Honoraria are paid for speaking engagements. Payments for services other than a speaking fee may require an Independent Contractor Agreement. Tax levy funds cannot be used to process honorarium payments to individuals who are currently employed, or have been employed within the past two years, by CUNY, SUNY, and/or New York State.
To begin the process for honoraria, create a Purchase Requisition in CUNYfirst, entering DUMMYVENDOR as the vendor if the vendor/payee is not already in CUNYfirst. For assistance creating requisitions, refer to the How to Create a Purchase Requisition guide. Complete the Honorarium Payment Request Form, omitting the vendor’s signature, and upload it to the requisition as an attachment. For Non-Resident Alien payments, contact the Office of Accounts Payable for further instruction as soon as possible. For the purposes of this process, Non-Resident Aliens are individuals who do not have a U.S. Green Card or U.S. citizenship status. If the services will be performed as part of an event, attach an event program, flier, or agenda describing the purpose of the event. The Honorarium Payment Request form must be signed following the event and submitted to the Office of Accounts Payable with the CUNYfirst receipt confirmation page; an event program, flier, or agenda describing the purpose of the event; and a sign-in sheet as described below.
Please provide (in the comments section of the requisition):
- Full Name
- Street Address
- Phone Number
- E-mail Address
- A description of the specific services to be provided, including duration of services, dates services will be provided, and pricing structure
- Contact information for the event organizer (including name, email address, and phone number)
Indicate whether or not the vendor/payee is currently a student.
As soon as this information is received, the college’s vendor liaisons will contact the guest speaker (or representative/agency) to begin the Statewide Financial System (SFS) registration process, which is required to issue a Purchase Order. The registration process will take up to two weeks if all forms are filled out correctly. SFS registration must be completed prior to the rendering of services.
Once the Purchase Order has been issued and the event has taken place, create a receipt in CUNYfirst and submit the following documentation to the Office of Accounts Payable, 1424 Boylan Hall. For assistance creating receipts, refer to the How to Create a Receipt guide.
- Original, signed Honorarium Payment Request Form
- Original, completed IRS W-9 Form
- A copy of the CUNYfirst receipt confirmation page
- An event program, flier, or agenda describing the purpose of the event, and a sign-in sheet
The vendor/payee will receive a check at the same address filed with Statewide Financial System during the vendor registration process. If the payee wishes to change this address in SFS, contact the Office of Accounts Payable.