/ Procedures: Honorarium
University of Kansas
Changing for Excellence Phase III - SSC

Affected Employee Types

  • Department
  • Recipient
  • SSC Finance Staff (SSC-F)
  • Central Office (CO, either RGS or Payable Services depending on the source of funding)

Process Overview Notes

The process described below is for providing honorariapayments to individuals who are contracted by KU to perform services or provide products in exchange for payment, such as compensation for speaking at an event. Unlike expense reimbursement, IRS and tax compliance issues arise in the case of payments provided for services or products. These issues take on an international component if the recipient is a non-resident alien (NRA) of the United States. Payments to NRAs must be authorized by Payable Serviceswhich performs the tax withholding. Departments may choose or ask to have honoraria payments grossed up to alleviate or eliminate the tax burden. Payments to U.S. citizens would be processed through KUEA, UKANS or KUCR as usual with the appropriate withholding applied.

The narrative appearing immediately belowdescribes the process for payment via KUCR or UKANS funds.The second Process Requirements and Guidelines section includes the process for payment via KUEA funds. The KUEA section is referenced in Step 9of the UKANS & KUCR section.

The workflows are managed and administered by the Department and the SSC-Fwhile auditing and oversight roles are performed by the CO.

The following systems are used during the course of this process:

  • PeopleSoftFinancials – the primary financial reporting and enterprise resource planning system. Includes a direct interface with PeopleSoft Financials.
  • IFAS – The primary financial accounting system for KU Endowment which tracks fund balances and processes checks paid from KUEA funds. KU Endowment owns this system. Therefore, KU users must request access. This will be described in more detail below.
  • KUPPS – KU Procurement & Payment System, used to manage/automate workflow and purchase requisitions. Includes direct interfaces with PeopleSoft Financials and ImageNow.
  • ImageNow - The KU Procure to Pay System is a standardized e-procurement platform that the University of Kansas has adopted to ensure compliance, eliminate paperwork, and streamline purchasing functions. See

Process Requirements and Guidelines(UKANS & KUCR)

  1. TheDepartmentidentifies/invites the recipient of the honorarium and notifies the SSC-F using the Honorarium Request Formor other method of communication.
  2. Owner: Department
  3. It’s imperative that the department notify the Honoree that they need to be able to accept a payment.
  4. Working with the Department, the SSC-F determines the total cost of the service to be provided, whether or not sufficient or allowable funding exists, and discusses any other restrictions or details.
  5. Owner: SSC-F
  6. The Department may request travel planning services from the SSC.
  7. OPTIONAL: If needed or desired, complete advance reservations/purchases for the traveler using check requests or P-card.
  8. Owner: SSC-F
  9. Paying in advance for travel could reduce or eliminate the effort required to create and approve out-of-pocket expenses incurred by the Recipient.
  10. The SSC-F prepares an informational packetwhich is sent to the Recipient prior to the performance of the contract (if possible).
  11. Owner: SSC-F
  12. The packet should include relevant tax information, required forms and instructions. The Recipient should fill out the following items in advance in order to speed up the process of reimbursement:
  13. W-9 (
  14. W-8BEN (if non-resident alien,
  15. Contractual Service Agreement Form (required, also helps determine the status of the Recipient, e.g. independent contractor, employee, etc. (
  16. Expense Reimbursement Form (to be filled out if/after incurring OOP expenses,
  17. Instructions
  18. Tax implications for domestic/international Recipients (Forms I-20, I-94, W-8BEN, visa status, etc.)
  19. If a Recipientprovides their own contract it should be forwarded to General Counsel for further guidance.
  20. Fill out the information packet and all relevant forms prior to performance of the service.
  21. Owner: Recipient

  23. The Recipient travels to campus and incurs expenses
  24. Owner: Recipient
  25. At this time, the Recipient must complete all forms from the packet and turn them in to a Department host/representative.
  1. Collect the information packet and tax forms. Send receipts and completed expense reports to the SSC-F.
  2. Owner: Department
  3. Ensure all forms are completed before the Recipient returns home. If this does not happen before the visit, the Department should make every effort to complete the required documentation prior to the Recipient returning home.
  1. Review reportedexpensesand other travel documentation.
  2. Owner: SSC-F
  1. Is KUEA funding the expenses?
  2. Owner: SSC-F
  3. If Yes: See the KUEA Payment Process Map & Narrative
  4. If No: Proceed to Step 11
  1. Enter the Recipient into the vendor module of PeopleSoft by requesting the creation of a vendor.
  2. Owner: SSC-F/CO
  3. The official policy regarding vendor creation and modification can be found here:
  4. After the vendor creation request has been submitted, CO will approve the request and finalize the creation of the Recipient as a vendor.
  5. Send scanned copies of the receipts and documentation to be stored on the network drive of Central Offices.

Document retention policies:

  • State Funds: The Comptroller stores and retains “official receipts.” Per state requirements, an official receipt is either the actual document or an electronic copy. The State of Kansas requires KU to retain physical or electronic copies of receipts for at least the current fiscal year, plus the previous 3 years. In compliance with this policy, receipts and other related documentation are stored centrally by the Comptroller’s Office on ImageNow in a UKANS folder.Therefore, SSCs must submit documentation to the Comptroller via ImageNow, but neither SSCs nor Departments are under any obligation to retain copies.

KUCR Funds: Scanned copies of receipts documenting expenses have to be kept for the duration of the grant plus seven years after the final report is approved by the funding agency. For example, if KUCR has a five-year grant with purchases in year one, it must then keep those receipts for 12 years (5 years while the grant is active and 7 years after it is over).

Since FY11, KUCR has stored its documents on ImageNow in a KURES folder. At the time of writing (December 2012) KUCR still uses paper logs for vouchers, but will use ImageNow exclusively once the wave 2 Procurement to Payment processes are rolled out (in Spring 2013). At that time, processing or retaining physical documents will no longer take place. After the SSC-F’s have scanned the actual receipts they will be saved in ImageNow under the control of the Central Office.

  • IMPORTANT: Non-taxable payments for reimbursement of travel expenses should be treated separately from any payment for services rendered. Reimbursements for expenses related to travel are non-taxable covered in the process map and narrative explaining expense reimbursement for Candidates.
  • Payments for services rendered are taxable to both non-employees and employees and must follow the rest of the steps outlined in this narrative to be treated appropriately.
  1. See the Check Request process for detail on the steps which must be completed to process payments to independent contractors or other non-purchase order procurement.
  2. Owner: SSC-F
  1. Determine International Status and complete the 1099 form for the non-taxable portion of the Recipient’s income (1042S for non-resident aliens). These forms are provided to independent contractors who must later report their taxable earnings to the IRS. After completing the form, CAS gives it to the SSC who will provide it to the Recipient.
  2. Owner: CO
  3. Before the Recipient can be paid, the appropriate form must be prepared and the appropriate amount of tax should be withheld.
  4. The appropriate form should only be completed for the taxable portion of the Recipient’s labor, since the expense reimbursement is non-taxable (see
  5. The appropriate form is forwarded to the SSC-F who will continue with the check request.

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Draft & Confidential - For Discussion Purposes