[UCRDBR] Lincoln Financial Group (LFG) 2026 Taxability of Benefits

[Departmental Benefits Representatives]

[A blue text on a black background  AI-generated content may be incorrect.]

February 23, 2026

To:
Department Benefits Representatives (DBRs)

From:
Central HR Benefits Office on behalf of UC Office of the President
Re:
Lincoln Financial Group (LFG) 2026 Taxability of Benefits
_____________________________________________________________________________________________________
DBRs, please share this information via your internal listserv.  Do not reply to this email.  Please
send a separate email with questions to benefits at ucr.edu<mailto:benefits at ucr.edu>.

The UC Lincoln Financial Group Disability Program offers both employer and employee‑paid benefit plans. Tax implications for these benefits depend on whether UC or the employee pays the premiums.
• Basic Disability – UC pays premiums. Benefit payments are generally taxable.
• Voluntary Short- and Long‑Term Disability – Employees pay premiums on an after-tax basis. Benefit
    payments are generally not taxable.

The Basic and Voluntary Short‑Term Disability (VSTD) plans provide benefits for up to six months. When an employee is enrolled in both the VSTD and Basic disability plans, benefits from both plans are usually paid concurrently, with Lincoln Financial Group issuing a single consolidated payment.  Each year, LFG adheres to IRS guidelines to determine the taxable portion of disability benefits.  For 2026, 13.94% of disability payments will be subject to taxes when employees receive both Basic and VSTD benefits at the same time — a reduction of 6.38% from 2025.
Please contact the Lincoln Financial Group case manager by phone or email with questions about taxes withheld from disability benefit payments.
[cid:image002.png at 01DCA4AB.2E064D00]
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/ucrdbr/attachments/20260223/8326cdfb/attachment.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image001.png
Type: image/png
Size: 13009 bytes
Desc: image001.png
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/ucrdbr/attachments/20260223/8326cdfb/attachment.png>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: image002.png
Type: image/png
Size: 14799 bytes
Desc: image002.png
URL: <https://lists.ucr.edu/pipermail/ucrdbr/attachments/20260223/8326cdfb/attachment-0001.png>