Departments have the discretion to refuse to reimburse expenses submitted more than 60 days after the expense was incurred. Travel expenses reimbursed after 120 days will be recorded as taxable to the employee. As a complement to the list below, please review travel expenses that are not allowed.
Questions? Contact the Office of Compliance, 515-294-3790.
Reimbursement policies, receipt requirements, and expense item options in Workday.
Actual expense for copies of conference materials or related abstracts and papers.
Actual cost of a coach or economy ticket only. Business class and first class are not reimbursable unless there is a specific documented medical exemption.
Tickets should be booked 30 days in advance if possible, 14 days at the latest. Lack of prior planning should not be a valid excuse when requesting reimbursement for higher cost tickets.
Travelers should consider pricing flights that depart within two hours on either side of their preferred departure time or which depart at during normal business hours while on paid travel status, provided such departure times do not adversely affect required arrival windows.
It is highly recommended that travelers use the Travel and Hospitality Card to purchase air tickets for university travel. ISU's contracted travel agencies are Corporate Travel Partners and Key Travel. Travelers may get information on flight availability and prices through a contracted travel agent. The T&H Card can ONLY be used with contracted travel agencies -- Corporate Travel Planners, or Key Travel -- or directly with the airlines.
Travelers can purchase airfare on their own and request reimbursement; however, reimbursement will not be made until the trip is completed. Those using personal cards can still utilize the contracted travel agencies or the airlines’ websites directly. The use of third-party travel agencies or travel websites is highly discouraged. Examples of these include Travelocity.com, Orbitz.com, and Expedia.com. The Travel and Hospitality Card may not be used to purchase tickets through these sites and companies. In the event of customer service issues, transportation delays or complications, natural disasters, and national or international emergencies the contracted agencies can assist ISU travelers, while third party travel agencies and sites typically have limited customer service options.
All airfare credits for tickets charged on the Travel and Hospitality Card are property of Iowa State University. It is the responsibility of the traveler to report these credits to their CCM as the credits may be used by the university for future travel. This includes credits from the travel agencies, the airlines, and third party sites. This also applies to credits when personal cards are used, if the flight has been reimbursed.
When purchasing tickets with a personal credit card the traveler assumes all risk. If the trip is canceled ISU will not reimburse the traveler for the ticket of a trip that was not taken, as the credit for the unused ticket goes back to the traveler's credit card. By contrast, trips arranged through our contracted travel agencies and subsequently canceled can have credits applied to the future trips of any ISU traveler, which ensures the value of the ticket will not be lost.
When making purchases on personal cards, the traveler still needs to comply with applicable policies and funding restrictions. Federal funds require U.S. flag carriers to be used. All air tickets paid for with federal funds must be Fly America Act compliant. Our contracted agencies monitor reservations to ensure compliance with ISU's policies and federal funding restrictions (if applicable).
Travelers may not select an airline for the purpose of obtaining frequent flier miles or other premiums that benefit the traveler personally and travel advances are not allowed for airfare.
If combining business and personal travel, it is the responsibility of the traveler to provide a comparable airfare quote. No reimbursement will be given without a comparative quote. Charges associated with personal travel on the T&H Card will be charged back. "Consolidator" tickets for foreign destinations may be paid by supplier invoice, even if not purchased from ISU's contracted travel agency. These cannot be claimed in the expense report as a reimbursement.
International travelers sometimes need to obtain cash at an ATM. This is reimbursable if documentation (e.g., a copy of the credit card statement or bank statement) is provided.
Actual expense for luggage necessary for business travel. Additional charges to accommodate vacation travel, or for personal items such as golf clubs, are not reimbursable.
Actual expense for business travel. Additional charges to accommodate vacation days are not reimbursable.
Actual expense. Charges must be prorated if part of the trip was not business-related.
Use Procurement Services' links for Enterprise and National to get information on utilizing contracts that include coverages for Collision Damage Waiver (CDW), Loss Damage Waiver (LDW) and liability for no additional cost.
Visit the Risk Management website for information on renting cars from agencies other than Enterprise or National, including these guidelines:
When using rental agencies other than Enterprise or National, CDW and LDW will be reimbursed.
Other types of insurance (PDF) that are not reimbursable include (but are not limited to):
Roadside Assistance Protection is reimbursable.
Actual expense, only when necessary for university travel. Must claim only the amount not covered by insurance.
Actual amount necessary for university travel.
Actual expense may be claimed when not already included in the cost of the ticket. Sometimes charged at foreign airports. Receipts often are not provided.
This practice is strongly discouraged, as it makes duplicate reimbursement more likely. Nearly all travelers have credit cards, and it is preferable to have each individual pay for and claim his/her own expenses separately.
