Travel Information

What amounts are allowable for meals?
See the Summary of Allowable Expenses for allowable amounts and the time frames eligible for reimbursement.

If I go under the allowable amount for lunch can I spend more than the allowable amount for dinner?
If a traveler is in travel status long enough to qualify for more than one meal the total of all meals is considered rather than the individual amounts. For example, if you were in travel status the entire day for an out-of-state trip and your actual expenses were $7 for breakfast, $10 for lunch, and $23 for dinner you still would be within the allowable daily maximums.

Are receipts required for meal expenses?

Receipts are only required when the amount of the meal is $75.00 or more. For domestic travel this limit would only be reached when paying for the meals of a group. However, when claiming actual expenses for foreign travel receipts would be required for meals of $75.00 or more.

Am I allowed to claim the full "per diem" for meals, whether I spent that amount or not?

There is no "per diem" amount for domestic travel. For domestic travel only the actual amounts spent (subject to daily maximums) may be claimed for reimbursement. If you did not spend the maximum amount, you should not claim the maximum amount.

However, for foreign travel ISU allows the foreign per diem rates established by the U.S. State Department.

If I was in a very expensive location, how can I get reimbursed for the amount I spent in excess of the daily maximum?

The Employee Reimbursement System has specific meal limits that were set by the Board of Regents, depending on whether the travel is in-state or out-of-state. Normally, your reimbursement should be capped to these specific limits.

If there are extenuating circumstances you can shift the meal expense to the Miscellaneous Expense - Other area and specify in the Other Comments box the reasons why you are requesting an exception. However, routinely overriding the limits set by the Board of Regents is not allowed.

Allowable exceptions would include attending a banquet where the fixed price exceeded the allowable meal limit or paying for a group interview meal. Unallowable exceptions would include choosing unreasonably priced restaurants when other options are available. When a group of ISU employees goes out together for a meal, having one person pick up the tab is not a justification for exceeding the per-person limit.

On my Payroll Info on AccessPlus there was an amount recorded for "Taxable Meals." What does this mean?

Meals on trips not requiring overnight travel are required to be reported to the IRS as taxable income unless the primary purpose of the meal was to discuss business. The Employee Reimbursement System automatically records non-overnight meals as taxable. If the primary purpose of the meal was to discuss business, you can override the default setting by changing the taxable meals indicator for that meal to No, and stating the reason for the overriding the default setting in the Other Comments box at the bottom of the screen.