Expense reports should be submitted within 45 calendar days from the end of the trip, or the hosted event, or within 45 days of the transaction date for purchases of supplies or other business expenses. Ideally, expenses should be submitted within 10 days, however the policy allows for submission of up to 45 calendar days.
A proper receipt is original, shows the itemized description of the items purchased, the date of purchase, the amount paid and the method of payment. It is the cardholder’s responsibility to obtain original proper receipts from the merchant each time you use your PCard. Packing slips with itemization are acceptable, however, packing slips without itemization are not proper documentation.
When submitting an expense for hosted meals, it is best practice to submit an itemized receipt, however, the customer copy of a restaurant charge is acceptable in lieu of the itemized portion of the receipt. Per the policy on Indirect Cost Recovery, when alcohol is purchased as part of the meal and an itemized receipt is not provided, the entire amount of the meal should be allocated as ICRX. As with other policies or guidelines, individual units may be stricter, therefore, requiring an itemized receipt.
PCards should rarely be used to make purchases from payment systems that do not provide on the PCard statement visibility into the item(s) that was purchased (e.g., PayPal, Google Wallet, etc.). If such a system is the only way the supplier accepts payment, detailed receipts showing the final vendor and item details must be provided.
To comply with the federal government’s Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), Protected Health Information (PHI) cannot be included when reconciling your PCard transactions. PHI is generally defined as any information—spoken, written, or recorded—that concerns the health of an individual or identifies that person in some way (e.g., name, Social Security Number, etc.).
If you do use your PCard to pay for healthcare-related expenses for a patient or client, the information submitted to Concur, the university’s travel and expense system, should not include any PHI. All PHI on receipts or other documentation should be redacted prior to uploading the information to Concur when completing your expense report. Failure on the part of the PCard holder or approver to comply with this requirement may result in the cancellation of the PCard.
NOTE TO EXPENSE APPROVERS:
Please use the following corrective steps if one of your PCard holders submits PHI in Concur, the university’s travel and expense system:
• If PHI has been uploaded to Concur, the employee must delete the receipts in Concur, redact the information, and re-attach receipts
• If PHI is included in the business purpose or department reference fields, these fields must be updated by the employee in the expense report before it is resubmitted
• If PHI is included in the comment field on the expense report header, the employee must delete the report and create a new report (comments cannot be removed or updated)
• If PHI is included in an expense line comment field, the employee must delete the expense line and create a new line without the comment (comments cannot be removed or updated)
Within university policy, business expenses paid with personal funds ("out of pocket") are reimbursable through the university travel and expense system. In order for out of pocket funds to be reimbursed, the employee must use an acceptable method of payment.
**NOTE: this is not an inclusive list**
The Travel and Business Hosting Expense Policy is published in Standard Practice Guide 507.10-1. For a summary of allowable expenses, refer to the Summary of Reimbursable and Non-Reimbursable Expenses.
Travelers should familiarize themselves with the university’s travel guidelines listed below.
Guidelines for booking airfare:
Guidelines for reserving a rental car:
The university will reimburse the cost of train fare up to the cost of coach airfare.
Mileage reimbursement
At times, a personal vehicle may be used in order to save time, transport equipment, or reduce costs when several people are traveling together on university business travel.
Guidelines for reimbursement:
Effective January 1, 2021 the mileage reimbursement is 56 cents per mile.
Note: When considering whether to drive a personal vehicle or rent a car through National/Enterprise, it is often beneficial to choose the rental car over mileage reimbursement. Depending on distance and length of the trip, renting a car through National/Enterprise can be the least expensive option.
Procurement Services now has a new resource available to help answer this question. Enterprise Holdings (National/Enterprise) has provided U-M with a tool, which can be accessed here. Once the information is populated in the required fields, click enter to receive a cost estimate for claiming mileage reimbursement vs. renting a car. Please use this information to help you decide which path to take.
Rental cars from National or Enterprise are less than two years old with low miles and are well maintained to ensure safety.
Local mileage
The university generally does not reimburse local in-town mileage (e.g., travel between university buildings on the same campus for meetings), parking/tolls, or commuting costs (e.g., the costs associated with driving a car between home and the normal place of work or business). Detail on requesting exceptions to this policy appears below:
Guidelines for making hotel reservations:
Per diem
The per diem allowance is set by the US government to cover employee meals and incidentals during business travel to domestic CONUS (continental US) and foreign/OCONUS destinations (foreign and (non-continental US). University faculty and staff on business travel will be reimbursed for out-of-pocket meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) in accordance with the published rates based on specific destination.
