Guidelines/Procedures

IRS Definitions (These are definitions according to the IRS.)

Traveling away from home - You are traveling away from home if:

1.     Your duties require you to be away from the general area of your primary residence substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, AND

2.      You need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away from home.

Accountable Plan - The accountable plan allows the employee to receive a non-taxable reimbursement for actual expenses incurred while away from home on ACC business, if the following requirements are met:

1.      Employee provides documentary evidence of travel expense, such as receipts along with an adequate statement of expense.

2.      Employee returns any excess reimbursement within 10 days after the return from travel.

Per Diem allowance - A per diem allowance is a fixed amount of daily reimbursement ACC pays when an employee is away from home on business.  If actual expenses are lower than the per diem, actual expenses will be reimbursed.

Obtaining Authorization to Travel - Employees must obtain authorization to travel from their supervisor and budget authority. 

A.    Submitting Travel Payment Request

Employees traveling may receive funds "in advance" by obtaining permission from their supervisor and budget authority and then submitting a Request for Travel Form.  A per diem allowance can also be requested "after" the travel by submitting a completed Out-of-District Travel Expense Voucher to their supervisor.  Receipts for meals are not required to be submitted when using the per diem allowance.

Employees traveling under an accountable plan can obtain reimbursement after the travel by submitting a completed Out-of-District Travel Expense Voucher within 60 days, along with corresponding receipts and substantiating documentation.

Documentation must meet the requirements listed below under the Documentation Requirements for the Accountable Plan. 

Employees are strongly encouraged to take advantage of advance purchase discounts and special group fares by reserving air, lodging, car rental or rail travel at least 30 days in advance.

B.    Arriving Early or Departing Late

Employees, who wish to arrive early or depart late for reasons of personal preference, will be subject to the Combining Personal Travel with Business Travel section below.  

C.    Air Travel

Air travel expenses are reimbursed under an accountable plan at the lowest available coach airfare.  Employees may retain frequent flyer program benefits as long as the program does not influence the flight selection and cause unnecessary and incremental costs to Austin Community College. 

D.    Lodging

Lodging expenses will be reimbursed under an accountable plan for the actual and reasonable hotel room cost at the conference or event hotel, or at another hotel at an amount that does not exceed the conference hotel rate.  Employees should attempt to secure the lowest rate for which they are eligible.  Tips for hotel staff are included in the per diem rate for Meals and Incidental Expenses (see below).  Employees are responsible for canceling hotel room reservations with the hotel directly.  Cancellation deadlines are based according to hotel policy and the local time of the hotel location.  Employees will not be reimbursed for "no-show" charges and verification of cancellation, such as a cancellation number, will be necessary in the event of a billing dispute.  

E.     Rental Car

Employees, with the prior written authorization of their supervisor and budget authority, may rent a car at their travel destination when it is less expensive than other transportation modes such as taxis, airport limousines and airport shuttles.  Additional insurance is not necessary if the employee’s personal insurance includes coverage for rental cars.  If the personal auto insurance policy of the employee does not cover rental cars, the employee may elect to have the rental insurance coverage available through the rental car company.  Employees are responsible for canceling rental car reservations with the rental company directly.  Employees will not be reimbursed for "no-show" charges, and verification of cancellation will be necessary in the event of a billing dispute.  Austin Community College does not reimburse for rental car club membership programs.

F.     Use of Personal Auto

Austin Community College will reimburse the employee for business usage of personal cars at the current IRS rate per mile.  When two or more employees travel together, only the owner of the personal vehicle will be reimbursed for the mileage allowance.

G.    Combining Personal Travel with Business Travel

Personal travel may be combined with business travel provided there are no additional costs to Austin Community College for the personal segment of the travel.  Additional hotel, meals, transportation and incidental expenses incurred during the personal segment of travel will not qualify for expense reimbursement.

H.    Telephone

Employees will be reimbursed for brief professionally-related telephone calls while traveling on Austin Community College business.

I.      Meals and Incidentals

Under the per diem allowance, Austin Community College will reimburse the employee at the minimum IRS per diem rate for the calendar year.  Itemized documentation and receipts are not required.  If the actual cost for meals and incidentals exceeds the daily per diem rate, the difference is not reimbursed by Austin Community College.

Under the accountable plan, Austin Community College will reimburse meals and incidental expenses within reasonable limits of the daily per diem rate.  If the employee’s supervisor considers an expense to be excessive relative to the per diem rate, the expense may be adjusted or additional documentation to support the reimbursement may be requested.  Alcoholic purchases are not covered.  Charges for recreational events although sometimes associated with professional meetings and conferences (such as city tours, golf or tennis outings, etc.) will not be reimbursed.

J.     Entertaining During Business Travel

Employees who entertain for purposes of promoting Austin Community College business during business travel may claim reimbursement under the accountable plan with the approval of their supervisor.

K.    Documentation Requirements for the Accountable Plan

Employees are required to provide the following information on the Travel Expense Report:

1.      Name and location of where the event took place

2.      Exact amount and date of the expense.

3.      Specific purpose of the event

4.      Name, organization and title of individuals entertained (if applicable)

Employees are to attach sufficient original documentation to the Out-of-District Travel Expense Voucher to substantiate travel expenses:  (Photocopies are not acceptable)

Examples include:

1.      Air/Rail - Passenger coupon plus invoice/itinerary or credit card receipt

2.      Hotel - Hotel folio plus credit card receipt or other register receipt

3.      Car Rental - Rental car agreement plus credit card receipt or other register receipt

4.      Meal Expenses - Credit card receipt, cash register receipt or other detailed register receipt (stubs from restaurant order pads

         are not acceptable)

5.      Shuttle/Parking Expenses - Detailed register receipt or other detailed proof of payment specifying the number of days and

         the daily rate

6.      Other Expenses - Detailed credit card receipt or detailed register receipt

L.      Non-Reimbursable Expenses

  Employees will not be reimbursed for the following categories of miscellaneous expenses:

1.     Airline club, rental car club, country or health club fees

2.     Credit card annual fees

3.     Baby-sitting, hair salons, health club facilities, sports, saunas, massages, laundry/dry cleaning, pet care, video rentals,

        movies or shoeshine

4.     Expenses related to the personal segment of business travel

5.     Expenses for travel companions/family members, souvenirs or gifts

6.     Travel costs such as: car washes, changes to scheduled air travel reservations due to personal preference, excess luggage

        charges, in-flight telephone charges, medical bills incurred during travel, "no-show" charges, non-compulsory insurance

        coverage, optional travel or baggage insurance, parking or traffic tickets, personal accident or property insurance, personal

        telephone calls in excess of daily limit, rental car upgrades, repairs, maintenance.

7.     Personal items such as, clothing, luggage, briefcases, magazines, books, newspapers, subscriptions, gum, candy, cigarettes, personal toiletries

8.     Losses such as, loss or theft of personal funds or property, lost baggage

9.     Alcoholic beverages

10.  Charges for recreational events although sometimes associated with professional meetings and conferences (such as city tours, golf or tennis outings, etc.)

M.  Travel Reimbursed from Grant Accounts

Reimbursement of travel expenses from grant accounts will be in accordance with this Administrative Rule or the specific grant guidelines, whichever is more restrictive. 

N.    Foreign Travel

All foreign travel requires advance approval of the College President.

1.     Requests for Reimbursement

All requests for reimbursement must be stated in US dollars.

2.     Passports

Employees are responsible for obtaining their own passports and for the payment of any associated costs.

3.     Other Expenses

Other reasonable expenses required for foreign travel may be reimbursed with the approval of supervisor and budget

authority.