When this is not possible, the paying traveler's own expenses should be claimed in the specific fields (e.g., Lodging) on the Enter Expenses screens, and the non-paying traveler's expenses should be claimed in the Other field, with an explanation in the Other Comments text box. If the text box does not provide sufficient room, attach a document explaining the expenditures as part of the PDF file of receipts. The explanation should include the traveler's name, relationship to ISU, and a breakdown of expenses (lodging, meals, etc.) per day.
Paying for another traveler's meal is considered a Group Meal.
Paying for a taxi or cab shared with other passengers does not require additional documentation or explanation, as the fare does not vary significantly for the addition of other passengers. However, when there is a separate fare for each person, as with buses, airport shuttles, or subways, individuals should each claim their own expenses.
Actual expense necessary for university business.
Actual cost of business-related film developing or photo processing. The business purpose should be explained on the reimbursement.
Credit card issuers often charge an additional fee when the expense was incurred in a foreign currency. This is reimbursable if documentation (e.g., a copy of the credit card statement) is provided.
Actual expense. May not be claimed in addition to a mileage claim. Usually only claimed for rental vehicles.
Actual expense of a gift when it is considered customary to present a gift to a host, especially in international travel.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection allows expedited clearance for pre-approved, low-risk travelers upon arrival in the U.S. Federal funds cannot be used for this expenditure.
Actual expense necessary for university business.
Laundry and dry cleaning is factored into all incidentals as part of per diems, therefore cannot be claimed separately.
A traveler may claim lodging reimbursement if lodging was required. Reimbursement must be for a single rate for all domestic lodging unless significant savings can be gained by booking non-single rooms. Actual expenses can be claimed only, including mandatory taxes and fees. A final, itemized hotel folio is required as documentation. The traveler's name must be included on the documentation.
Occasionally, travelers may not be able to find lodging underspecified rates.
Charges for staying with friends or relatives are not reimbursable. In-room movies and other personal amenities are not reimbursable. Charges for parking and business-related long-distance calls and charges for Internet service must be entered as Parking, Internet (Business Use Only), or Mobile Phone/Phone Cards, not Lodging.
Airbnb, VRBO, and other similar online lodging marketplaces can be used for ISU business lodging but cannot be charged to a T&H Card unless using Airbnb for Work. Standard Airbnb, VRBO, or other third party housing rental marketplaces must be reimbursement only and be reimbursed after travel has concluded.
"Each institution must develop clearly delineated travel policies for meals and incidentals. Such policies may be based on an actual and reasonable costs for reimbursement, or on full or partial per diem rates, or on some combination of these. The maximum daily meal and incidental rates may not exceed the U.S. published per diem rates."
Domestic Travel: Iowa State University uses the GSA rate to determine daily meal per diems for the continental United States, including Iowa (as of Oct. 1, 2023). Per diem rates are determined by county within the United States and travelers should use the county of destination to determine the per diem rate. Department of Defense rates should be used for Alaska, Hawaii and U.S. Territories.
Foreign Travel: Iowa State University will use per diem rates set by U.S. State Department.
Rates can periodically change throughout the year and they are updated annually on October 1st. Please check with the appropriate website resource for more information before planning travel.
Travelers must be in travel status, meaning either enroute to or at the destination during specific times in order to claim meals. Travelers must be in travel status between:
The meals to not need to be consumed during this time however.
As of Aug. 1, 2020 Actual meal expenses can no longer be claimed. Iowa State University will pay out a per diem based on location of travel. This per diem is to cover all meal expenses including gratuity. If a traveler exceeds the per diem amount, the overage will be either declined for reimbursement (if paid personally) or subtracted from the expense report (if using a Travel and Hospitality Card). Charges to the T&H Card in excess of the daily limit will need to be itemized and charged back to the Ubill using a personal expense checkbox.
This policy is to be enforced consistently. Individual departments or business units cannot enforce reimbursement of actual meals. Travelers can elect to decline all or part of their per diem in writing but must do so without influence from the department or business unit.
Incidental expenses as stated in the per diem may be claimed on any date that there is an overnight stay. Incidentals should not be claimed when there is no overnight stay. The incidental expenses portion of the meal and incidental expenses per diem rate includes "fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers, hotel staff and staff on ships," as well as "laundry and dry cleaning." Therefore, these expenses may not be claimed separately.
Meals that are provided by a conference, host organization, or event must be removed from expense reports. Per diems cannot be claimed for reallocation or reimbursement on meals that were provided to the traveler. Charges to the T&H Card in excess of the daily limit will need to be itemized and charged back to the Ubill using a personal expense checkbox.
In some rare instances, actual meals are specifically required by a funding source. In those instances actual meals are allowed and the traveler should use a miscellaneous expense item with an explanation of why actual meals are being claimed.
Gratuities may not be reimbursed or reallocated that exceed the per diem.
