Common Mistakes Made on Travel Expense Requests
Common mistakes made on travel reimbursement requests:
Mistakes using the travel expense statement form: The form is set up to calculate certain expenses as the form is completed. The form is a tool that when used as designed can expedite the audit and subsequent processing the reimbursement request.
• Data entry of chartstring (account distribution) where the expenses should be charged.
• Data entry of ‘am’ or ‘pm’ with regards to Depart Time and Return Time. This data element is very important in the calculation of per diem for which the traveler qualifies. This field is case sensitive and must be entered as lower case for the calculation to work.
• Personal Vehicle Mileage
o The certification of personal use versus state or commercial rental: “YES or NO”. This data element is very important in the calculation of the amount per mile to be used in the determination of the traveler’s mileage reimbursement. The form will default to “NO” which will reimburse 28.5¢ per mile.
o Selecting “YES” requires the completion of additional information to qualify for a higher reimbursement rate but requires the traveler to complete two(2) additional pieces of information: 1) Vehicle Comparison and 2) Fleet Vehicle availability/cost.
1) A screen print of the resultant information from the Vehicle Comparison site should be attached to the travel expense statement.
2) Once the Fleet Vehicle information is obtained, the finding should noted on the form in the explanation box at the bottom of page 2 of the travel expense statement.
Problems in application of State Travel policy:
• Meals. Below is a chart of how the amounts for meals are calculated:
Depart Before Arrive After Breakfast 6:30 am 12:00 am Lunch 11:00 am 1:30 pm Dinner 5:30 pm 7:30 pm
• Receipts
o It is the responsibility of the traveler to provide adequate documentation of the payment.
o Employees are required to submit the following receipts:
- Meals purchased in lieu of those provided at conference/training
- Lodging
- Airline or railroad fares
- Rental of motor vehicles
- Gasoline purchased for rental vehicles
- Supplies
- Registration fees
- Visa/Passport fees
o Receipts for parking, tollway, mass transit/taxi/airport vans, and communications expenses are recommended. However, if receipts are not available, employees are required to include an explanation of the expense on the travel expense statement.
o In the rare instance of loss or destruction of the receipt, a Missing Receipt form has been developed for use in these cases. The Missing Receipt form should be completed and submitted for consideration along with the travel expense statement.