Note: Travelers are allowed 75 percent of the per diem amount on the first and last days of travel.
Per diem rates are published by the General Services Administration and are specific to major cities.
Per diem specifics:
Non-employee (guest/student) travel meal reimbursement and hosted events
Meal reimbursement for non-employee travel or for university business hosted events is actual and subject to the per person meal limits of $25 breakfast/$25 lunch/$55 dinner.
While guests and students are not subject to the per diem policy, units may reimburse per diem instead of actual expenses. Units also have the option to pre-pay per diems for students or guests with the Stored Value Card Program.
The international travel information and registry provides important information and resources for faculty, staff, and students planning international travel. Links are available to current information on conditions in countries and world regions. The warnings that are provided are not intended to limit individual decisions, but to help university employees make informed and prudent decisions.
Non-employees, students, and guests
University travel and business hosting expense policies and procedures apply to all individuals such as guest lecturers or prospective faculty or staff who are not university faculty or staff, but are to be reimbursed for university-approved transportation and related costs. In order to ensure compliance, it is the department’s responsibility to inform a non-employee about the university’s travel and business hosting policies and procedures prior to the non-employee’s visit.
Departmental budgets and/or the terms of contracts or grants may limit funding for non-employee travel. Whenever possible, travel and business hosting expenses of non-employees, students, and university guests should be paid by university PCard and should be arranged utilizing the university’s designated travel agency, Conlin Travel.
Spouse or dependent travel
Reimbursement for a spouse’s or dependent’s transportation, lodging, or meal expenses requires approval by a vice president, dean, chair, or senior university officer explaining why an exception is warranted. Expenses that do not have a clear university business purpose are not allowable.
Business meals
Business meals are those taken with guests, colleagues, or donors during which focused business discussions take place. Business meals with vague, unfocused purposes (such as “to foster collaboration between departments”) are not permitted.
University representatives may be reimbursed for approved, necessary, and reasonable business meal expenditures. Business meal expenses, including non-alcoholic beverages, tax and tips, should not exceed the maximum allowances of $25/breakfast, $25/lunch, and $55/dinner.
Any business meal costs that exceed the maximum allowances as stated above must be accompanied by a detailed explanation and have approval from a supervisor or higher level administrative authority. The expenses, including tax and tips, that exceed the amounts listed above must be segregated and cannot be charged to General or Federal funds.
Reimbursement for alcoholic beverages is limited to $20 per person, per event. Alcohol expense must be flagged with an “X” Class and charged to non-General, non-Federal, non-Sponsored funds or alternately may be covered with personal funds. Refer to the university’s policy on Indirect Cost Recovery Excluded (ICRX) Expenditures for a thorough explanation of ICRX expenditures, examples, and what university funds to charge to ICRX expenditures.
The following items are not included in the per person cost for business hosting:
When development activities involve hosting donors, reimbursement for meals and alcohol will be at the actual amount incurred. The expense must nevertheless be reasonable from a business standpoint for the type of activity taking place.
When recruitment activities (for faculty, staff or athletics) involve hosting recruits, reimbursement for meals and alcohol will be at the actual amount incurred. The expense must nevertheless be reasonable from a business standpoint for the type of activity taking place.
Guidelines for receipts:
A proper receipt shows the itemized description of the items purchased, the date of purchase, the amount paid, and the method of payment. Receipts must contain appropriate detail, including starting and ending destinations, hotel charges, and detailed item charges.
Receipts are required for the following expenses:
Lodging, air, rail, and rental cars
All other single expenditures $75.00 and greater
When submitting an expense for hosted meals, it is best practice to submit an itemized receipt, however, the customer copy of a restaurant charge is acceptable in lieu of the itemized portion of the receipt. Per the policy on Indirect Cost Recovery, when alcohol is purchased as part of the meal and an itemized receipt is not provided, the entire amount of the meal should be allocated as ICRX. As with other policies or guidelines, individual units may be stricter, therefore, requiring an itemized receipt.
Required receipts must be attached in the university’s travel and expense system (employees), or to the travel and business hosting expense report (non-employees). Approvers should confirm that the attached receipts are legible.