Remote Working – Reimbursement for Certain Office Equipment

Dear Eligible Staff and Faculty,

As UBC follows the guidance of the Provincial Health Officer, I would like to provide an update on the status of remote work arrangements and one-time financial assistance for certain office equipment.

Although UBC has introduced a COVID-19 safety planning process for the gradual resumption of activity on our campuses, many faculty and staff continue to work remotely – and will do so for the foreseeable future. Remote working may have meant that some faculty and staff needed to purchase office equipment, in order to have a productive and ergonomically satisfactory remote working space.

In light of these circumstances, UBC will provide financial assistance for certain office equipment in the form of a reimbursement of up to $400 – available on a one-time basis.

This reimbursement is for eligible faculty and staff who, at some point between March 16, 2020 and December 4, 2020, were required to purchase personal computer and/or home office equipment to enable them to effectively work from home due to the impact of COVID-19.

Eligibility criteria for UBC employees are as follows:
Full-time faculty or staff who are currently working; and Part-time or term faculty (salaried clinical faculty, postdocs, research associates) and staff who are currently working a minimum of 0.5 FTE (50% or 17.5 hours/week) Please note that partner faculty, residents or student employees are not eligible.
Any of the following items purchased between March 16, 2020 and December 4, 2020 for the main purpose of working from home are eligible for the reimbursement:
Monitor Chair Desk Monitor riser Laptop stand	Standing desk topper Mouse and/or keyboard Headphones Adapters or cords to connect the above items to a laptop computer
To request reimbursement, faculty and staff should submit an expense claim within Workday. The reimbursement process is as follows:
Eligible employees will submit their receipts using the standard Workday expense module process. The claim will automatically go to their manager for approval. Employees must assign the expenses to program PM010430 and cost centre CC00711, otherwise the amount will be expensed to the employee’s default cost centre. All expenses must be submitted by December 4, 2020.

Please note that items for which you have already received a reimbursement are not eligible to be claimed for reimbursement again.

For further full details about eligible items and the reimbursement process, visit:

https://finance.ubc.ca/payroll/your-taxes/claiming-employment-expenses

Please note: The Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) considers personal computer and home office equipment to be capital in nature, and a reimbursement for such items would normally be taxable. However, in the context of COVID-19, the CRA has made an exception for the 2020 tax year, allowing reimbursements for personal computer equipment and home office equipment to be granted on a tax-free basis, provided the equipment is needed in order to perform duties of employment at home.

Sincerely,

Vicky