Independent Contractors and Other Visitors

Anybody invited by Middlebury College to teach, perform, provide a lecture or other service or come as a workshop or conference participant on campus or off campus needs to fill out certain forms in order to get paid and/or reimbursed. There are basically three categories we need to be mindful of. For information on how these payments are treated for tax purposes see the Tax Office website.

1. Teachers, Researchers, Student Advisors:
   If somebody provides a service that is part of our core mission (teaching, researching and student advising), they usually get paid as employees even if they come just for a very short time.
   You will have to fill out a
   - Special Hire Form and
   - contact Human Resources at hr@middlebury.edu for further guidance (they will send out employment letter and follow up with hires to fill out all pertinent employment and tax forms).

   NOTE: If a College employee is paid by a different department, e.g., MIIS faculty giving a talk in Middlebury, facilities workers teaching a workshop, etc., they will need to be paid through payroll so follow the same procedures as above.

2. Lecturers, Speakers, Performers, Other Service Providers such as Consultants or Construction Workers:
   These self-employed individuals fall under the category of Independent Contractors and can be paid via a voucher through Accounts Payable. You will first though need to determine whether this person can be treated as an independent contractor or has to be paid as an employee.

   - Lecturers, speakers, artists and performers, thesis reviewers, athletic game officials, rental, financial, legal, or medical services, and external department or college accreditation reviewers are all considered Independent Contractors by the College.  If the service does NOT fall into one of the above categories, fill out the Independent Contractor Worksheet and submit it to Human Resources at hr@middlebury.edu who will let you know how to treat the service provider. The Independent Contractor Worksheet signed off by HR will need to be attached to the voucher;

   - If the Service Provider is deemed an independent contractor, an Independent Contractor Contract needs to be filled out and signed (note that only authorized College personnel is allowed to sign on the College's behalf). The Contract is necessary even if the Service Provider will only be reimbursed or the College pays for the expenses directly. There are 3 different contract templates based on the type of work:
   VT Lecturer/Speaker Contract; VT Performer Contract; VT Other Service Provider Contract. The contract will need to be attached to the voucher (keep a copy for your files). HINT: To save edited contract you need Adobe Pro (ask helpdesk to install it on your computer-you need to tell them that you need to EDIT pdf and online forms).

   NOTE: Both the independent contractor contract and the determination based on the Independent Contractor Worksheet are valid for the current fiscal year. Rehiring in the next fiscal year requires a new contract and if applicable a new determination.

   - Form W-9 needs to be filled out by all U.S. companies and by U.S. Citizens and Legal Permanent Residents (green card holders). Contact the Taxmanager via email at taxmanager@middlebury.edu or (802) 443-2304 if neither BEFORE the visitor arrives for determination of appropriate visa to come to the U.S. and for appropriate tax forms in lieu of Form W-9 (the contract asks the question of citizenship). Form W-9 or international tax forms will need to be attached to the voucher. See below for procedures. More information on taxes can be found on the Tax Office's website.

   - A Certificate of Insurance is required for all independent contractors. Generally, lecturers, speakers, thesis reviewers, and external department or college accreditation reviewers are exempt from this requirement but the College reserves the right to require insurance in case where the degree of risk is considered higher than normal. Call the Business Services Office for questions at (802) 443-5504. If a Certificate of Insurance is necessary, see below for a Certificate of Insurance request that can be sent to Independent Contractor and see here for Certificate of Insurance Explanations to understand the form.
   Certificate of Insurance Request blank (fill in address),
   Certificate of Insurance Request AP or
   Certificate of Insurance Request Dining or
   Certificate of Insurance Request Facilities)
   Attach a copy of the Certificate of insurance to the voucher (unless facilities or dining which have separate processes).

   - If a person/company does not have a Certificate of Insurance or the Certificate does not provide for workers compensation coverage the person/company needs to sign a waiver which holds the College harmless in case something happens. Call Business Services at (802) 443-5504 to ensure the waiver is sufficient. Here is the request for a waiver:
   Workers Compensation Waiver blank (fill in address) or
   Workers Compensation Waiver AP

   NOTE: To minimize taxation, all independent contractors should first be reimbursed or expenses should be covered by the College directly. Only if funds are remaining should the independent contractor be paid an honorarium.

3. Conference and Workshop Participants and other Volunteers:
   In order for the College to allow Conference and Workshop Participants, class guests, volunteer coaches, alumni and parent event hosts and interviewers as well as other volunteers to be reimbursed for their expenses and for risk management purposes, each 'volunteer' no matter whether they receive a reimbursement or not needs to fill out a
   - Volunteer Form
   - attach it to the reimbursement voucher if applicable.

   NOTE:

   Citizenship information is not required.
   Volunteer mileage reimbursement is at a different rate than general business mileage. See the Accounts Payable website for current rates.
   
4. International Independent Contractor (IC) Procedures:
   - Department fills out contract and sends it out to IC
   - IC signs contract and indicates that sh/he is not a US citizen / green-card holder or department gathers from the fact that person is coming from abroad that person is liekly non-US even before contract is signed
   - Department lets taxmanager@middlebury.edu know that a non-US person is coming with Name, email address, date of arrival, and business purpose
   - Taxoffice will sent out an email through our Foreign National Information System (FNIS) which will ask person to submit visa and passport information on a secure website (that information will be used to determine whether person has visa that allows him/her to perform services for us and allows us to pay/reimburse them)
   - Taxoffice usually follows up on Mondays with outstanding people and will contact Department if we do not get a response, but do please follow up with us as we sometimes have several hundred outstanding foreign nationals at the same time
   - When IC responds, i.e., enters their information on the website, we determine whether person is a resident or non-resident alien and whether there are any treaty benefits available
   - Based on that information, TaxOffice sends email to department with information on what tax forms to get signed (attached to email), usually Form W-8BEN and sometimes for 8233
   - and what to make copies of, usually copy of picture page of passport, copy of visa page of passport and copy of both sides of I-94 (little white card stapled to passport)
   - Department attaches all of above to voucher and sends to Accounts Payable
   - Accounts Payable will process once TaxOffice stamped voucher as good to go
   - If IC does not sign contract beforehand, let us know asap and immediately make copies of the passport etc. before they leave - we will not pay an IC until we have all documents in hand so being pro-active about non-US IC's will ensure timely payment