October 2011

1. CT Athletes and Entertainer Tax
2. Finance Travels…..
3. Budget Errors
4. AP Policy on Documentation – Travel Expense Reimbursements and PCard
5. Purchasing News – Ikon Office Solutions

1. CT ATHLETES AND ENTERTAINER TAX
The Connecticut Department of Revenue Service has increased CT Athlete’s & Entertainer’s (A&E) Tax from 6.5% to 6.7%.   All performers subject to A&E Tax will be taxed at the increased rate. The increase was effective July 1, 2011. However, it has been confirmed with the State that there is no need adjust contracts already in to report retroactively. Please contact Tami Sabo at tsabo@wesleyan.edu if there are any questions or concerns.

2. FINANCE TRAVELS…..
Staff in the Finance Office are more than happy to be invited to department staff meetings. Some departments have found it quite helpful for their faculty members to discuss first hand the various policies and procedures that are asked of them. Please email finance@wesleyan.edu if you would like a member of Finance to come. Examples of topics could include payments to individuals, travel expense reimbursements, year-end cutoff procedures, purchasing, risk reduction and contract negotiations, budget planning and/or grants management.

3. BUDGET ERRORS
A document that receives a budget error (the red color through the accounting line of the document), does not get reflected in Inquiry until the error is corrected. Only upon receiving a budget status of “Valid” or “Warning” will the dollars encumber the budget and be reflected in Inquiry the next day.  Users will need to clear the error either by charging the expense to a different smartkey that has budget and is appropriate for the expense or by transferring budget to the smartkey that is being charged and re-budget checking the transaction.

4. AP POLICY ON DOCUMENTATION SUPPORTING TRAVEL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENTS AND PCARD CHARGES
In order for a payment to be considered non-taxable, the IRS requires that supporting documentation for travel expense reimbursements and PCard charges clearly identify the business purpose, detailed charges, dollar amount and proof of payment. The University does not require receipts for expenses less than $20. If the travel expense reimbursement submission requests $20 for each meal, it is assumed that the actual expense incurred was greater than $20. If actual expense incurred was only $10, the expense reimbursement form should request $10. Business purpose is always required.

5. PURCHASING NEWS
Ikon Office Solutions ~
Please do not overnight toner as your department will be charged $45. For toner emergencies, you may call Bob Moreland at 860 234-0937.

Ricoh has completed Phase One of the new Ricoh customer self service portal – www.myricoh.com.

The functionality of MyRicoh.com includes:
Place and track service requests
View a 12 month service history
Escalate open service requests
Chat functionality

Over the next few months, meter and supplies functionality will be implemented as well. For now you can still order supplies online at www.ikon.com/supplies.

SUBMISSIONS FOR FINANCE MONTHLY
What topics would you like to see included in this monthly communication? Do you have a system tip you’d like to share? Finance Monthly will be e-mailed on a monthly basis. Items for inclusion are due five business days before the end of each month and can be submitted to
finance@wesleyan.edu