I still wouldn’t fool with it, nor go to Tijuana. 

It may be an educational experience (much like all-you-can-drink tequila night at an after-hours bar in Tijuana), but that doesn't make it non-taxable. If the graduate student is employed by the lab -- even part-time -- and travels pursuant to a funded project, then the there's an employer-employee relationship and the reimbursement is non-taxable. Otherwise, scholarships and stipends that exceed the total amount of "qualified educational expenses" are considered taxable income.

Jeffrey Ritchie
Grants Management Analyst
Aurora Health Care
950 North 12th Street, Suite A512
Milwaukee, WI 53233
P: (414) 219-4757
F: (414) 219-4871
Mike McCallister <xxxxxx@IDEATE.COM>

While this might be true in a strict constructionist way, if the travel is in a project budget as an expense, I wouldn’t fool with the student having to pay taxes on it. And going to a conference is certainly an education experience, anyway. For sure most of us go and make complete jackasses of ourselves, but the intent is to learn and share information.

Spanky

From: Research Administration List [mailto:xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org] On Behalf Of Jeffrey Ritchie
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 9:53 AM
To: xxxxxx@lists.healthresearch.org
Subject: Re: [RESADM-L] taxation for travel expenses on grants

I think these payments would probably be considered taxable income. Generally speaking, reimbursement for travel expenses is non-taxable when an employer-employee relationship exists. Your travel to an NCURA/SRA meeting would be reimbursable by your institution and non-taxable to you because you were being compensated for costs incurred by you on behalf of your employer.

Graduate students who are not otherwise employed by the university would not fall into this category, and to the extent that their support is considered a "travel stipend" or a scholarship, it would also be considered taxable income by the IRS. Scholarships are considered non-taxable only to the extent that they pay qualified educational expenses, and based on the information in IRS Publication 970, travel costs are considered taxable income.

Jeffrey Ritchie
Grants Management Analyst
Aurora Health Care
950 North 12th Street, Suite A512
Milwaukee, WI 53233
P: (414) 219-4757
F: (414) 219-4871
Martha Taylor <xxxxxx@AUBURN.EDU>

We have a grant to send a bunch of graduate students to a conference in south africa. some are our students, some are students from other us universities and some are african or european university students.

our payables folks are saying that we have to reimburse the students after they incur the travel costs (or provide a travel advance) and that the reimbursement/advance is taxable. we wanted to try to pay the expenses ourselves and skip the students. For example, enter into a contract with the hotel to pay the rooms etc and to buy the plane tickets on behalf of the students.

payables is saying we can't do that.
the pi is saying other universities CAN do that so what is wrong with us.

before I go to the mattresses on this, I need info from other schools as to what the truth is about this issue.

Thanks for bailing me out AGAIN.

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