The Finance Office is preparing to calculate UNK's Unrelated Business Income Tax for the 2022-2023 fiscal year. If your department has had any income from a trade or business (the production of income from the sale of goods or the performance of a service) which is regularly carried on and which is NOT substantially related to the performance of the institution's tax exempt purpose of Education, you may be generating Unrelated Business Income.
Areas of potential exposure include:
Facility Rentals Merchandise Sales Catering and Food Service Advertising Income Sponsorships Camps (not sponsored by UNK) Sales of Services to others outside UNK Concession Income Broadcast Rights
UNK's areas of UBIT exposure are being reported to the IRS along with the other University of Nebraska campuses. No actual taxes are assessed to your department's cost object.
Please respond to Debbie Tvrdy in the Finance Office if you think that you may have an area of exposure within your department's activities. Each potential exposure area will be analyzed separately.
Jane Sheldon, Associate Vice Chancellor, Business and Finance, is the liaison for UNK to the University of Nebraska Foundation. If you have any questions regarding your department foundation funds, please contact Jane Sheldon, 8427, sheldonj@unk.edu.
The December Holiday closedown for 2023 begins on Friday, December 22nd and concludes on Monday, January 1st. Staff will return to work on Tuesday, January 2nd.
Paid holidays will be December 25th and January 1st. For staff who have been employed for the entire calendar year, you will need to use your 5 accrued floating holidays. All leave-eligible employees should submit their leave requests through Firefly by submitting two separate leave requests: one for December 22nd and one for December 26-29th. If you have questions or you do not have enough leave time to cover this time period, please contact Human Resources at 865-8184.
Additionally, managers who will have staff working during the period of December 22nd – January 1st should notify Human Resources of this detail.
As a reminder, Nebraska minimum wage will increase to $12.00/hour effective January 1, 2024. Below is a link to the Nebraska Department of Labor minimum wage poster, which identifies the minimum wage increase schedule through January 1, 2026:
The University of Nebraska system allows all employees to opt to receive their W-2 through Employee Self Service (Firefly). Please consider opting for the electronic version to save paper and distribution time. Those who choose to receive an electronic W-2 through Firefly will receive their W-2 statement about a week earlier than those who receive paper W-2 forms. Only employees who elect an electronic W-2 will be able to view their W-2 form throughout the year. To enroll, log into Firefly>Employee Self Service>W-2 Form>Enroll for W-2 Online Delivery. Please contact Human Resources at 865-8184 with any questions.
This is also a good time to review your address listed in Employee Self Service (About Me - Personal Information>Address & Emergency Contact) to confirm that your contact information is current. The address listed in an employee’s “permanent address” is where all benefit and payroll related information is sent, so it is important that the information is correct.
Please consider donating to the crisis leave program. This program allows any employee who earns vacation leave to donate up to five accumulated vacation days per calendar year. The donated leave goes to a pool of crisis leave hours that are used to help an employee who is experiencing a crisis and does not have sufficient leave to cover their absence period. Donation forms can be accessed through SAPPHIRE or the following link:
Please submit completed forms to the Human Resources Office.
During an emergency or severe weather event which disrupts or has the potential to disrupt campus operations and services on the UNK campus, the emergency operation plan will be activated. An important part of this plan is to alert students, faculty, and staff of the emergency and to list any precautionary steps to take.
UNKAlert will send emergency messages from UNK to devices and addresses you designate. Communication devices can be cell phones (text and voice), landline phones, and e-mail addresses. Telephone numbers and e-mail addresses for UNKAlert will be maintained by SAP for employees and MyBLUE for students. Receiving a text from UNKAlert is not automatic; you must click on the text option in SAP. To receive emergency messages from UNKAlert, it is critical that your telephone numbers, text options, and e-mail addresses are kept up to date in SAP & MyBLUE.
Or contact: Ted Eichholz Assistant Director – UNK Police 308-865-8923 - office eichholzth@unk.edu
Home
Be extra vigilant about locking doors and windows when you leave your residence, even for a few minutes.
Don’t display holiday gifts where they can be seen from a window or doorway. Stow gifts before you go away on a vacation.
If you go out for the evening, turn on lights and a radio or television so the residence appears to be occupied.
If you take a vacation away from your home, have some interior lights activated by an automatic timer. Have a neighbor or family member watch your house, shovel new snow, pick up the mail and newspaper and park his or her vehicle in your driveway from time to time.
Be wary of strangers soliciting charitable donations. They may attempt to take advantage of people’s generosity during the holidays. Ask for identification, how donated funds are used if contributions are tax deductible, etc. If you aren’t satisfied with the answers, don’t give.
Immediately after the holidays, mark new gifts with an identification number and record new serial numbers.
Test your smoke detectors.
Use only fire-resistant ornaments on a holiday tree and make sure electric lights are in good working order. Don’t leave the lights on overnight or when you are away from home.
If you have house guests, advise them of your security precautions and make sure they follow them.
Avoid leaving boxes from purchases (especially TV’s, media players, computers, etc.) out on the curb for trash pickup.
Shopping
Shop before dark, if possible. Coordinate shopping trips with a friend. Never park in an unlit lot or area, no matter how convenient it is.
Lock your packages and gifts in your vehicle’s trunk or out of sight. Keep you vehicle’s doors locked and windows closed.
Avoid carrying large amounts of cash. Pay for purchases with a check, credit card, or debit card when possible.
To discourage purse-snatchers, don’t overburden yourself with packages. Have your purchases delivered whenever practical.
Be extra careful with purses and wallets. Carry a purse under your arm. Keep a wallet in an inside jacket pocket, not a back pocket.
Teach children to go to a store clerk or security guard and ask for help if you become separated. They should never go into a parking lot alone.
Cyber
Before searching for that perfect gift, be sure that all web-connected devices ‒ including PCs, smartphones, and tablets ‒ are free from malware and infections by running only the most current versions of software and apps.
One of the most critical things you can do in preparation for the online shopping season is to fortify your online accounts by enabling the strongest authentication tools available. Your usernames and passwords are not enough to protect key accounts like email, banking and social media.
When using a new website for your holiday purchases, read reviews and see if other customers have had positive or negative experiences with the site.
Links in emails, social media posts and text messages are often how cybercriminals try to steal your information or infect your devices.
When making a purchase online, be alert to the kinds of information being collected to complete the transaction. Make sure you think it is necessary for the vendor to request that information. Remember that you only need to fill out required fields at checkout.
If you are out and about, limit the type of business you conduct over open public Wi-Fi connections, including logging in to key accounts such as email and banking. Adjust the security settings on your phone to limit who can access your device. Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth when they’re not in use.
Employees and Departments/Groups of Employees can be nominated for different awards. The awards are presented monthly during the Staff Senate meetings.
Please consider nominating a staff member or group who has demonstrated excellence. It’s time to show our colleagues how much we appreciate what they do and why we’re so very proud to be Lopers!!
