It may be necessary to reimburse non-University affiliated individuals for various reasons such as: reimbursing visitors for travel expenses, issuing honoraria, prizes, etc. People who are not University employees cannot use the GEMS system for reimbursements. Instead ePayment requests should be used for travel and non-travel payments.
When processing travel reimbursements for visitors there are a few things to keep in mind…
- Visitors cannot be paid on a per diem basis.
- The University will not reimburse rental car insurance for visitors.
- By default, visitors will be paid by check in US dollars. If the visitor’s financial institution will have difficulty processing a US check, a wire transfer can be arranged in another currency. The payment amount may be subject to attendant transfer fees imposed by the banks or other financial intermediaries involved. Those inviting visitors from abroad should alert them to this issue.
- Visitors are subject to the same transaction documentation requirements as employees.
- The US airline requirement for federal grants applies to visitors too. Those inviting visitors from abroad should alert them to this issue.
The University does not typically process non-travel related reimbursements to visitors.
Honoraria/Prizes
Honoraria and prizes are considered income reportable to the IRS. As such, additional documents must accompany the ePayment request. See the full list of required documents based on citizenship/residency status. Honoraria are not normally paid from sponsored awards unless specifically allowed.
Note: Honoraria and prizes issued to University employees and students must be processed through the payroll system.
Payments for Services
An ePayment request can be used to pay an invoice issued by a service provider. When that Service provider is an individual, it is governed by the University’s independent contractor procedures. This involves issuing a contract and paying an invoice issued by the contractor.