Participant Support
Participant support is provided to individuals attending a conference or educational/training activity. Participant support may only be provided to attendees or trainees who are not employees. Such costs may include, but are not limited to, registration fees, travel allowances, manuals, supplies, stipends, tuition, and other costs associated with supporting the expense of attending such events. (2 CFR 200.75) Program participants personally benefit by attending the conference/training, and do not perform work or services for the project/program or for the University.
Participant payments in any amount are generally considered to be taxable income and should be reported by the recipient on his/her individual income tax return. Individuals receiving participant payments are advised to consult their personal tax advisor regarding the tax treatment of these payments.
If participants are non-US citizens they are not eligible to be paid through Virtual Incentives, and payments will need to be processed appropriately through Payroll and/or Accounts Payable to accommodate withholding requirements.
UM requires that participant support be paid either through the Virtual Incentives (VI) platform or via check.
Important forms and guides referenced throughout this page are linked below.
Responsibilities
1. Principal Investigators (PIs)
PIs and their research teams are responsible for following participant support payment procedures as outlined below and submitting the appropriate project and account setup paperwork to Virtual Incentives. PIs are responsible for submitting the Participant Support Payment Form to the Office for Sponsored Projects (OSP) for sponsored projects. PIs are also responsible for submitting reconciliation reports to OSP timely.
PIs are responsible for communicating payment expectations to participants. Participants should not receive their payment until they have completed the participation in the project, or portions of the project.
PIs are responsible for maintaining participant support payment records in accordance with Business Operations & Finance and OSP record retention policies.
2. VI Account setup
The UM Fiscal Analyst within the Office of Sponsored Programs will assist PI’s with VI account setup
3. Office of Sponsored Projects (OSP)
For sponsored research projects, OSP Grant and Contract Officers (GCOs) are responsible for reviewing and approving UM Participant Support Payment Form requests and confirming budget categories and funding availability. GCOs are also responsible for reviewing/approving VI invoices before entering the appropriate information into GrizMart to process payments made to Virtual Incentives accounts. GCOs are available to assist with account balance refunds when needed and ensure that PIs submit the correct paperwork for account reconciliation at the end of a project.
4. Business Operations & Finance
Business Operations & Finance is responsible for monitoring and reporting payments to the IRS that meet the 1099 reporting requirements. Business Operations & Finance will subtotal by participant all payments made during the year, and any individual receiving amounts that exceed the threshold will be issued a 1099-MISC form.
PAYMENT PROCEDURES
Payments to participants can be processed either by virtual gift cards through the Virtual Incentives (VI) platform or via check.
Checks
Checks issued for participant support will follow standard Business Operations & Finance procedures. PIs should complete the Check section of the Participant Support Payment Form and submit it to the appropriate offices for approval and payment. Sponsored research requests go to OSP for approval and entry into Grizmart, and all other requests for not sponsored projects should be entered by the department into Grizmart.
Virtual Incentives (VI)
VI is a digital rewards platform for administering research participant incentives for IRB-approved research projects and participant support payments. PIs are able to manage their own VI account, allowing for swift payment processing and a customizable compensation experience. Each sponsored program with participant support included in the budget will be set up with its own VI project. UM is signed up for VI’s GiftCard PASS, which allows participants to choose from a pre-determined selection of brands and payment options including merchant gift cards, VISAs, and digital cash payout methods.
Projects that are self-funded that are NOT administered through UM Indexes are not eligible to utilize VI. Undergraduate students are not permitted to have a VI account nor place orders.
Project Setup and Account Funding Instructions
- Please start the VI project set-up and account funding process at least 30 days before your anticipated first payment date. Fill out the Project Setup Form and email it to the VI contacts listed in the form instructions; make sure to copy your GCO on this email. This is the start of the project set-up process. This will take approximately 2 business days. VI will send the PI an email confirmation as well as the project invoice once the project is set up.
- Once the PI receives notification from VI that their project has been set up, the PI must take the following actions:
- Email your GCO to get a VI user account created (if you do not already have an established account). The OSP office will create the PI a VI NOW user account and give them permissions to their VI project. Please allow at least 5 business days for account creation. PIs will receive an account activation email from VI once their account has been created. All team members handling participant support payments will need their own account. The PI should identify all study team members who will be handling payment on the Project Setup Form and these team members should be noted in the PI’s email to the OSP office.
