moving Expense
Employees can deduct reasonable expenses of:

• Moving household goods and personal effects.
• Traveling (including lodging but not meals) to their new home.

Non-Deductible Expense
Employees cannot deduct the following items as moving expenses:

• Any part of the purchase price of their new home.
• Car tags.
• Driver’s license.
• Expenses of buying or selling a home (including costs, mortgage fees, and points).
• Expenses of entering into or breaking a lease.
• Home improvements to help sell their home.
• Loss on the sale of their home.
• Losses from disposing of memberships in clubs.
• Mortgage penalties.
• Pre-move house-hunting expenses.
• Real estate taxes.
• Refitting of carpet and draperies.
• Return trips to their former residence.
• Security deposits (including any given up due to the move).
• Storage charges except those incurred in transit and for foreign moves.

Reimbursements
It is your responsibility as the employer to tell your employee what method of reimbursement is being used for their moving expenses and what records are required. The reimbursement must be paid under an accountable plan or a nonaccountable plan.

Accountable Plans
An accountable plan is one in which the moving expenses are nontaxable. To be an accountable plan, the employee must meet all three of the following rules:

• The expenses must have a business connection. (See IRS publication 521 for further explanation).
• The employee must adequately account to you for these expenses within a reasonable period of time.
• The employee must return any excess reimbursement or allowance to you within a reasonable period of time.

The employee must give you documentation of these expenses, such as an account book, a diary, or a similar record in which they entered each expense at or near the time they had it.

If you give your employee an advance and they did not spend all of the money on deductible moving expenses, or they cannot provide proof of all their expenses, they must return the excess money or keep it and have you show it as taxable income on their Form W-2.

If you have an employee that qualifies to have their moving expense reimbursement paid as a nontaxable reimbursement, please contact your RMI payroll manager to coordinate this reimbursement. Provide your payroll manager with proof of the following:

• The move was closely related to the start of work.
• The employee met the distance test.
• The employee met the time test.
• The expenses must have a business connection (See IRS publication 521 for further explanation).
• The employee adequately accounted to you for these expenses within a reasonable period of time.
• The employee returned any excess reimbursement or allowance to you within a reasonable period of time.

Once this information is received, RMI will process this reimbursement through our system as a qualified moving expense reimbursement. This reimbursement will appear on Form W-2 in box 12, with code P.

Nonaccountable Plans
A nonaccountable plan is a reimbursement arrangement that does not meet the three rules listed under Accountable Plans. All reimbursements paid under a nonaccountable plan should be reported to RMI as taxable wages. RMI will include these wages as income in box 1 of the employee’s Form W-2.

For additional questions about deducting moving expenses, please contact RMI’s payroll department.

If you become ill and are unable to work, could you still pay your everyday living expenses? Did you know that nearly 50% of all mortgage foreclosures are the result of some type of disability that prevented the individual from working? Most individuals make sure that their health insurance needs are taken care of but neglect to think about replacement income if they are unable to work.

Disability insurance through Colonial Life can replace a portion of your income to help you make ends meet if you become disabled from a covered accident or sickness or even pregnancy. Benefits are payable regardless of any other insurance you may have with other insurance companies. Individuals can customize a plan to meet their needs as follows:

Choose your income replacement amount, up to 2/3 of your income, with a maximum of $5,000 per month.

Determine a benefit elimination period of 0 to 180 days, depending upon how long you can be without a paycheck.

Pay only for the coverage you anticipate needing by choosing a 3, 6, 12 or 24-month benefit period.

The most popular use of a short-term disability plan is for pregnancy. Most employees are not fortunate enough to have the full 12-weeks of maternity leave covered by paid leave so a short-term disability policy comes in handy.

Waiting periods and pre-existing condition clauses will apply with a new policy so be sure to have a disability policy in place BEFORE you need it.

