About Payroll

Mission Statement

The mission of the Payroll Organizational Unit of the Comptroller's Office is twofold:

  • To issue all salary and wage payments in an accurate and timely manner in accordance with external and University policy, this function includes:

    • Collecting and remitting voluntary and mandatory deductions

    • Reporting paid wages and other income to city, state and federal agencies and,

    • Maintaining historical records in compliance with various University and external regulations.

  • To issue reimbursement payments to individuals and payments to Independent Contractors in an accurate and timely manner in accordance with external regulations and University policy.  These  non salary payments are also governed by a set of IRS tax reporting and/or withholding regulations.

Payroll is a service-oriented department whose goal is to assist academic and administrative departments to process and expedite payments, answer inquiries and resolve problems.

 

Organizational Structure

The Payroll section is organized into two sections: I. Monthly and Biweekly Payroll and II. Reimbursements and Independent Contractor.

I.     Monthly and Biweekly Payroll Processing Section

Because of the confidential nature of personnel and salary information maintained on employees, and the importance of issuing salary and wage payments on time, payroll is considered to be one of the most sensitive and important business functions that exists in any organization. In a typical year, Payroll issues approximately:

  • 80,000 - 190,000 salary and wage payments
  • 6,000 IRS W-2 forms
  • 4,500 IRS 1099 forms to US citizens and entities
  • 1900 IRS 1042S forms issued to Non resident Aliens
At first glance, it may appear that payroll simply means paying an employee for a day's work. However, processing the University's payroll, even with the convenience of automation, is yet a very complex process. When processing monthly and biweekly payroll, this section must:
  • Process and maintain detailed records on various types of employees, such as academic, faculty, and staff appointments. In many cases, these individuals have multiple job appointments and are compensated from multiple financial accounts.
  • Calculate federal and state withholding taxes on these various types of earnings that are governed by a complex set of regulations. The process is further complicated when an individual is not a U S Citizen or Permanent Resident.
  • Calculate compensation for hourly (biweekly paid) employees in accordance, with the negotiated bargaining unit agreements and University of Chicago policy. This is particularly complex since there are approximately 200 different rules for calculating earnings, such as regular paid hours, overtime, various shift premiums, additional pay, bonuses, on-call pay, etc.
  • Accurately calculate and withhold over 170 different types of voluntary and mandatory deductions from employee paychecks.
  • Support the Effort Certification process required by the Federal Government, Office of Management & Budget in Circular A-21 "Cost Principles for Educational Institutions". Approximately 2700 Annual Certification Statements are processed each year.

This section is responsible the following core activities:

Monthly Employee Payroll Core Activities Annual Volume
Process Academic Appointment Forms
 8,000
Process Employee Extra Service Payments
 7,000
Process Payroll Adjustment Forms
 8,500
Process Monthly Salary Expenditure Transfer Forms
 8,000
Payroll Checks Issued
20,000
Direct Deposit Payroll Advises Issued
52,000

 

Biweekly Employee Core Activities Annual Volume
Process Timecards
  120,000
Process Employee Additional Pay Forms
     5,000
Process Biweekly Salary Expenditure Transfer Forms
     6,400
Payroll Checks Issued
   72,000
Direct Deposit Payroll Advises Issued
    36,000 
 

II.     Reimbursements and Independent Contractor Section

The Reimbursements and Independent Contractor Section is responsible for the following:

  • Processing Independent Contractor and other IRS miscellaneous reportable payments.

    On the average 14,000 IRS non salary reportable payments are issued each year. Each payment is carefully reviewed to determine if the payee meets the independent contractor criteria as established by the IRS. A determination is also made if taxes must be withheld from the payment.This is especially true for payments that are being made to non US citizens.

  • Processing Travel and Non Travel Related Reimbursements and Non Salary Advances

    Each reimbursement request and advance is audited for compliance with University policies and IRS regulations and for required supporting documentation. On the average this unit processed 35,000 reimbursement transactions each year (15,000 travel, 20,000 other).

    Click here to view the TravelNET web page which contains extensive travel related information.

    Click here to view the Reimbursements to Individual Quick Reference Guide which lists University reimburseable and non reimburseable expense item
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