I am interested to know how other universities and research organizations are
handling payments for travel, room and board, and honoraria expenses to guest
speakers who are non-resident aliens when they visit your institutions to give
seminars, lectures, etc.

Our central administration has brought to our attention that according to IRS
regulations it is illegal to make any type of reimbursement for expenses
incurred by a non-resident alien for items such as meals, airline tickets, or
other expenses if they do not have a business visa.  It is also illegal to
make payments directly to a vendor (hotels, airlines) on behalf of the
non-resident alien. If they have a B-1 visa we can only pay expenses but no
honoraria.  Only those with H-1B, F-1,J-1, TN, or O visa can receive financial
remuneration.

Our financial folks reported that several large universities have been audited
by the IRS on this issue and had to pay several MILLIONS in unpaid taxes,
interest and penalties. Has anyone out there in RESADM-land had first hand
experience with our friends at the IRS over this issue?

As we all know, the reality is most foreign guest speakers are invited by
faculty members as a goodwill gesture and often the foreign guest is in the
country on their way to a professional meeting, usually on a tourist visa.  It
is our understanding this IRS policy has been in place for several years, but
most institutions are unaware of it and it is rarely implemented by the
inviting institution.  The IRS is just now starting to crack down on
non-compliance.

It's not even April 15th yet!

Tom Shallow
Dept. of Microbiology
UCHSC

xxxxxx@UCHSC.edu