Colleagues,
We are reaching out in follow-up to the email that we sent to some of you on March 25 about lab equipment purchases and reimbursement. We regret any confusion that the original message may have caused, and are writing to provide clarity and next steps.
The UC Berkeley Travel Team is partnering with the Campus Sustainability Office to offer a sustainable travel event. This event will focus on sustainable options for business travel, including how to reduce our travel-related carbon footprint. Attendees will learn more about what sustainable travel is and how to make more informed decisions when booking for business and personal travel. There will be food, beverages, and vendors focused on sustainability and travel, including United Airlines, Marriott Hotel, and Uber!
When:
Colleagues,
Save the date to attend a Sustainable Travel Event on Tuesday, November 7 from 11 am to 3 pm at the Rec Sports Facility. This event is in coordination with a TSA PreCheck event, which will be held from Monday, November 6 through Thursday, November 9.
Sustainable Travel Event on Tuesday, November 7
Good news - thanks to the Network Support Team (CNS), the prices of university-sponsored phone plans with AT&T have been reduced dramatically and are some of the lowest that can be found anywhere. For example, the unlimited talk, text, data, and mobile hotspot rate is going from $106.39 to $44.99. Existing customers will have their rates automatically adjusted. The campus Verizon cellular/data plans are still excellent as well at $50.05 monthly for unlimited talk, text, data, and mobile hotspots. There are also many additional benefits that go beyond preferred pricing.
Re: Overpayment waiver request policy
Colleagues,
The University of California, Berkeley Policy Office facilitated the campus review and requested input on the proposed new campuswide administrative policy, the Overpayment Waiver Request policy as developed by the Controller’s Office. The 30 day public review solicited feedback from all UC Berkeley employees to ensure that the campus community had the opportunity to provide input. We appreciated the responses and suggestions we received that informed the final policy.
UCOP has shared guidelines for reimbursable expenses while working remotely during the Shelter-in-Place.
These are clarifications on the relevant policies for reimbursement of things such as meals, internet connectivity, phone lines, and printers.
Financial Reporting Community,
We are experiencing a delay in posting several salary cost transfer journals with transactions processed in May and June, due to instances when salary cost transfers for employees resulted in duplicate transactions. UCPath Center has been made aware of the issue and is working on a resolution. We expect the journals to post next week.
The Accounts Payable team is continuing its services with minimal interruption during the Shelter in Place order. Most services will continue unaffected, however, until further notice, the production of paper checks will be run once a week on Wednesdays.
We encourage you to sign up for electronic funds transfer (EFT) if you have not already done so.
Updates to payment processes
March 11, 2020
The CBR Retroactive adjustment journals for FY20 were posted to the February 2020 accounting period.
CGA prepared two journals to adjust CBR for the July through December 2019 payroll transactions:
The Annual Financial Report (2016-17) is now available
On January 27th, you received an email notice from the UC Berkeley Central Human Resources Office regarding important information about the "Earned Income Tax Credit and your W-2." You may eligible for both the federal and the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC). To learn more, pleae review additional information shared by UC Office of the President.
Contracts and Grants Accounting:
Effective July 1, 2014 through July 1, 2030, the California Department of Tax and Fee Administration (CDTFA) is offering a reduced sales and use tax rate on equipment purchased for research and development in biotechnology, physical engineering, and life sciences.
For more information, please refer to the Tax Guide for Manufacturing and Research and Development Equipment Exemption page on the CDTFA website.
At this time, system requests for an affiliate user cannot be processed via Systems Access Request Application (SARA) either by the affiliate user or by the affiliate’s supervisor or manager. The IST-Web Applications unit is working on an enhancement. An announcement will be made when this project is completed. Until such time, BFS and BAIRS access may be requested via e-mail to secbfs@berkeley.edu.
