New Business Expense Reimbursement Requirement
As of April 1, in order to be reimbursed, UMB employees must submit requests for reimbursement of business expenses within six months of when they were incurred – or earlier, depending on the UMB school. This applies to expenses such as phone bills, meals, membership dues, etc.
When combining personal travel with business trips, it is critical to document that the personal travel does not cause increased costs to UMB. The steps outlined below are required to comply with UMB Travel Policy 1 and Procedures 2.
BEFORE TRAVEL:
When personal travel will be included, this must be indicated on the report header of the Travel Authorization Request (TAR) in the fields shown below:
Concur will then display a warning on the need to document price comparisons:
Travel Itinerary
If the itinerary will include personal travel (e.g., extra dates, extra stops, different return city, etc.) you MUST compare the cost of your intended itinerary to what the costs would be without personal travel.
- Obtain a quote from the travel agent, or a screenshot from search engine, showing the price for the intended travel dates/routing as well as the price for the “business only” dates/destinations.
- Upload documentation of the price comparison at the header level of your TAR.
- If the price with personal travel is higher than the “business only” itinerary, airfare cannot be charged to the UMB Ghost Card. When completing your booking in Concur/with the Travel Agent you must provide a personal credit/debit card.
Additional Travelers
If bookings are altered to accommodate non-business travelers (e.g. driving a personal vehicle or renting a car instead of flying, renting larger vehicle, upgrading lodging, etc.) you MUST compare actual costs to what the costs would be without the additional travelers.
- As above, upload evidence of price comparison to the header level of your TAR.
These steps must be completed before booking. Due to the dynamic nature of pricing, it will not be possible to recreate a cost comparison at a later date.
AFTER TRAVEL:
If personal travel was included, this must be indicated on the report header of the Travel Expense Report. Concur will then display a warning on necessary cost reductions:
Increased Booking Costs
If any costs were increased due to the considerations on the previous page, you may only request reimbursement for the lower amount (as documented by the cost comparison documented on the TAR).
Extended Travel Duration
If travel included personal days:
- Reduce reimbursement requests to remove any expenses related to personal
days (e.g., lodging or airport parking expenses, etc.). - Ensure per diems are not claimed for personal days, and that per diem amounts
are calculated using only the destinations visited for business reasons.
Additional Travelers
If any costs were increased as the result of additional travelers, reimbursement requests must be adjusted accordingly. Carefully review receipts for considerations such as:
- Added fees (child car seat in rental car, rollaway bed or pet fee at hotel, etc.)
- Occupancy taxes for additional hotel guests (common in European cities)
- Upgrades such as UberXL vs. standard Uber (may need to use fare estimator to determine appropriate reduction amount)
Use Concur's comment fields to explain any reimbursement reductions
Download printable PDF instructions here
1 UMB Policy on Business Travel for UMB Employees and Nonemployees
2 Procedure on Business Travel for UMB Employees