2019 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.

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 tax rates in Table I remain unchanged for 2019.

Which worksheet should I use?
As in prior years, NRECA’s benefits compliance team has prepared calculation worksheets to help you report the taxable value of group term life insurance to employees. These are now available on the Employee Benefits website, along with accompanying frequently asked questions (FAQs). These worksheets are not intended as tax or legal advice.  Please consult your cooperative’s tax advisor or legal counsel about imputed income calculations.  If you plan to impute income on a per pay period basis during 2019, use the 2019 worksheet. If you report imputed income once at the end of the year, use the 2018 worksheet for your calculations.

Both worksheets contain enhanced and expanded 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.