Process Overview 

• Foreign Individuals who do not have a prior payment relationship with Harvard and are only being reimbursed for legitimate business expenses (e.g., travel expenses) may be set up through the Buy-to-Pay Supplier Portal using vendor type “Business Expense Reimbursement – Foreign Individual (BER)”. 
• As always, prior to any formal agreements being offered, departments must confirm any foreign individual is legally allowed to be paid by Harvard. See...

Use these guidelines to better understand payments to foreign individuals.

Harvard is required to follow:

• Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations that govern the taxation of payments to nonresident aliens, which differ from those that govern payments to U.S. citizens and resident aliens; and
• Regulations set by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) when making payments to certain foreign scholars and students

These regulations, which can be complicated, determine the tax status and proper...

Whether an individual is an actual independent contractor, and not an employee, has important implications for the policies, procedures and payment processing requirements that should be taken into consideration.

• For IRS information, see IRS Publication 1779 Independent Contractor or Employee
• Independent Contractor policy

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Whether receiving or making payments, Harvard guidelines and U.S. tax/immigration regulations must influence the end result, including how the payment will be taxed. There are various compliance issues of which to be mindful, and numerous laws by which to abide, that will collectively determine the direction one should take. Work authorization, income category, visa type, tax residency status, and tax treaty eligibility are some of the many factors that influence how a payment to a foreign national should be processed.

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Use these guidelines to better understand tax obligations of Harvard employees working outside the United States. For general information on tax obligations of all Harvard payment recipients outside the U.S., please see U.S. or Foreign-Source Income.

Topics covered below:

• U.S. Citizens and Resident Aliens Working Outside the United States

• Nonresident Aliens Working Outside the United States

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General Information

Foreign national individuals, both resident aliens and nonresident aliens, may have either a Social Security Number (SSN) or an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN)

A Social Security Number (SSN) is:

• A nine-digit number assigned by the Social Security Administration to an individual for tax and wage reporting purposes

An Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) is:

• A nine-digit number assigned to an individual who is required to have...