University at Buffalo (UB) 
Administrative Services Gateway
Administrative Services GatewayBuilding partnerships through collaboration
Administrative Services GatewayLearn how to submit an expenditure for processing with UB Foundation (UBF) funds.
For specific questions regarding whether an expenditure is reimbursable, please contact your accounts payable associate prior to making the expenditure.
The approver must be an authorized signatory on the account. An authorized signatory may not approve any disbursement request for which they receive benefit and a signature at a higher level is required in accordance with the UB Approval Authority policy.
All expenditures must be justified and documented in order to be paid. Documentation should be in one of the following ways:
As a general rule, requests for reimbursements from UBF should be submitted in a timely manner.
There are three ways to submit an expenditure for payment:
The standard form used by the UB Foundation (UBF) to process expenditures is a disbursement request (DR). The DR form must include the business purpose for the expenditure and be signed by an authorized signatory.
An employee of UB may also get an advance for a UB business expense by filling out a disbursement request. After the expenditure is completed, the employee should submit original receipts to clear the advance. An employee may only have one outstanding advance at any time.
UB’s eReq system can be used to make purchases using a purchase order. Please note that the eReq system cannot be used to process payments to individuals. The eReq system is administered by UB’s Purchasing department. For UBF accounts, when using the eReq system, an account signatory must be involved in the documentation or eReq approval.
| Purchase orders under $5,000 | Purchase orders of $5,000 or more |
|---|---|
| UBF accounts payable will match the invoice with the purchase order and pay after 10 days unless notified by the department. Departments must maintain the record of receipt of goods and services in their offices for these orders. | For purchase orders of $5,000 or more, the UB web receiving function should be used. |
Instead of submitting expenditures to be reimbursed, you can choose to use your UBF Pcard to pay for expenditures at the time of purchase. Please make sure to read and review all of the guidelines regarding Pcard use.
As a general rule, when the UB Foundation (UBF) makes a payment to an individual for services and the individual is a full or part-time UB or RF employee, UBF must treat the individual as a UB employee. This requires the payment to be processed through normal payroll processing procedures rather than accounts payable processing procedures. These payments require Extra Service Compensation Approval.
Scholarships should be coordinated through Financial Aid and be paid directly to a student’s account. Additional documentation is required for non-resident aliens. Additional details can be found in the UB Policy for Scholarships/Fellowships to Non Resident Aliens (NRA's)
Students on an F-1 or J-1 visa who have been in the United States for less than five years and are receiving a scholarship or fellowship may be subject to federal withholding. Specifically, IRS regulations require that NRAs (generally students on an F-1 or J-1 visa who have been in the United States for less than five years) who are receiving a scholarship/fellowship payment may be subject to 14% federal withholding on the payment. Scholarships/fellowships are amounts given to an individual to aid in study, training or research which does not require services to be performed to receive the money.
In conjunction with the State, a form has been created to process requests for payment of scholarships/fellowships to NRA's. The Nonresident Alien Scholarship/Fellowship Voucher has been created and is available at through the Student Response Center. This form should be completed and sent to the Student Academic Records and Financial Services (SARFS) office. SARFS will make the determination as to what portion of the payment is covering qualified expenses and what portion is covering non-qualified expenses. SARFS will then forward the voucher to the UBF offices to process a check.
| Qualified Expenses and Amounts | Non-Qualified Expenses and Amounts |
If the payment will cover qualified expenses, no tax withholding or reporting will be required so long as the payment is NOT made directly to the individual. If the payment is made directly to the individual, the payment will be subject to 14% federal tax withholding unless there is a tax treaty exemption available. | If the payment will cover non-qualified expenses, the payment will be subject to 14% federal tax withholding unless there is a tax treaty exemption available.
|
Qualified expenses include:
| Non-qualified expenses include:
|
| For qualified amounts, UBF will issue a check directly to SARFS to be applied to the student's account. | For nonqualified amounts, UBF will review the paperwork for application of a tax treaty.
If any of the payments result in a credit balance on a student's account, they can follow the instructions on the Student Response Center website for obtaining a refund.
At the end of the calendar year, an appropriate 1042-S tax reporting form will be prepared by UBF and sent to the student. |
Awards or prizes should be paid directly to the recipient. A W9 form, as well as the award notification letter should accompany the disbursement request prior to issuing a check. Checks should be made payable to the individual and their home address. Awards to non-resident aliens require special attention for taxation purposes.
IRS regulations require that NRA's (generally students on an F-1 or J-1 visa who have been in the United States for less than five years) who are receiving a prize/award will be subject to 30% federal withholding on the payment. Prizes/awards are amounts received by an individual primarily in recognition of religious, charitable, scientific, educational, artistic, literary or civic achievement or received as a result of entering a contest. Currently, tax treaty provisions are not available to exempt a prize/award from the 30% tax withholding. Hence, when UBF receives a Disbursement Request for a prize/award to an NRA, UBF will withhold 30% from the prize/award amount and remit it to the IRS. The balance will be issued directly to the individual. At the end of the calendar year, an appropriate 1042-S tax reporting form will be prepared by UBF and sent to the individual.
In some instances payment for goods or services can be facilitated via wire transfer.
The Wire Transfer form has been provided by the bank in order to insure that wire transfer requests can be completed in an accurate and timely manner. It must be filled out completely (especially Bank Wire Number) and submitted in order to complete a wire transfer. Please note that this form must be typed.