UCR’s local policies and procedures 650-31 Moving and Relocation Expense Reimbursements for Academic Employees and 650-32 Moving and Relocation Expense Reimbursements for Staff Employees have been revised. The purpose of the revisions is to: 1) address taxation changes related to moving and relocation costs and 2) provide a mechanism to minimize the impact of these tax changes on the employee by instituting an additional payment to help offset the tax burden. The changes to these policies were based on recommendations from a workgroup represented by Human Resources, Academic Personnel, organizational CFAOs, and the Accounting Office. The changes were endorsed by campus leadership, and draft versions of the policies were reviewed by the CFAOs.
As a reminder, moving and relocation costs are used as a mechanism to attract and retain the most qualified employees, therefore, the University may occasionally offer to provide resources for these expenditures, depending on the situation, the employee's position, and availability of funding. IRS Publication 521, effective from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2025, requires the taxation of most moving and relocation costs.
In order to minimize the impact to these taxable moving and relocation costs on an employee’s net pay, effective with tax reporting year 2019, UCR will provide an additional payment of 30% of actual allowable moving and relocation costs (up to $3,000) expensed to employee’s departmental budget. Beginning immediately, when possible, reimbursements will be processed via UCPath so the federal withholding can be processed simultaneously. A new form is now available on the Accounting Office website to facilitate reporting and reimbursement of moving and relocation costs: https://bfs.ucr.edu/document/ucr-moving-and-relocation-expense-reimbursement-request This form must be used going forward. All moving and relocation expenses should be recorded on a single form per employee. After the form has been submitted to the Accounting Office and reviewed, employees will be provide with approximately two weeks advance notice of the taxable moving and relocation amounts to be reported/processed in UCPath. This advanced notice should provide the employee with sufficient time to discuss with their tax advisor and adjust withholding amounts if desired. Moving and relocation transactions to be reported on the 2019 W2 will be processed on the November 1st or December 1st paychecks. Transactions processed after this date will be reflected in the next tax year. Beginning December 2019, all moving and relocation transactions will be processed and reported on monthly basis in UCPath.
The final versions of these policies are attached and will be available at UCR’s Policy and Procedure website soon. Please direct questions about these policies and procedures to ucrfsfeedback@ucr.edu using the subject line “Moving and Relocation”.
Attachments:
650-31 moving-relocation expenses for academic employees sept 2019
650-32 moving-relocation expenses for staff employees-Sept_2019
From: Bobbi A McCracken
Sent: Wednesday, September 25, 2019 10:42 PM
To: msoadm@scotmail.ucr.edu; travel_coordinators@lists.ucr.edu
Cc: Katina Napper <Katina.Napper@ucr.edu>; John Stephen Henderson <john.henderson@ucr.edu>; ucrfsfeedback@ucr.edu; travelfeedback@ucr.edu
Subject: Moving and Relocation Policy & Procedure Update