Per the IRS, meals not requiring overnight travel must be reported as taxable income. The Expenses Module will require an indication for taxable meals if there is not an overnight stay associated with the trip. It is a duty of the Procurement and Expense Specialist to verify taxability of meals with no overnight stay. These are reported on W2 forms annually.
Travelers should not pay for the meals of other travelers on ISU business. Per diems are paid as individual allowances which means one traveler cannot claim the per diem of another traveler. The exception to this is an allowed group meal situation (see group meals). Do not use a T&H card to purchase the meal of another employee in a non-group meal setting.
Workday uses a percentage breakdown to determine meal rates which means breakfast is 20% of total, lunch is 30% of total and dinner is 50% of total. GSA, DoD, and DoS use similar calculations but occasionally have slightly different individual meal rates. The Workday rate should be the default. If you have questions or disagree with the amount, please contact Financial and Accounting Compliance.
Meal delivery services and gift cards for meals or delivery including but not limited to Grubhub and Door Dash can not be reimbursed or reallocated if part of a virtual conference. Meal per diems are not, for any reason, allowed for virtual events.
Group meals are generally allowable in most scenarios that serve an ISU business purpose. These include, but are not limited to:
Putting the meals of multiple ISU employees on one tab is strongly discouraged, as each employee must submit their own expense report. Paying for another employee's meal may cause audit issues
An itemized receipt and the customer copy is required. A customer copy of the credit card slip showing only the meal total and tip is not sufficient. The itemized receipt is required to provide the detail of what was purchased, and the customer copy is required to document the amount paid for the tip. If an itemized receipt is no longer available, the payee must complete a Certificate of Missing Receipt form. The names of the other attendees and the business purpose of the meal must be stated.
Alcohol must be deducted, unless charged to unrestricted funds. When alcohol must be deducted, you also should deduct a pro-rated amount for the sales tax and tip associated with the alcohol. If alcohol is charged on a T&H Card, the amount must be itemized to a personal charge expense item for chargeback.
Meal expenses for an employee's spouse (or significant other) usually are not allowable. Some possible exceptions include:
These exceptions are not allowed for sponsored programs funding and do not extend to other family members. It is generally not allowable to either reimburse or pay for meals of parents, children, or other relatives. In any situation involving spouses (or significant others) an explanation is required to justify the business purpose.
Maximum mileage rates are updated when the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) implements a change, typically at the beginning of each calendar year. Most trips do not qualify for the maximum rate.
If you did not record an odometer reading, refer to the Iowa or Out-of-State Mileage Guides. Online sources like Google Maps may be consulted for the reasonableness of mileage claims to out-of-state destinations. The official starting point is the location of the traveler's permanent office or home, whichever is less. An explanation must be included in the expense report if a traveler does not use the shortest route.
Tolls must be claimed separately. Gasoline usually is reimbursed only for rental cars, as it is less than the allowable mileage rate.
"Round-trip" includes the entire trip departing from and returning to Ames (or the official station of the employee, if based outside of Ames). For example, if an employee working in Ames drives to Cedar Rapids for a meeting, then continues on a separate trip to Mt. Vernon for a different meeting, the Cedar Rapids to Mt. Vernon portion of the trip does not qualify for the higher rate, even though this portion of the trip was less than 100 miles.
"Off-campus" means outside the city of Ames, and therefore unable to conveniently use vehicles from Transportation Services. For example, the ISU Research Park is off the main campus, but within the City of Ames, and able to conveniently use Transportation Services. Therefore, employees located at the ISU Research Park, or other locations within the city of Ames, would not automatically qualify for the higher rate.
An employee's campus office is considered their permanent location, even on remote work days designated in a WorkFlex agreement. Employees must use the “ISU standard rate” (half the IRS standard rate) on remote work days.
Iowa State does not reimburse travel that is part of a traveler's commute, including weekends. This applies to mileage to/from the Des Moines Airport and any other business destination.
Traveler lives farther from the airport
Traveler lives closer to the airport
Actual expense. Business purpose of newspapers should be stated on the reimbursement.
When the airfare and hotel are lumped together as one price as part of a package deal through Travelocity, Orbitz, etc., enter the full amount under Miscellaneous Expenses - Other. Include an explanation in the Other Comments field that the package deal included both airfare and hotel, and state the hotel nights covered by the package.
When the package deal splits the amounts between airfare and hotel, list the airfare amount in the Airfare Paid by Traveler field and pro-rate the hotel charge in the Lodging field for each of the nights covered.
Using a package deal usually means the hotel will not provide an itemized receipt.
Actual expense.
Actual expense, if necessary for university travel. If a photo is taken as part of the passport application process, it can be reimbursed. Since passport applications now require a birth certificate with a raised seal, we can reimburse for a copy of the birth certificate as well.
