As employees (both faculty and staff) leave their positions, whether to change departments or to leave the University entirely, there are often numerous items that go unaddressed, which can cause hardships for both their departments and Payment Services.  Whether it’s processing invoices in Ariba, charges for PCards or Travel Cards, or even simply canceling those cards, it is a tremendous benefit to all parties involved for all items to be properly completed prior to the employee’s departure.

A checklist for the processes that need to be addressed can be found here.  Please note that nearly all employees, faculty and staff, are impacted at least some items on this list.  It would be greatly appreciated for senior financial personnel in each college/unit to include this list as part of their outgoing employing processes.

The Internal Revenue Service issued a final rule that will allow employers to shorten Social Security numbers (SSNs) or alternative taxpayer identification numbers (TINs) on Form W-2 wage and tax statements that are distributed to employees, beginning in 2021.  

To help protect Boston University employees from identity theft, we will continue utilizing this new protocol on this year’s W-2s.

More information on the IRS policy can be found here. 

Cardholders whose cards have been lost or stolen should immediately notify US Bank at 1-800-344-5696.  The last four digits of the cardholder’s Boston University ID# will be required, as well as the zip code of the card (02215).

After doing this, it is also helpful for Travel Services to receive this update.  That can be done by filling out this form here. 

Throughout 2021, BU Records management held multiple Departmental Administrator (DA) and Financial Administrator (FA) training sessions, and will continue providing quarterly training throughout 2022 as well.  The Records Management website is also a useful resource to find answers to your questions about fees charged, or to view training links pertaining to Filebridge functionality, invoice and fee verification, inventory review and management, and records management lessons learned.

The full text of the end-of-year memo from Records Management can be found here.  

For newer employees in particular, but also in the context of ongoing changes to US tax law, employees may benefit from some additional information about how to interpret their W-2.  A tutorial can be found here, which includes answers to some frequently asked questions.