8.10.5 Recruitment and Public Service Participation Payments

Policy Statement

Payments may be made to students to participate in recruitment or public service programs on behalf of the University of Illinois System. These payments primarily benefit the system but are taxable income to the recipient.

Reason for the Policy

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and the U.S. Department of Education (ED) impose strict guidelines by payment type on how payments to students must be reported. For additional information, see Payments to Students.

Applicability of the Policy

The policy is applicable to students receiving payments to participate in recruitment and public service participation programs.

Procedure

The Banner account code used to pay students for participating in recruitment and public service programs is generally 149110.

Payments to students participating in recruitment and public service participation programs are reported to the IRS and the recipient on Form 1099-MISC, Miscellaneous Income, by University Payables (UPAY). A SSN is required for IRS Form 1099-MISC reporting. So before submitting payment requests, units are strongly encouraged to check Banner form SPAIDEN for asterisks in the SSN field and to instruct recipients whose SSN field is blank to present documentation of their SSN to their Registrar’s Office. These payments may be suspended if no valid SSN record exists in Banner.

Recruitment and public service participation payments are processed via Chrome River including a clear and comprehensive description with supporting documentation of the U of I System business purpose and benefit. Units must follow applicable requirements for processing these payments, including the requirement that payment or reimbursement requests be entered in Chrome River within 60 days of the date the expenditure was incurred. Guidance for reporting payments and additional instructions are described in Payments to Students.

Last Updated: March 10, 2023 | Approved: Senior Associate Vice President for Business and Finance | Effective: March 11, 2019