- Fill out and submit the Participant Support Payment Form. The PI will send the Participant Support Payment Form to the appropriate people for sign off (Chair, Dean, etc.). After the form is signed, the PI or their designee (DRA, Budget Analyst, etc.) will then send the Payment Support Payment Form and the invoice for their project to the appropriate OSP GCO.
For projects that are administered through UM but are not part of an externally sponsored project that will otherwise not go through OSP on a restricted index (e.g., departmental awards), the PI will need to work directly with their department’s DRA or Budget Analyst to enter the payment in GrizMart so that Business Operations & Finance can coordinate payments for it.
- OSP GCO will receive the signed and completed Participant Support Payment form, along with the Virtual Incentives invoice from the PI. The GCO will review these forms to confirm the budget category and the availability of funds in the awarded sponsored project. If everything is approved, the GCO will sign the forms.
Next, the GCO will enter a Non-PO requisition in GrizMart to process the payment for the Virtual Incentives. The payment will be made to Medmatics, LLC. The payment type for the Non-PO requisition is categorized under Participant Support, and the accounting will reference the grant index and account number 1904. DRAs and Budget Analysts should follow this same process and use their departmental accounting for non-sponsored projects, when applicable. - The PI will receive an email from VI once their account has been funded. Once an account has been funded, the departmental research team can proceed with processing participant support payments to the recipients.
How to Place Virtual Incentives Orders
Once a VI account has been funded, the research team can start placing orders to pay participant support. Please download the VI Order Guide for step-by-step instructions. At minimum, the order must contain a dollar amount and a participant email for each payment being requested.
After an order is placed, participants will receive a customized email from VI with their payment information (based on the Project Setup Form information that is submitted). Participants will have 90 days to redeem their payment link. If a participant has not clicked on their payment link within 90 days, then the money reverts back to the project account and the PI retains the money for that reward.
Merchant gift cards (e.g., Amazon, Walmart, Target, Starbucks, etc.) do not expire once the reward has been redeemed. Virtual VISA accounts expire within six months, so it is vital that participants know that they must spend their VISA reward within six months of redemption. Any unclaimed amounts left on a VISA gift card after six months revert to Virtual Incentives and the PI/project does not get the money returned to their account balance.
Virtual Incentives has step-by-step video instructions for placing orders and accessing other functions, which can be found in the Customer Service and the Reports tabs.
How to Use Virtual Incentives Customer Service and Reports Features
The Customer Service tab allows VI users to locate specific rewards, view a reward’s detailed activity information and initiate reward functions such as cancelling a reward, cancelling & re-issuing a gift card to an updated email address or physical address, or re-issuing an expired reward. The Reports tab allows a VI User to run reports to review the project payment activity. Please download the VI Customer Service and Reports Guide for step-by-step instructions.
Account Balance Refund Procedures
If there is money left on a VI account after a project ends, Virtual Incentives will issue a refund to UM.
The PI must contact Virtual Incentives and indicate that they need a refund for the unclaimed amount remaining on their project. The PI must include their OSP GCO and/or appropriate DRA or Budget Analyst on this correspondence with VI. UM GCO will need to communicate the incoming wire request to VPRCS Budget Analyst (Becky Hawkins), so that she can watch for it to come in and claim on the incoming wire sheet. Money is deposited to the grant index, account 1904 where the advance was issued.
- Virtual Incentives will wire remaining funds back to UM. GCOs, DRAs/Budget Analysts, and Business Operations & Finance are responsible for ensuring funds are then transferred to the correct account.
- After the refund is issued, PIs should access VI to confirm that their project account is balanced to zero.
Account Reconciliation
PIs are responsible for submitting appropriate VI reconciliation paperwork to their OSP GCO. All VI orders must be for participation during the period of performance of the award. Reconciliation paperwork must be submitted to OSP by the last day to post transactions listed on your Grant End Memo or other units if required. Make sure to plan ahead and have this deadline on the calendar.
To reconcile an account, please provide your OSP GCO with the VI Sent Rewards Report (found in the Reports tab) as well as the signed Reconciliation Certification form.