There are only a few circumstances under Yale policy in which it is allowable to pay an individual. Types of payments to individuals and entities that are allowable under university policy include honoraria for participants of Yale events (visa restrictions may apply), travel reimbursements for invited guests, and professional services, such as research assistants, editors, translators, etc.
Gifts or gift cards may not be purchased with university funds under any circumstances without prior approval from the Controller’s Office.
Yale students may not receive honoraria, but are eligible for prizes and awards. Yale student employees are paid via Yale’s internal system, S.E.O. Please work with our Registrar if you wish to hire a student. There are set rates of hourly pay for job categories, although you may opt to pay a student in a lump sum for a project.
*Important!* Before committing to pay any individuals or entities external to Yale, you may wish to first reach out to the business office for guidance. (This also includes Yale students, in some circumstances.) Please know that there are several steps involved in this process on behalf of our business office, and there are documentation requirements that must be completed by the third party in order to set them up in Yale’s system with a supplier record. These include IRS forms. If the individual or entity does not provide the required documents, they cannot be paid by the university.
The university’s specifications, as well as the federal government’s, are very specific when it comes to documentation requirements. This is especially true when it comes to paying a foreign individual or entity. For this reason, please let the business office know as early as possible if you plan to pay a third party individual or entity, so we can do the leg work and determine the documentation requirements. You may not always be aware of your guest’s citizenship status or visa type. We can reach out to your guest on your behalf and follow up with them, but it is important that this research is done prior to any financial commitments are made.
Paying foreign individuals or entities
- It is important to determine the visa status of any foreign individual. This includes resident aliens who have passed the substantial presence test, and qualify as “citizens for tax purposes”.
- There are federal restrictions for certain individual visa types on receiving honoraria or reimbursements, if they are physically present in the U.S.
- If you wish to look into visa restrictions please visit Internation Payment Tool.
- These restrictions do not apply to work that is done online, as long as the foreign individual or entity is not physically present in the U.S.
- Yale will only pay foreign individuals or entities via wire transfer, unless they have a US Bank account.
- The process of setting up a foreign bank transfer is not always easy, and the university’s paperwork requirements are extremely strict.
For honoraria and reimbursements
Yale requires a written letter (email is fine) from the host to the recipient of any university payments for honoraria or travel reimbursements, detailing the event dates and specifics of the commitment, as well as the promised amount of funding.
If you are covering any travel expense reimbursements, please be specific about which ones and how much. Please forward this letter to the business office after your funding has been approved by the Chair.
This invitation letter is necessary and important for the business process. Once we receive this letter, we will reach out to your guest, and start the process of setting up a supplier record in Yale’s system.
We will not reach out to your guest until we have this invitation email from you.