New employees accepting positions at UC Irvine may be eligible, upon advance approval, for reimbursement of moving expenses, removal expenses, and relocation allowances. To avoid confusion and costly mistakes, it is important for supervisors to follow proper relocation procedures and to communicate these procedures accurately to applicable employees.
Reimbursable Relocation Expenses
Relocation expenses generally will fall into one of these two types:
1. Moving Household and Personal Move Expenses
The reasonable costs of moving household goods and personal effects to a new residence. This includes the cost of travel to the new location for the eligible employee and immediate family members. Personal move expenses are taxable/reportable to the employee and reimbursement is processed through the payroll department.
2. Removal Library or Lab Expenses
The cost of shipping a new faculty member's library and/or laboratory equipment to the Irvine campus. The library and/or laboratory equipment must be moved directly to the University and generally made available for use by faculty, staff and students. Shipping a new faculty member's library and/or laboratory equipment to the Irvine campus is not taxable/reportable to the employee.
Moving Expenses are Taxable
Employees should be aware, effective January 1, 2018, all moving household and personal removal expense reimbursements are taxable/reportable. Taxes will be automatically deducted from the payment and reported on the employee’s current year W-2. Amounts will be treated as taxable whether they are reimbursed to an employee or paid directly to a vendor.
General Guidelines
- A new Academic employee who has been hired for a position that requires specialized training or experience may be eligible for reimbursement of 50 percent of moving expenses. Department heads have the authority to approve payments for moving expenses that are in accordance with University and campus policy. The following policies may apply for Academic Personnel - APM-560, APM-550, APM-561
- A new employee who has been appointed to a faculty/academic position may be provided removal, which in addition to the moving expense benefit, provides for 100 percent of the direct costs to ship library and/or laboratory equipment to the Irvine campus. Academic deans or equivalent titles have the authority to approve removal and moving expenses that are in accordance with University and campus policies for academic employees. The following policies may apply for Academic Personnel - APM-560, APM-550, APM-561
- Allows for 50% payment.
- More than 50% requires signed exceptional approval from the department dean.
- Postdoctoral, clinical positions or titles not listed in the APM-560 policy must have signed exceptional approval from the Vice Provost for Academic Personnel.
- A transferring employee who is relocating to a new UC location may be eligible for full reimbursement of moving expenses. It is the responsibility of the department head to approve the payment of moving expenses that are in accordance with University and campus policies for nonacademic employees.
- University's Managers & Senior Professionals (MSP), or Professional and Support (PSS) personnel may also be eligible for a relocation allowance. The UC Policy G-13 moving policy applies for MSP and PSS personnel.
Move & Relocation Policies
- Removal Expenses for Academic Personnel/General APM-560 - PDF
- Removal Expenses/Assistants APM-561 - PDF
- Moving Expenses for Intercampus Transfers APM-550 - PDF
- UC Policy BFB-G-13: Moving and Relocation for Managers & Senior Professionals (MSP), Professional & Support Staff (PSS) - PDF
- UC Regents Policy 7710: SMG Moving Reimbursement for Senior Management Group - PDF
Move & Relocation Reimbursement Procedure
Create a KFS Move and Relocation Reimbursement eDoc for;- Moving expenses
- Move/Relo travel expenses for the new employee and members of their household for final move in accordance with UC Policy G-28 Travel Regulations
- Lab or library move to Campus
- House-hunting trip for SMG appointees