How to Pay an Honorarium

An honorarium payment to an individual is considered salary and is therefore taxable income.

When the University is issuing this type of payment, it is the responsibility of Financial Services to ensure that legislation set out by Revenue Canada is followed.

Note: if an individual receiving an honorarium is also being reimbursed for travel expenses, please submit the travel expenses on a separate travel claim .

Note: If the payee is a non resident of Canada, the University is required to withhold 15% tax. In this case, please indicate whether the amount noted on the requisition under "Amount of Cheque" is "GROSS" or "NET" of tax.

When a gift is being substituted for an honorarium, the department must inform Financial Services of this arrangement; (a letter to Financial Services stating who is receiving the gift from the University). Since a gift in lieu of money is classified as a taxable benefit by Revenue Canada, the University has a legal obligation to comply with income tax legislation.

Use the CHEQUE REQUISITION form for these exceptions and provide the following information.

• residency status (i.e. resident (Canadian/Landed immigrant) or non resident (living outside Canada))
• employee number of payee (if he/she has one)
• complete name of the payee (initials are not acceptable)
• complete permanent home address of the payee
• complete all other areas of the requisition including:
• account to be charged
• authorized signature (person authorized to sign on the account) note: payment to an individual cannot be authorized solely by that individual, but must be countersigned by a person at a higher level in the organization than the person being paid; Financial Services will accept the signature of the department's administrative assistant on the accounts for which he/she has been delegated signing authority except where the payment is to the administrative assistant (or people) to whom he/she reports (in most cases, a researcher or department head)

If you have questions regarding a specific honorarium payment, please contact the Financial Services Support Centre.