Business and Travel Expense Policies

Overview of Administrative Guide Memo

The university outlines its guiding principles and the IRS regulations for business and travel expenses in Administrative Guide Policy 5.4.2: Business and Travel Expenses. In summary:

• Guiding Principles
  • Supporting University Travelers: In order for Stanford to be able to provide support to its faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students when they are traveling on university-sponsored business, the university requires the use of a centralized booking program as described in the Administrative Guide Policy.
  • Stewardship of Resources: Individuals using university resources for business or travel expenses and/or purchasing items to be owned by Stanford share the responsibility of ensuring that these resources are used appropriately, support the university mission and comply with university policies, applicable laws and regulations and sponsor and donor restrictions. Individuals are expected to spend appropriately and expenses must be reasonable and necessary. Departments may uphold more restrictive guidance than the university at local discretion.
• IRS Regulations
  • The university reimburses individuals under the IRS Accountable Plan when the IRS regulations are met. Under this plan, the reimbursement is not taxable as income to the employee if the expense has a business connection and is also submitted in a timely manner.

  • To prevent expenses from being treated as taxable income, a transaction must be prepared and submitted into the Expense Requests system in Oracle Financials with all appropriate receipts or backup documentation within 60 days after the end of travel (for travel expenses), the expense posted date (for non travel expenses), or expected clearing date (for advances). See Topic Overview: Managing Aging and Outstanding Expense Transactions for information on how to manage expense reports, Purchasing Card, Travel Card, and advance transactions with regard to timing.

Travel and business expenses that do not reflect good stewardship of university resources, are found to benefit the individual at the expense of the university and/or are deemed excessive or fraudulent will be subject to further review by the appropriate office (e.g., Office of Chief Risk Officer or School/Unit Office), as outlined in Administrative Guide Policy 3.5.1: Financial Irregularities.

Funding Source  

A key consideration in the proper stewardship of university resources is ensuring that the funding source is appropriate to use for the expense. Funding sources such as individual or corporate donors, government agencies, non-government sponsors and tuition have varying restrictions for their use. The federal government has mandated that no alcohol may be charged as either a direct or indirect expense of federally sponsored projects. Consequently, alcohol cannot be charged to a federal grant or contract account under any circumstances. 

Business and travel expenses that will be charged to restricted or sponsored awards, including costs of lodging, meals and incidental expenses, must be reasonable, allowable, necessary to the award and consistent with university policies. For example, the use of the per diem method is required when travel meal expenses will be charged to a sponsored award. Certain expenditures, such as business entertainment, alcohol and eligible business-class airfare, may be incurred within policy for university business or travel, and may be charged to an unrestricted account, but may not be charged directly to restricted or sponsored awards.

University-Sponsored Travel

Per Administrative Guide Policy 5.4.2, university-sponsored travel is defined as when the university pays directly or reimburses individuals for travel expenses that are necessary and appropriate to conduct university business. This includes the use of any funding source for which the university has financial responsibility and accountability, including operating budgets, donor gifts, federally-sponsored grants and awards, and any other restricted or unrestricted fund. Student and postdoctoral scholar travel that is directly related to their individual course of study, or for which academic credit may be awarded, is considered university-sponsored travel, even if the travel is funded via their base financial support.

University-sponsored travel may occur within or outside of the local area. Travel is considered outside of the local area when the destination is 50 miles or more one way from the traveler’s home or Stanford’s historic campus, whichever is greater. This definition is applicable to some travel expense policies, for example, hotel lodging reimbursement, where the university will only pay for hotel lodging expenses when the trip is outside of the local area.

Employee Travel to a Stanford Work Location

For employees in a hybrid work arrangement, travel between an employee’s telecommuting worksite and their Primary Stanford Work Location is considered part of an employee’s normal commute and associated expenses are not reimbursable. For details, see Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.20: Hybrid (Telecommuting) Work Arrangements

For employees in a remote work arrangement whose residence is within the defined 10-county area*, travel to a Stanford Work Location will not be reimbursed because the remote arrangement is at the employee’s request and there is space available for the employee to work on campus. For Remote employees outside of the 10-county area, Stanford will reimburse expenses for occasional, required travel to a Stanford Work Location as long as the travel is necessarily incurred and the employee receives prior approval by the employee’s department/manager. In these instances, the guidelines for booking and reimbursement of business travel apply. For details, see Administrative Guide Policy 2.1.21 Remote Work Arrangements.

*The 10-county area includes all of the following counties: Santa Clara County, San Mateo County, San Francisco County, Alameda County, Contra Costa County, Marin County, Napa County, Sonoma County, Solano County, or Santa Cruz County.