If you are interested in any of the products that Colonial Life offers, including short-term disability, accident insurance, or cancer, critical illness and hospital confinement policies, please contact RMI and we will put you in touch with RMI’s Colonial representative. Premiums are payroll-deducted so that RMI can make payments to Colonial on your behalf. You can also continue your coverage if you ever leave RMI’s employment.

For RMI clients who have AFLAC available to them, AFLAC provides many of the same types of policies as Colonial Life. Please contact RMI so that we can put you in touch with our AFLAC representative.

Remember, disability insurance can help protect what really counts. Don’t wait until you face an unexpected illness or injury to think about disability coverage.

With just-in-time shipping schedules and a 24-hour workplace, driver fatigue is a major problem in industry today. Drowsy drivers are involved in many fatal traffic crashes, frequently taking occupants of other vehicles with them. On-the-job driving involves heavy responsibility, so make sure you get enough rest to drive alert.
Here are some tips for staying awake and aware when you drive for your job, to and from work or on your own time:

• Get enough sleep before you drive. For most people, eight hours of sleep every 24 hours is about right, but everyone is different.
• If you have a choice, don’t drive during your normal sleeping hours. If you are accustomed to being asleep at 2 a.m. you could easily doze off behind the wheel at that hour.
• If you start to get sleepy, pull off the road in a safe place and take a nap. Be sure to lock your vehicle doors and be prepared to drive away promptly if your security is threatened.
• Plan your route with overnight accommodations or highway rest areas in mind. Make reservations at a motel, or have alternative accommodation lined up. Vacationers can use sources such as an automobile association to locate rest areas. Planning these stops in advance keeps you from driving around tired looking for a place to spend the night.
• Eat lightly. The meat and potato platter, dessert included, at the truck stop can make you sleepy.
• Avoid alcoholic beverages and other drugs. Even ordinary medications such as cold and cough remedies can contain ingredients to make you drowsy.
• Keep your vehicle interior fairly cool with plenty of fresh air.
• Shift position frequently. Instead of remaining static for long periods of time.
• Take breaks at least every two hours. Walk around in the fresh air for awhile instead of just walking from your vehicle to a warm coffee shop.
• Switch with your co-driver every couple of hours. You can also ask your co-driver to stay awake to keep you company and keep an extra set of eyes on the road. If you are alone, use your radio, tape or CD player for company.
• Keep your eyes moving. Look at the road and traffic far ahead, check your mirrors often and scan the sides of the road. Observe all traffic signs.
• Check your instrument panel often; making sure your speed is within posted limits and not becoming erratic because of fatigue or inattention. Consider turning your instrument lights down low to keep your eyes adjusted to the darkness outside.

Remember the only substitute for sleep is sleep. Short-term measures may help you stay alert for a while, but eventually you will need to sleep, even if you are behind the wheel of a vehicle.

For additional safe driving information please contact your RMI HR representative.

Many standards developed by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) explicitly require the employer to train employees in the safety and health aspects of their jobs. These requirements reflect OSHA’s belief that training is an essential part of every employer’s safety and health program for protecting workers from injuries and illness.
Though the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 does not address specifically the responsibility of employers to provide health and safety information and instruction to employees, more than 100 of the act’s current standards do contain training requirements. Therefore, OSHA has developed training guidelines to assist employers in providing the safety and health information and instruction needed for their employees to work at minimal risk to themselves, to fellow employees, and to the public.

OSHA’s training guidelines follow a model that consists of the following steps:

• Determine if training is required.
• Identify training needs.
• Identify goals and objectives.
• Develop learning activities.
• Conduct the training.
• Evaluate program effectiveness.
• Improve the program.

Documentation and record retention are critical to compliance with many OSHA regulations. OSHA often requires that training records be retained for specific lengths of time and that employees be retrained when knowledge deficiencies are revealed. In the course of a site inspection, it’s not uncommon for an OSHA inspector to request documentation of required trainings. Organizations should know and understand the record-keeping requirements that pertain to their operations and develop a program that ensures records are organized and available upon request. Specific state OSHA programs may require additional training to be completed.

For additional information about OSHA training, contact your RMI HR representative.