Announcements

July 2008

New Mileage Rates
The Internal Revenue Service has announced new mileage rates effective July 1, 2008.   Business Mileage rate January 1 - June 30, 2008  $.505
Business Mileage rate July 1 - December 31, 2008 $.585
The URL for the official IRS announcement is http://www.irs.gov/newsroom/article/0,,id=184163,00.html .

June 2008

Revised I-9
The newest version of the I-9 Employment Eligibility Verification form is available at www.uscis.gov/files/form/I-9.pdf  .
Please note, by law, older versions of the form cannot be accepted.
The older versions of any blank I-9 forms or master copies can be destroyed.

Student Financials Transaction Posting Access
This reminder is intended for staff who post transactions for students via PeopleSoft Financial Aid. Staff will not be allowed to post any student transactions in Student Financials (bursar system). This is to ensure proper internal controls and to reduce the administrative burden for staff in determining the appropriate item types for financial aid support.

Please be sure that the necessary changes have been made in your department to accommodate this guideline. Please contact Jim Rohan  if the student charges are fees associated with special programs or classes.

Staff who will be posting aid/support via Financial Aid need to sign up for training as soon as possible at http://stars.sas.cornell.edu/training/schedule.php .

Cornell Travel Transition
Monday, June 9, 2008 will be the last day the Cornell Travel Office staff will handle any new bookings.  American Express Business Travel will take on the remainder of the travel booking services that have not already transitioned to them.
 
Summary of changes as of June 10:
 
New online reservation tool:  The new online reservation service is called American Express Intelligent Online Marketplace (AXIOM®).  If you had established a profile in the previous tool, you should have received an e-mail on May 28 with instructions about logging in and verifying that your profile information copied over.   See http://www.travel.cornell.edu  for orientation and training on AXIOM.

For direct bill air reservations placed online or by phone, the pre-trip accounting process will be handled in American Express software.  You will need to know the first 3-digits or 7-digits of your account code before placing a reservation.   The tool will send an e-mail to your department’s designated administrator in order to complete the accounting process.
 
New telephone number for reservations:  1-888-656-0432
 
Payment method for rental cars:  Direct billing will no longer be available for rental cars.  The traveler will need to pay by credit card and apply to Cornell University for reimbursement.
 
Ticketing fees that were put in place in March are $5.00 for reservations placed online and $20.00 for telephone reservations.
 
Training on the AXIOM tool and pre-trip accounting process is in preparation.  Several guides are already available at www.travel.cornell.edu .
 
For questions about reservations that were made with the Cornell Travel Office staff prior to June 10, please contact American Express.
 
American Express provides best-in-class travel services with competitive rates.  Since the travel industry has undergone such dramatic changes in recent years, this is the best way to provide a high level of service to Cornell travelers without incurring high administrative costs.   The university also benefits from negotiated discounts on airfare and better information tools for risk management. 

FICA Data Change
On June 2, Payroll did a batch change to active student jobs in the SE Client.  A FICA status change row was added - effective 06/02/2008.  This row returns the student back to FICA eligible, which means individuals will be assessed FICA tax for summer earnings.  

1)  There will be a FICA status change back to FICA exempt in August.  During the academic year, full-time registered student employees are exempt from the FICA tax.

2)  If any data or pay rate changes after a FICA row is entered, and an effective date was added prior to that FICA row, another adjustment to the job may be needed to carry the change forward beyond the FICA row.

When an action is inserted, effective prior to an existing action, the insert will not change data on that existing action.

To carry the new data forward,  a new action must be entered again, effective on the same date as the existing action.

If any job actions are entered on or after June 2, and an effective date is added prior to 06/02/2008, please double check the data on the job and make corrections as needed.