Husky Bucks Incentive Payments

Using Husky Bucks for Student Incentive Payments

What are Husky Bucks?

Husky Bucks is the campus debit program where students can load money into their Husky Bucks accounts, and then use their UConn One Cards to pay for goods and services on and off-campus at participating Husky Bucks merchants and UConn departments.

All UConn students have an active Husky Bucks account on their UConn One Cards. Last year, there were over $2.5 million in Husky Bucks sales. For a list of Storrs, Hartford, and Stamford Off-Campus Husky Bucks Merchants, see the Husky Bucks Locations page. Students can also use Husky Bucks at the UConn Bookstore and Library on all campuses.

Benefits of Using Husky Bucks for Incentive Payments

  1. No separate gift card or award email to send – Students already have their One Cards!
  2. For tax reporting, Husky Bucks are treated the same as gift cards and cash incentive payments.
  3. When audited, there is a clear payment path directly from the UConn KFS account to each student’s Husky Bucks account.
  4. The payment process is entirely internal and takes just minutes to load thousands of payments.
  5. Local businesses benefit! Dollars stay local to support and help keep the local economy vibrant instead of being dispersed nationally.
  6. UConn benefits financially! Students incur no fees for using Husky Bucks, but UConn earns revenue from fees charged to the Husky Bucks merchants on their Husky Bucks sales.
  7. When students permanently separate from UConn, they can request a refund of their unspent Husky Bucks.

Getting Started Using Husky Bucks as Incentive Payments

The Principal Investigator (PI) provides the One Card Office with:

  1. A copy of the letter from the Institutional Review Board (IRB) that states that the study has received permission to pay participants in Husky Bucks,
  2. A copy of the participant incentive payment schedule,
  3. Notification if international students will be participants, and
  4. The maximum total amount that a participant could be paid in one calendar year.

The One Card Office will then communicate the information to the UConn Tax Office for determination of whether W-9 Forms should be collected.

If international students are participating in the study, taxes may need to be assessed on their payments. The PI decides if the taxes should be borne by the student or by the grant. If borne by the student, the student receives less than the advertised payment (advertised amount less taxes). If borne by the grant, the student gets the advertised incentive payment and the grant pays the taxes separately. *Note – these tax rules apply to all types of incentive payments, whether cash, gift card or Husky Bucks.

Paying by Husky Bucks is a Fast and Easy Process!

  1. On each payment date, the program assistant emails an Excel spreadsheet to ellen.prairie@uconn.edu with the following student information: last name, first name, PeopleSoft number, and payment amount.
  2. On each payment date, the program assistant also completes a Distribution of Income and Expense (DI) in KFS. Directions are below.
  3. Once the DI routes to the One Card Office, the One Card Office uses the Excel file to import the deposits into each student’s Husky Bucks account. This process takes just minutes!
  4. The One Card Office then approves the DI.
  5. The One Card Office notifies the program assistant that the students can spend their funds immediately.

Step-by-Step KFS Distribution of Income and Expense (DI) Instructions

Create a Distribution of Income and Expense (DI) e-doc in KFS.

  1. On the Description Tab, write the study name and payment number (ex. UConn Success, #3)
  2. On the Accounting Tab, do not fill in any information in the “FROM” section. Instead, complete two lines in the “TO” section.
    1. On line one, fill in UC, the grant KFS number, object code 7045 (subject incentives), and the amount of the total payment.
    2. On line two, fill in UC, 9090304 (Husky One Card Prgm), object code 2750 (deposits held for others), and the amount of the total payment (same amount as on line one).
  3. On the Notes and Attachments Tab, attach the Student Payment Excel spreadsheet or, if confidentiality is required, attach a spreadsheet that lists the participants by an ID number that is not the PeopleSoft number.
  4. “Submit” the DI. It routes to the One Card Office for approval.

If international students are being paid, there are additional steps to the DI. The One Card Office will provide necessary directions.