Split or Partially Funded Travel

When travel expenses for Stanford faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars or students will be shared by Stanford University and one or more external organizations, even if only a minority of the travel expenses are sponsored by Stanford, the trip is considered split.

In terms of the booking policy, split travel is considered university-sponsored travel and must be purchased through a Stanford Travel booking channel following the Business and Travel Expense Policies detailed here and in Administrative Guide Policy 5.4.2.

If it is not easy to separate out the costs that will be covered by the external party, the Stanford Travel Card may be used to pay for the total cost of the trip, then Stanford must be reimbursed by the traveler or travel arranger for the external party portion. See How To Return Personal Expenses Charged to a Travel Card.

Any portion of travel that Stanford pays for must follow Stanford Travel policies and guidelines described on this page.

Fully Externally-sponsored Travel

When an outside institution or entity asks Stanford faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars or students to travel on that organization’s behalf and provides full payment for those travel expenses, the trip is considered fully externally-sponsored, also referred to as third party travel.

Stanford University resources may not be used to book, purchase or reimburse expenses for fully externally-sponsored travel. In these instances, the use of the Stanford Travel Card and advances is prohibited, and travel arrangements may not be booked via Stanford Travel booking channels.

Personal Travel

When a personal component of travel is added to a business trip, the university will only pay for or reimburse the costs of the business component. The charge that would have been incurred without that personal component must be documented through a fare comparison at the time of booking in order to appropriately process the reimbursement.

The Travel Card may be used to pay for trips that include a component of personal travel that may not be easily separated from the booking, but it may not be used to purchase trips that are exclusively personal. In cases where the Travel Card is used to purchase trips with a personal component, the individual is responsible for reimbursing the university for the extra cost.

University policy, codified in Administrative Guide Policy 5.4.2: Business and Travel Expenses, outlines the university’s travel booking policy. 

Required: Airfare Bookings

Stanford utilizes a centralized travel booking program (Stanford Travel) that automatically registers travel reservations, and any subsequent changes to a reservation, to the university’s Travel Registry, which connects to Stanford’s provider of medical, personal, travel, and security assistance abroad.

Therefore, in order to enable the university to provide guidance to travelers before their trips and to locate and more effectively support travelers in the event of an emergency, faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars and students traveling on behalf of the university must utilize the centralized travel booking program to book airfare unless it is specifically exempted from the booking policy exemptions (described below). 

Optional for booking through Stanford Travel: Hotels and Certain Types of Airfare (Exemptions)

Stanford Travel automatically sends booking updates to the registry when itineraries change, supports compliance with reimbursement policies and procedures and offers discounts, waivers, and perks to travelers. For these reasons, booking hotels through Stanford Travel is highly recommended, though not required.  

There are certain types of airfare, referred to as exemptions (described below) that are also optional to be booked outside of the Stanford Travel booking channels.

Exemptions (Travel that may be booked outside of Stanford Travel)

While Stanford Travel booking channels are a great option for most air travel, there are certain types of airfare that are optional due to complexity or because they typically need to be booked directly with airlines. These are referred to as exemptions, because the university does not require travelers to book these types of airfare through Stanford Travel booking channels. 

Expenses associated with booking policy exemptions are still reimbursable as long as they are in accordance with their respective business and travel expense policies. An explanation of the booking policy exemption should be included in the expense report’s business purpose.

For these exempted travel reservations, faculty, staff, postdoctoral scholars, and students must use the itinerary-forwarding service to register and then, as needed, update trip details if they change. If you experience any issues with forwarding an itinerary, please contact globalrisk@stanford.edu.

Exempt or Optional Types of Travel (Do not require exceptions to book outside of Stanford Travel)

Exception Process

Travel that is not specifically listed above as either an optional, exempt type of travel, or as a type that is not required to book through Stanford Travel requires an exception. To request an exception to the booking method, travelers or travel arrangers will reach out directly to travelbookingexceptions@stanford.edu  (subject line: “Booking Exception Request”) with a justification for booking outside of the Stanford Travel booking channel(s), as well as location(s) and dates of travel. This step provides Global Risk an opportunity to review and provide advice depending on the nature of the trip. When an exception request is approved by Global Risk, the itinerary must then be shared with the university travel registry via a one-step email forwarding process. Global Risk will confirm that exceptions are successfully added to the registry. Learn more about this process on the Global Risk website.

This process is specific to requesting exceptions to the booking method only; exceptions to business expense policies and processes (e.g., such as for class of fare) are administered by Financial Management Services and approved first by the school or unit where applicable.

