GAP NO. 200.022
Travel Expenses - Employees and Students

I. General
II. Using the Corporate Card
III. Completing the Travel Expense Form
IV. Receipts and Documentation
V. Relocation Expenses
VI. Travel Policy
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I. GENERAL

Within budgetary constraints, Duke will reimburse necessary and reasonable expenses incurred during properly authorized travel for employees and students. For the reimbursement of other individuals, complete an Accounts Payable Check Request in accordance with GAP 200.136, Accounts Payable Check Request.

Employee and student travel costs can be paid three ways:

Employees who submit reimbursement requests on a regular basis (i.e. at least once per quarter) should accumulate their expenses until the sum of the amount owed to the employee equals $25 or more before submitting a reimbursement request.

 

II. USING THE CORPORATE CARD

If the traveler has a corporate card with travel privileges, it can be used to pay for expenses related to travel. Itemized receipts for charges (refer to Section IV below) must be sent to the department’s PARIS Administrator, noting:

The PARIS Administrator must note this information in the corporate card software application (PARIS).

If all the charges for a particular trip are paid via corporate card, a travel expense form must be completed, approved, and submitted to Employee Travel & Reimbursement.

For further information on procurement card procedures, refer to GAP 200.024, Corporate Card or the Corporate Card Manual.

 

III. COMPLETING THE TRAVEL EXPENSE FORM

The Travel Expense Form is used to reimburse the traveler for expenses incurred during a Duke Business trip. The form is also used as a tool for departments to document the total cost of a trip. All expenses incurred during a trip (i.e. out-of pocket expenses and corporate card expenses) should be documented on the form. The traveler will only be reimbursed for the out-of-pocket portion of the expense.

The Travel Expense Form and instructions are available to be downloaded.

A. GENERAL INFORMATION

The General information area of the form contains the information about the payee and the nature of the trip. The following are general guidelines for completing the form.

The Duke Unique ID
The Duke Unique ID is required. For assistance in determining an individual’s Duke Unique ID, see https://dukeid.duke.edu:8882/emailalias/owa/publicsearch on the Duke Website.

Departure Time/Return Time
The departure and return time should be when the payee leaves/returns to home or work. This, in general, is not the departure time/return time of a flight or other ticketed travel. Use military time to indicate departure/return time on the form.

Direct Deposit
Employees and student employees receiving payroll payments via direct deposit will receive travel reimbursement the same way . They will receive an e-mail notification when the funds will be deposited or transferred to their bank or credit union account.

Check Pick Up
Student checks may be picked up at the Student Service Center or 705 Broad St. Employees may pick up checks at 705 Broad St., Room 201. Employees and student employees will receive an email notification when checks are available for pick up. The individual picking up the check must present a valid Duke Identification.

B. DISTRIBUTION OF CHARGES

This section identifies the Cost Object(s) that are charged as travel expenses. For each Cost Object to be charged, include:

  • Cost Object
  • Distribution percentage
  • Cost Indicator (C for Cost Center, and W for WBS element)
  • Company Code (four digits)

The total must be split by percentage rather than by specific dollar amounts. If specific charges are to be posted to cost objects different than those listed in Section B, indicate so in the optional (grey) portion of Section D - Misc. Daily Expenses.

C. REGISTRATION AND TRANSPORTATION EXPENSES

Expense Types:
The expense type determines the G/L account that is charged. It is important that care is used when determining the proper expense type. The Travel Expense Form - Expense Types details the various expense types. For expenses paid with the corporate card, the expense type ends with a P, indicating the amount was prepaid.

There is not a distinction between domestic and international travel on the general ledger for travel reimbursed with the Travel Expense Form. For travel with the corporate card, domestic and international travel should continue to be split out separately.

The Development Expense types should be used for travel costs associated with the following business purposes:

  • Development
  • Fund Raising
  • Alumni Meetings
  • Student Recruitment
  • Public Relations Activities

For assistance in determining the appropriate expense type, contact Employee Travel & Reimbursement at 681-0208.

Mileage Reimbursement:
For mileage reimbursement, an expense type is not indicated. The system will default to the appropriate travel G/L account, based on the trip activity type indicated in section A - General Information.

The two vehicle types are:

  • P – Personal
  • C – Courtesy (Athletic Department use only)

Note: Personal vehicle expenses are reimbursed at the current IRS mileage rate that covers all expenses, except parking fees and toll charges. Total miles allowed for travel to the airport on workdays is 32 miles round trip if parking at the airport during the trip or 64 miles (two round trips) if not parking. On Weekends/holidays, mileage is computed from your home to the airport. These calculations are based on IRS regulations.

D. MISC. DAILY EXPENSES

Across the top of each column, indicate the dates of the trip. If the trip was more than seven days, complete and attach an additional form. All forms completed should be stapled together with the receipts and submitted as one to Employee Travel & Reimbursement.

In the Expense Type & Description Column, enter:

  • The appropriate expense type and a brief description.
  • Indicate the incurred expense type for each day. (Meals that include alcohol must be coded to expense type ENT or ENTP Entertainment/Social Expense.)

Specific Expensing of Individual Items
For items to be specifically expensed to a cost object(s) other than that indicated in section B - Distribution of Charges, enter:

  • A receipt number associated with the specific amount.
  • In section C - Registration and Transportation Expenses, enter the receipt number in the small box to the right of the amount.
  • In section D - Misc. Daily Expenses, enter the receipt number in the field indicated.
  • In the Optional section (grey), indicate the receipt number, distribution percentage, cost object to be charged, cost indicator (C for Cost Center or W for WBS element) and company code.

