This section provides you with answers to the most frequently asked questions about payroll.
The pay date for your monthly salary payment is the last business day of the month, based on the U.S. banking calendar. Please note that your payment can be impacted by holidays in countries where you hold a bank account or by an issue with your intermediary or beneficiary bank, over which AIARC has no control.
Your salary payments are issued in U.S. Dollars (USD).
If you have a non-USD bank account, it is very important that you verify with your bank that your bank can accept and convert from USD to the local currency and that you are provided with the correct intermediary bank details from your bank in order to expedite the currency conversion. It is strongly recommended that you correspond with an individual who handles wires for your bank to get the correct information.
Please note that your bank or its intermediary bank may charge a currency conversion fee and require additional time to process payments when converting currency. Please verify with your bank if these fees will apply because you will be responsible for these fees, not AIARC or your Center.
If you do not have a bank account in USD to receive your salary payment, please indicate your bank account’s currency on the Payroll Deposit Authorization Form and contact your Center’s AIARC Coordinator.
If your bank is located outside of the United States, you will receive your salary payment by international wire transfer. If your bank is located in the United States, your salary will be sent via ACH.
Ideally yes. Because of worldwide Anti-Money Laundering (AML) regulations, it is recommended that the name on your bank account matches the name(s) on your passport or other government-issued identification to avoid regulatory delays in processing. If you are depositing your payment into an investment account with a third-party financial institution (e.g., investment broker), you must provide additional banking details in order for your investment account to be properly credited with the deposit from AIARC.
No, AIARC will only transfer payments to you or to an institution with which you hold an account. If you want to give your spouse or partner access to your pay, you must establish a joint account, recognizing your spouse or partner as an additional account holder.
To change a payment method, deposit allocation, bank account, or other information, you must complete the Payroll Deposit Authorization Form and send a signed copy to your Center’s designated AIARC Coordinator. To access the Form and learn about bank change procedures, refer to the Update Banking Details in the Enrollment section of Payroll.
You can change your bank account up to two times in a calendar year without a processing fee. You will be charged USD 25 for each change thereafter.
Automated Clearing House (ACH) is a network that coordinates electronic payments. AIARC initiates automated money transfers directly from AIARC’s bank via a batch to the automated clearinghouse (The Federal Reserve or The Clearing House), which clears the payments to banking institutions. AIARC uses the ACH Direct Deposit transfer method to your bank that is located in the United States as it allows for efficient matching and processing. It is also cost effective and safe.
To ensure your salary is processed through ACH without delay, you will need to provide AIARC with accurate bank information by completing the Payroll Deposit Authorization Form. Your payment may be rejected or delayed due to inaccurate information. In addition, you are required to provide a copy of a voided check or a bank statement from your bank for account verification.
An ABA (American Bankers Association) routing number is required to deposit your salary through ACH. It is a nine-digit number used to identify your bank, which is required for direct deposits. Some banks and credit unions may have multiple routing numbers serving different purposes, geographical regions, or branches.
A beneficiary bank is the receiving bank where you have your bank account.
The intermediary/correspondent bank is a third-party bank used by the beneficiary bank to facilitate international transfer and settlement of funds.
Banks do not necessarily have direct relationships with one another. Thus, they use intermediary banks as a means to find relationships, acting as brokers for transactions. If your bank is located outside of the United States, you are required by U.S. law to use an intermediary/correspondent bank because AIARC transfers salary payments in U.S. Dollars. To ensure expedited payments, please contact your bank representative in the wire department for the correct intermediary/correspondent bank information.
Incorrect intermediary/correspondent bank information can delay a wire transfer by as long as three months. It is very important to find a bank with which your beneficiary bank has the most direct relationships—generally larger international banks.
Additional fees may be charged by your intermediary or beneficiary bank for processing incoming wires, currency conversions, commissions, maintenance, and so forth. Fees vary depending on the services that you get and the relationship that your beneficiary bank has with its intermediary bank.
