Can I receive a stipend as payment?

This entry was posted in Licensure FAQs (all versions) on by .

Per the BBS you must meet one of the three requirements listed below.  The biggest issue is that you cannot be an independent contractor.  If you are classified as an independent contractor the hours earned at that site can’t be claimed.

  1. Be a volunteer (receiving no payment); you must submit a volunteer letter with your application.
  2. Be an employee; you must receive a W2 and submit it with your application.  Typically a “stipend” indicates that you are not an employee of the site.  In order to claim your hours you must be an employee and receive a W2.  If you receive payment and don’t receive a W2 (or meet the next requirements on this list) you will be considered an independent contractor and you will not be able to claim the hours earned at the site.
  3. Be an “employee” receiving no more than $500 per month as reimbursement for expenses across all sites.  Below is additional information from the BBS…

“(k) Trainees, interns, or applicants who provide volunteered services or other services, and who receive no more than a total, from all work settings, of five hundred dollars ($500) per month as reimbursement for expenses actually incurred by those trainees, interns, or applicants for services rendered in any lawful work setting other than a private practice shall be considered employees and not independent contractors. The board may audit applicants who receive reimbursement for expenses, and the applicants shall have the burden of demonstrating that the payments received were for reimbursement of expenses actually incurred.”

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