Foreign Travel Per Diem
For foreign travel, a per diem may be used in lieu of documentation. If the foreign per diem option is chosen, complete the Foreign Travel Per Diem line. The Foreign Per Diem line requires a rate for meals and incidentals and a separate rate for lodging. It also requires a number of days for meals and incidentals and a number of days for lodging. The meals and incidentals number of days must take into consideration the departure and return times per the following guidelines, the days must be adjusted accordingly:

Day of Departure:

  • Depart after 8:30 a.m. – 80% of total
  • Depart after 1 p.m. – 50 % of total
  • Depart after 7 p.m. – 0% of total

Day of Return:

  • Return prior to 6 a.m. – 0% of total
  • Return prior to 11 a.m. – 20 % of total
  • Return prior to 5:30 p.m. – 50% of total

The foreign travel per diem rates and actual expenses may not be interchanged. One option should be chosen for the duration of the trip.

The Foreign Travel Per Diem rates used are the current federal rates.

Entertaining/Business Meetings
Entertainment and Business Meetings (expense types ENT, ENTP, BM, and BMP) require additional information. List the names of persons attending, their business relationship to Duke and the business purpose in the space provided.

Note: In order for a meeting to be considered "business related," the meeting must be properly planned with a specific agenda and defined business objectives. Meals or refreshments that are incidental to and a continuation of the business purpose of the meeting are allowable charges to expense type BM or BMP. These costs are not allowable in support of federally sponsored projects unless they have been specifically approved by the funding agency.

E. TOTAL EXPENSES

TOTAL Column
The TOTAL column is formula driven and will pick up the total of all expenses listed. At the bottom of the TOTAL column is the total expenses box. It is also formula driven and adds all the amounts in the TOTAL column.

If the form is being filled out as a paper document and not an Excel document, indicate the total for each row of sections C and D in the TOTAL column and calculate the total expenses in the TOTAL column.

Less Prepaid Charges
Enter the total amount of expenses charged to a corporate card (all expense types ending in P).

Less excess departmental allocation
Enter the amount of expenses that will not be covered (example: amounts reimbursed by non-Duke sources or amounts not authorized by the department).

Total Reimbursable Expenses
If completing the form in Excel, this formula subtracts corporate card charges and other expenses that will not be reimbursed from Total Expenses. If completing the form as a paper document, calculate the total reimbursable expenses.


F. REIMBURSEMENT AMOUNT

Less Travel Advance
In the total column, enter the amount of the travel advance.

Amount Due Duke
If the travel advance exceeds the "Total Reimbursable Expenses," enter the amount owed to Duke. Include a check for this amount with the Travel Expense Form, or a Bursar's receipt if the amount has already been deposited at the Bursar's Office. Do not send cash with your Travel Expense Form - cash is accepted only at the Bursar's Office. When depositing at the Bursar's Office, make sure to deposit against your advance, not your department's account.

Amount Due Payee
If the "Total Reimbursable Expenses" exceeds the travel advance (or there is no advance), enter the amount owed to the payee.

G. APPROVALS

FORM DISTRIBUTION

Send the completed form with required receipts ( Do not send corporate card receipts) to Employee Travel & Reimbursement, Box 104144 Durham, NC 27708.

If the expense is charged to a 3xx WBS element (except 36x and 39x), send a duplicate copy of the form and retain a copy for your department records.

 

IV. RECEIPTS AND DOCUMENTATION

Travelers are to retain receipts for all expenses incurred during a trip.

Receipts for corporate card transactions should not be turned in with the Travel Expense Form. The departmental PARIS administrator is responsible for keeping all corporate card receipts.

GROUP TRAVEL - For group travel the following information is required for each traveler:

The Group Travel form may be used for this purpose. Adequate supporting documentation is required for each individual participating in a group travel event just as is the case for individual travel.

The following list indicates the type of backup that should be submitted with the Travel Expense Form.

Lost Receipts
If a receipt is lost, or for the rare occasions when a receipt is not possible to obtain (i.e. meal from a street vendor), the payee should complete a Lost Receipt Form. The use of this form is expected to be on an exception basis and not a common occurrence.

 

V. RELOCATION EXPENSES

With appropriate approvals, employees may be reimbursed for relocation expenses. Reimbursement requests, using the Travel Expense Form, should be sent to Employee Travel & Reimbursement. On the Travel Expense Form, indicate activity type R – Relocation. Payment is issued by Corporate Payroll Services in the employee’s next regularly scheduled payroll payment. New employees must be set up on payroll in order to receive reimbursement for relocation expenses.

Per 1/1/94 IRS (Internal Revenue Service) regulations, the following costs are "qualified moving expenses" and are not taxable:

The following costs are "non-qualified moving expenses" and are taxable to the individual if they are reimbursed. Federal and state income taxes and FICA will be withheld from these relocation expenses:

VI. TRAVEL POLICY

For more detail please refer to the Travel policy on the Employee Travel website.

 

GAP History
Issued: October 1997
Revised: March 2002
Revised: August 2003
Revised: May 2004
Revised: November 2004
Revised: September 2005
Revised: December 2005
Revised: April 2008