2018 Imputed Income Worksheet Now Available

If your cooperative offers group term life insurance (either through the NRECA Group Benefits Program or another group plan), don’t forget to report imputed income on your co-op’s W-2 forms.

To support your co-op’s year-end reporting requirements, NRECA’s benefits compliance team has prepared a 2018 calculation worksheet to help you report the taxable value of group term life insurance to employees. Worksheets for both 2017 and 2018, along with accompanying frequently asked questions (FAQs) are now available on the Employee Benefits website.

Imputed income is the taxable value of group term life insurance above an employee’s first $50,000 of coverage, including supplemental, spouse, and child life coverage. Even though employees don’t receive cash, they’re taxed on the value of this additional coverage. Internal Revenue Code §79 contains the imputed income calculation rules. The IRS Imputed Income Table I rates remain unchanged for 2018.

Which worksheet should I use?
If you plan to report imputed income on a per pay period basis during 2018, use the 2018 worksheet. If you report imputed income once at the end of the year, use the 2017 worksheet for your calculations.

Both worksheets contain tips and instructions for how to enter coverage and salary data for your employees and read the worksheet output. These instructions will help ensure you’ve included the value of all types of coverage (employee basic and supplemental coverage, spousal coverage, and dependent coverage) in your calculations and reporting.

If you have any questions about imputed income, contact the group compliance team at 866.673.2299, option 7, or group.compliance@nreca.coop. If you need help locating the imputed income resources, call the Member Contact Center at 866.673.2299 or contactcenter@nreca.coop.