Research projects involving human subjects often offer a small payment to the research subjects for purposes of recruitment or encouragement for participation in the project.
Department Responsibility
Per UW policy, departments must collect payee tax information if an individual receives $1,500 or more in reportable income in a calendar year. This threshold applies to the cumulative total of all payments from the University, including those issued through other departments or research projects.
Departments are responsible for collecting tax information when the payee meets the $1,500 reporting threshold, regardless of which payment option is used. Departments are responsible for informing research subjects of this requirement and monitoring whether individuals are receiving payments form other departments that may exceed the threshold. All research subject payment information - regardless of amount - must be tracked, accumulated, and securely retained by the department for internal and external audit purposes.
Tax Reporting
Payments that are made in Workday will be tracked and included in the University's 1099 filing at year end. If payments are completed outside of Workday, the department is still responsible for obtaining tax information when payments received exceed the $1,500 threshold.
If a payee exceeds the $1,500 threshold during the calendar year with payments completed outside of Workday, departments are responsible for reporting the following information to the UW 1099 Desk:
- Full Legal Name
- Social Security Number (SSN)/Tax Identification Number (TIN)
- Permanent Address (including City, State, and Zip Code) - this is the address where the payee's Form 1099 will be mailed
- Amount paid to the Research Subject
- Payment dates
- Payment reference number, if applicable
- Brief description of the type of payment
- Name of person preparing the report, Phone and Department Name
Note: Because the information contains sensitive materials, it must be transmitted to the 1099 Desk by OneDrive delivery/email to ten99@uw.edu. Please email the 1099 Desk directly if you have any questions.
Payment Options
Miscellaneous Payments
Research Subject payments should primarily be submitted through a Miscellaneous Payment Request in Workday. Please refer to the Miscellaneous Payment page for details.
Please note that payments to foreign nationals should be paid through a Miscellaneous Payment Request in Workday to ensure the payment goes through all of the required tax review. Research subject payments to foreign nationals are automatically subject to 30% tax withholding. These payments will be captured and reported on IRS form 1042-S at year end. Please refer to the Payments to Foreign Nationals page for more information.
US Bank VISA Rewards Card
The US Bank VISA Rewards card is an anonymous, one-time load VISA card that can be used anywhere VISA is accepted.
Tango Email Gift Card
Tango card is an electronic code that is provided to the subject that can be used to purchase gift cards from online vendors that do not charge fees and the cards never expire.
Field Advance
For short-term studies, you may want to consider using a Field Advance to pay research subject. Please refer to the Field Advance page for details.
Protecting Research Subject Participant Data In Workday
With the transition to Workday the process for paying research participants via check was centralized under the Workday Miscellaneous Payment business process. UW implemented the following safeguards to prevent potential privacy violations.
Limited Access: Access to research participant payment information is available through certain Workday reports. Only authorized personnel have access to reporting data in Workday. Access is restricted to individuals who need it to perform their job duties related to financial transacting on behalf of UW. The following security roles have access to data that may contain research participant names: Finance Analyst, Cost Center Analyst, Grant Analyst, Accountant, Miscellaneous Payee Data Entry Specialist.
Data Storage/ Migration: Research participant payment information is not migrated to the University’s enterprise data warehouse (EDW). Participant names are contained in the Workday system.
User Training: UW is working towards a central learning management tool. This will facilitate annual training on proper handling of sensitive data, security best practices, and procedures for reporting any potential breaches or security incidents.
Audit Trails: The audit trail mechanisms within Workday track and monitor access to reports. This data allows UW to review and analyze user activity logs to detect any unauthorized access or suspicious behavior.
Best Practice Recommendations
Use Non-Identifying Titles for Grants: When creating the “short title” for research projects or grants in Workday, avoid using titles that that include a study acronym that is searchable on the web or has the condition under study (e.g., GR12346 HIV Study). This prevents the research participant name from being associated with any information that would reveal something personal about them (e.g., they have HIV because they are in an HIV study).
Include Information in Consent Forms: If a particular study population have concerns that their financial information is accessible to others outside the study team, additional disclosure information can be provided to participants as part of the consent process. Sample language may be found in HSD’s Designing the Consent Process, under Description of payment that subjects may receive for participation.