It is very important to understand that because these fees are charged by your beneficiary bank and your beneficiary’s intermediary bank. You are responsible for the payments of these fees, not AIARC or your Center.
Therefore, please make sure that you choose the best bank that meets your needs. For example, if you require immediate access to your money, you may need to use a larger international bank for processing, although a larger international bank may charge higher fees than a smaller local bank or credit union. In some cases, the lowest fees may not be the best option as smaller local banks and credit unions may require additional processing time, which can cause significant transfer delays. In some cases, these smaller local banks and credit unions have taken up to three months to process a deposit.
You should contact your beneficiary bank to determine if you will be charged any fees for receiving an incoming wire transfer payment from the United States. Your bank will be able to provide you with more details and should assist you in choosing the best intermediary bank to fit your needs.
Once the payment is released from AIARC’s financial institution, privacy laws prevent AIARC from dealing with your beneficiary or intermediary bank. Thus, to ensure that you get your money and to expedite the resolution of issues, you must assist in this process.
Usually, payment delays arise from missing information, changing of bank account information, bank locations, and holidays outside of the United States. If the money is not received within five business days from the official pay date (the last business day of the month), you should immediately notify your Center’s designated AIARC Coordinator. Your AIARC Coordinator will provide you with a Good Faith Letter and other details, which contain the intrabank tracking details, to help your beneficiary bank to find out what happened to the missing payment.
If your salary payment is returned to AIARC after the payment value date, your Center’s AIARC Coordinator will contact you for more information. AIARC will not resend your payment until the requested information is received from you.
Fees may be incurred for returned wires or ACH direct deposits resulting from inaccurate banking information. Your beneficiary and/or intermediary banks may withhold fees from the amount that is returned to AIARC’s bank account. If the inaccurate information was provided by you, AIARC will deduct fees from your payment to cover the costs associated with returned wires or ACH direct deposits.
If a wire payment is returned due to inaccurate banking information provided by you, AIARC will charge a $25 administration fee and a $12.50 bank wire fee to resend the wire payment.
OFAC is the Office of Foreign Assets Control of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which administers and enforces U.S. economic and trade sanctions against targeted countries and groups of individuals allegedly involved in terrorism, narcotics, and other disreputable activities. If people or entities are listed on the OFAC register, their assets are usually “frozen,” and any U.S.-based organization is generally prohibited from dealing with them.
Because AIARC pays in U.S. dollars and is a U.S.-based organization, it must comply with the rules and regulations of OFAC. If your name is on the OFAC register, OFAC has the right to freeze or block any of your salary payments processed in U.S dollars.
As part of its enforcement efforts, OFAC publishes a list of individuals and companies owned or controlled by, or acting for or on behalf of, targeted countries. It also lists individuals, groups, and entities, such as terrorists and narcotics traffickers designated under programs that are not country specific. Collectively, such individuals and companies are called specially designated nationals (SDNs).
Yes, AIARC checks your full name and your bank’s name against OFAC-related lists before sending your salary payment to your bank account.
If part of your name or your full name appears in an OFAC list, you will be contacted by your Center’s AIARC Coordinator for additional information, such as your full complete name, including middle name (if any), date of birth, place of birth, current address, and so forth. This extra information may help to distinguish you from an SDN with a similar name. Please note that even with the additional information, the release of your payment by OFAC may still take up to one month or more.
If your bank appears on the OFAC list, AIARC cannot release your salary payment to your bank. You will need to change banks so that AIARC can make payments to you.
AIARC reserves the right to modify or terminate any of the benefits described at any time for any reason. Please note that AIARC is not your employer and nothing contained in this website should be construed to create an employer-employee relationship. Your Center is your employer.
AIARC
901 N. Washington St., Suite 706
Alexandria, VA 22314-1535
United States
Phone +1-703-548-4540
Fax +1-703-548-5960
Office hours are from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (0830 to 1730 U.S. Eastern Time), Monday through Friday
If you have questions about your benefits, please contact the AIARC Coordinator for your Center by visiting www.AIARC.org.
