NRA Faculty Expense

Typically, NRA (Non-Resident Alien) Faculty expenses are paid as front-end travel advances, usually to the travel agency. Several points should be observed when processing these transactions:

First, there is no need to obtain visa information regarding the spouse either before or after they enter the country (unless the spouse also has a valid employment relationship with the University). The University's relationship is with the faculty member and so it is not necessary to obtain the visa credentials of the spouse to support any type of spousal expense reimbursement. After the faculty member arrives, a copy of the professor's visa documentation should be attached to the spouse's expenses.

There is no requirement to obtain the visa support for the faculty member before paying these travel expenses to the travel agency either, since the visa support is only relevant for the time that the foreign visitor is actually in the US. However, the faculty member's documentation should be obtained and a copy attached to both expense requests (faculty member and spouse) as soon as they arrive in the US.

Finally, any spousal expenses are definitely taxable income to the visiting faculty member. A copy of this documentation should be provided to the Becky Laskowski, Assistant Tax Director, (732 Grace Hall) to insure that this is processed and properly withheld prior to year end. Both the visiting faculty member and their program chair should be made aware of the tax consequences of the spouse's reimbursement at the time of reimbursement or as soon as possible thereafter. The department may choose to 'gross up' this reimbursement if they want the faculty member to avoid the tax consequences, but this additional expense would then, of course, be borne by the department.

Please contact Becky Laskowski, Assistant Tax Director, at (574) 631-7051 with any additional questions.