Background

As previously communicated to the community, on October 1, 2016, The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada [NSERC], the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [SSHRC] and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research [CIHR] announced changes to its Financial Administration Guide, disallowing the reimbursement of home internet charges against NSERC, SSHRC and CIHR grants (Fund 500).

At that time, in order to provide a reasonable notice and transition period to researchers, the University continued to permit the reimbursement of home internet charges against internally funded grants up to December 31, 2016.

Recently, the University has been reviewing its practice with respect to the reimbursement of home internet charges from Professional Expense Reimbursements (PER) allocations made available to each faculty member.

Home internet charges on Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER) Accounts

Home internet access is similar to home phone usage, in that most households have internet service.  However, there may be cases, where internet usage is used solely or primarily for academic/research purposes.

Effective January 1, 2017, home internet charges will be eligible to be reimbursed from PER accounts where home internet access is used primarily/solely by the faculty member to pursue teaching and/or research responsibilities related to employment at York.  The faculty member is responsible for prorating in a reasonable manner the internet fees attributable to teaching/ research and personal use and may only claim the portion related to teaching/research. The maximum that may be claimed for teaching/research is 50% of the monthly home internet charges, inclusive of all taxes.

The policy change will be applied retroactively to January 1, 2017.  Claims for home internet charges from January 1 to September 30, 2017 must be submitted prior to December 31st, 2017.  Claims for home internet charges incurred after September 30, 2017 should be submitted not less frequently than on a quarterly basis, beginning January 1st, 2018, with documentation/receipts.

Home internet charges on external research grants (Fund 500)

Home internet charges are not eligible to be charged to a NSERC, SSHRC or CIHR grant, as per their announcement on October 1, 2016.

Home internet charges are not eligible on other externally funded research grants unless explicitly stated in the grant agreement or in writing by the funding agency.

Home internet charges on internal research (Fund 400)

Home internet charges are not eligible on internal research funds, generally generic and start up grants (fund 400).