1. UO Travel Policy for American English Institute – Aug. 25, 2017

2. IRS Accountable Plan –
Allows UO to pay travel reimbursements with no tax implications to the traveler – tax free
Must be a business purpose for the travel that shows clear benefit to the UO
Must be accompanied by documentary evidence –
Receipts showing payment by the payee
Event documentation – agenda, invitation, research log, trip diary
Must be submitted within 60 days of travel
If expenses do not follow Accountable Plan, they cannot be reimbursed with stateside funds as a travel reimbursement. If paid, the payment is processed by Payroll as taxable income.

3. Business Purpose:
In order for the reimbursement to be claimed as a non-taxable payment, the business purpose must clearly demonstrate benefit to the UO.
Provide enough detail to explain the Who, What, When, Where, Why and How of the travel. The duckweb form often tells us who, when, where and how….the business purpose must explain What, Why.
Conference information plus agenda for the date range
Program description on UO webpage, print and include
Traveler profile from UO directory to explain research or field of study
Spell out Acronyms

4. Common Issues that Slow Down Travel Reimbursements
Incomplete Business Purpose – who, what, when, where, why and how
Conference - Missing agenda, missing hotel pricing info
Receipt errors
Doesn’t show payment
Incorrect name
Credit card slip or credit card statement instead of itemized receipt
Foreign without translation
Form Errors
Too many/few nights lodging
Incorrect dates
Incorrect amounts
Required receipts not included
Receipts included and not on form
Wrong account code
Incorrect or missing airfare comparison for personal time or indirect route
Signatures: missing, pencil signatures, not original traveler signature, invalid departmental authorization

5. UO Travel Policy updates (Policy to be formally announced soon)
No Direct Route requirement for airfare
Tips on taxi no longer considered an “Incidental” expense, allowed at 15% state standard
More flexibility in IRS lodging per diem reimbursement, if amount is reasonable and traveler’s supervisor is willing to extend overage.  More flexibility in IRS High City locales
Justification not required to take rental car over taxi/shuttle
Meal per diem – travel days meal per diem is paid at 75% of full rate

6. Pending: Due to Banner upgrade to be completed by next summer, Duckweb Travel Reimbursement form will no longer be a supported platform.
New: Concur – a cloud based, service software solution that will allow us to provide UO with:
Pre-Travel Request
Travel Booking tool (pending)
Travel Expense processing
Risk Management
P-Card Expense Processing
TripIt Pro - Itinerary management during the trip (pending)…

7. Questions?