General

• If you requseted a Travel Advance you have a period of 10 days to submit all original receipts for a Travel Expense Report.  Failure to do so within the 10 business days will result in the totality of your advance charged to your account in the system.
• If no Travel Advance requseted you have a 90 day period to request a travel reimbursement.  After the 90 day deadline the department may process your request but your reimbursement will be taxable and no longer count as a reimbursement but as "income".

Reimbursing Meals

• If you will receive per diem, no meal receipts are needed.  But if you do not wish to have per diem and only certain meals reimbursed then meal receipts are needed.  Please remember that all meal receipts MUST be itemized.  Otherwise FSO will not reimburse them.
• If you do not book a hotel and will stay with family or friends, you cannot be paid a per diem amount.  In this case, actual physical receipts per each meal are required.
• Make sure to provide only original receipts, no copy receipts will be accepted under any circumstance.
• It is preferable that in group travels each individual pay their own meals (instead of one individual paying for everyone).  This will simplify paperwork.  Otherwise you will be required by FSO to submit a memo explaining why you paid for other individuals that were able to receive reimbursement if paid separately.

Reimbursing Hotels

• Be aware that under NO circumstance should you pay for someone else's lodging.  FSO will not reimburse you for purchases incurred on behalf of someone else.
• When providing hotel receipts please make sure you provide me a receipt and NOT an invoice.  A receipt will contain the method of payment and/or will say “Balance due $0.00" while an invoice will only state the cost of the rooms but does not state it was paid off. FSO will not reimburse invoices.
• As stated on the Pre-Travel section, FSO will only reimburse you for a maximum per diem established for lodging.  If hotel was assigned lodging for a conference, please provide evidence the conference took place at the specific hotel.  Only in this circumstance will FSO allow payment exceeding the maximum per diem allowed.

Reimbursing Transportation

• FSO will reimburse basic transportation but will NOT reimburse added fees for commodities. These include charge for choosing seats, charges for bump of class or payment of overweight in luggage.  A special case can be made for payment of overweight in luggage if the faculty provides a signed memo stating the reason for need in excess luggage payment and how this was used for scholastic reasons in the conference/meeting.

Additional Travel Expenses

• If additional travel expenses were made, please provide along with the receipts an explanation of what the expense was and what was the purpose or need for such a purchase. 

Things to Remember

• The rules for reimbursement are not set up by the department but by FSO.  Thus failure to provide enough documentation to the department might result in FSO denying the reimbursement or denying part of the reimbursement.  The department is not responsible for denied reimbursements by FSO.
• FSO does not allow for pre-payments of hotels.  Hotel payments always have to come in form of reimbursements.
• FSO does not allow for reimbursement where alcohol, Tabaco or medical products were purchased. 
• For more information or doubts contact your business manager before the trip.