Actual expense, if necessary for university business while in travel status. Printing should be completed prior to travel if possible using ISU Printing Services. If in travel status, please contact print@iastate.edu prior to printing through a third party to get an exception approval. The exception should be submitted to Finance Service Delivery to be attached to the Expense Report.
Some airlines charge extra for choosing a seat on the plane, which is allowable. Documentation usually is part of the itinerary detailing the other charges. Federal funds cannot be used for this expenditure.
Some airlines offer additional leg room and seat width for an economy fare. The name varies by airline (e.g., American Airlines Main Cabin Extra, Delta Airlines Comfort+, United Airlines Economy Plus). Documentation usually is part of the itinerary detailing the other charges. Federal funds cannot be used for the incremental increase over the regular economy fare. Seat Guru and Smarter Travel provide comparisons of what different airlines offer.
Private airplane miles can be reimbursed at the rate provided by the General Services Administration. Airplane nautical miles (NMs) should be converted into statute miles (SMs) or regular miles when submitting a reimbursement using the formula (1 NM equals 1.15077945 SMs).
Actual expense, excluding extra costs for spousal attendance or events that are purely for entertainment purposes. Reimbursements of all conference registrations (including virtual) can only be processed after the event has passed.
Actual cost of rental of a hotel safe deposit box required for business use. Storage of personal items is not reimbursable. If the safe deposit box was not an optional charge, please explain and it will be reimbursed.
Actual expenses for materials that must be shipped while in travel status.
Should be claimed in the "Meals" column and should not be used as a means of exceeding the per diems.
Actual expense including tip is reimbursable. Taxis, Ubers, Lyfts, and other ground transportation used solely for personal meals is not reimbursable.
Taxis and Ride Shares
Normally, this is not the most economical option. Investigate alternatives before choosing a private ride service.
Personal Rides
For extended trips, travelers can claim a second round-trip ride to the Des Moines Airport if:
Actual expense of business-related calls. If not detailed on the hotel receipt, a copy of the traveler’s phone bill must be attached. The Communication Technology Allowance policy limits reimbursement to roaming charges, minutes above the monthly contract, or international calls, or temporary access to services while on assignment. Phone cards used for international travel also are reimbursable.
Actual expense. Receipts often are not given.
Actual expense of business-related tour or mandatory conference events is reimbursable. Optional or pleasure tours are not reimbursable.
Actual expense if required for university travel.
In December 2013, the Transportation Security Administration began a program that allows low-risk travelers to experience faster, more efficient screening at participating U.S. airports, for both domestic and international travel. (The Des Moines International Airport is one of the participating airports.) Participants in the program also will not have to remove belts, shoes, jackets, or laptops. The $85 application fee is non-refundable, even if the application is denied. Federal funds cannot be used for this expenditure.
Review Risk Management's guidelines regarding CISI international trip insurance before purchasing coverage on your own. Unlike Flight Insurance (not allowed), Trip Insurance has a potential benefit to ISU (e.g., the refund of the air ticket price) if the trip is cancelled. This can be reimbursed at the discretion of the department after reviewing what is covered by the fee. If it is primarily for a personal coverage, such as lost luggage, it benefits the employee and is not reimbursable.
For all travel reimbursements, itemized receipts are generally only required for single expenses over $75**, with the exceptions of lodging, airfare, group meals, and expenses on behalf of another, all of which require itemized receipts regardless of the amount. Non-travel expenses claimed on a travel reimbursement (e.g., books purchased at a conference, or a group meal for an interview) also require itemized receipts, regardless of the amount. For all other expenses $75 or less, the university does not require receipts. Individual departments can choose to require their employees to retain receipts for all amounts but cannot require them in Expense Reports.
For non-travel reimbursements, itemized receipts are required for all expenses, regardless of the amount.
Receipts for group meals must be itemized to indicate if alcohol was included. A credit card receipt showing only the total is not sufficient documentation. If the itemized meal receipt is not available, a Certificate of Missing Receipt (PDF) form must be submitted.
All receipts denominated in a foreign currency must be converted to U.S. Dollars. Please see Foreign Travel - Foreign Currencies for information on sources for conversion rates.
Receipts in a foreign language should include a brief English translation provided by the person being reimbursed, as this will be necessary for the verifiers and approvers to understand what is being reimbursed.
Workday randomly selects travel and non-travel reimbursements to be audited, based on an algorithm. Controller’s Office may also perform additional audits.
** The $75 threshold for requiring receipts refers to when a receipt normally would be issued. For example, if the traveler parked a car for three days in a parking garage where the charge was $30 per day, we would expect to see one receipt for $90. Since the amount for that use of the parking garage was above the $75 threshold, a receipt would be required. However, if a traveler traveled to three different cities on different days and incurred $30 charges each day, a receipt would not be required, as these were separate uses of a parking facility, each below the $75 threshold.