It is the responsibility of the individual incurring expenses, those who assist others with incurring expenses and those involved in the preparation and approval of advances, reimbursement requests or financial transactions to exercise good stewardship of university funds and to adhere to university policies. The individual incurring the expense and the appropriate administrator must ensure that all costs are in compliance with university travel and business expense policies prior to purchasing. These roles and responsibilities are outlined in Reimbursements and Expense Reports.

All business and travel expenses must have a business connection; that is, they must have been paid or incurred while performing Stanford business. The business connection must be adequately explained and documented in the university’s records. Documentation must include the Business Purpose, which should clearly and without need for interpretation:

• Explain how the business expense is connected to the university and supports its mission.
• Include sufficient documentation to support the Business Purpose and alignment to the purpose of the funds, such as agendas or travel itinerary, and demonstrate that the expense was reasonable based on circumstances.

A Business Purpose should be written so that someone reading it at a future time (e.g., an auditor reviewing the expense two or three years later) could understand the business connection without question. Refer to Resource: Guidelines for Writing a Clear Business Purpose. 

Those responsible for spending university funds on business and travel expenses must use the appropriate purchasing, payment and reimbursement method. Depending upon the type of expenditure and circumstances, primary purchasing and payment methods for business and travel expenses include Stanford purchase requisitions, credit card programs, non-purchase order payments, advances (under special circumstances) and expense reimbursement. For more information about each of these methods, refer to Topic Overview: Purchasing & Payment Methods.

Paying for Travel Expenses

The Stanford Travel Card (TCard) is the recommended payment method for any travel costs that will not be reimbursed through the per diem method.

When the per diem reimbursement method is available and selected by the traveler (i.e., for meals or lodging), the traveler should not use the TCard for these expenses. Reimbursing per diem expenses charged to a TCard creates an administrative burden for both the preparer and the university.

This chart shows which travel expenses are recommended for purchase with the TCard depending on the selected reimbursement method:

As an alternative to using the TCard, personal funds may be used and a request for reimbursement can be submitted after the trip. When personal funds are used, there are different reimbursement options available depending on who is traveling and the funding source:

• Stanford travelers may select between per diem or actual reimbursement up to the published maximums. The method selected must be used for the entire trip. If the funding source of the trip is a sponsored award, Stanford travelers must use the per diem option for travel meals.
• University affiliates must choose actual reimbursement up to the published maximums. Any individual without a SUNet ID should indicate their affiliation in the business purpose.
• Non-Stanford travelers and visitors are required by the IRS accountable plan rules to be reimbursed for actual travel expenditures up to the published maximums, regardless of the funding source. In these situations, a visitor must submit receipts for expenses of $75 or more to receive reimbursement. Any individual without a SUnet ID should indicate their affiliation in the business purpose.

Per Diem Reimbursement 

Stanford uses per diem rates recommended by the U.S. government to take advantage of governmental cost studies and to ensure general equity with grant and contract requirements. The use of the per diem method is required when travel meals will be charged to a sponsored award.

• Domestic per diem rates are maintained by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA). To view the current per diem rates for a city (or county if the city is not listed), access the GSA’s Domestic Per Diem Rates.
• Foreign per diem rates are maintained by the U.S. Department of State. To view the current per diem rates for an international location, access the Foreign Per Diem Rates by Location.

When using the per diem method, documentation is required to demonstrate proof of travel, such as boarding passes and conference or hotel receipts to substantiate trip dates. Individual meal documentation or receipts are not required in the Expense Requests System, although individual schools, units or departments may require all receipts. 

When creating an expense report in the Expense Requests System, the per diem tab must be used for per diem rates to be automatically calculated and applied based on the city visited. When the trip includes more than one university business stop and the cities involved have different per diem rates, the lodging per diem rate for each calendar day (beginning at 12:01 a.m.) is determined by the location where the lodgings are obtained for that night. When listing multiple cities, add each city in the Details page before selecting Generate Per Diem. Meal per diem rates are determined by where the meal occurred. If the city in which the travel occurred does not have a specified per diem rate, enter the county in which the city is located to apply that rate, e.g., "Santa Clara County." 

The Expense Requests System automatically calculates the corrected travel meal amount for the first and last day of travel, at 75 percent of the meals rate for the first day based on government-listed rate for the city traveled to, and 75 percent of the meals rate for the last day, based on the government listed rate for the last city visited.

Travel 30 Days or Longer

Long term travel is defined as when a travel period is 30 days or longer. In these instances, the traveler is required to use the per diem reimbursement method, and the per diem rate is reduced to 55 percent for the trip. The assumption is that when staying 30 days or longer, a traveler can find cheaper accommodations or can plan for or prepare less expensive meals.

The reduced rate will not be calculated by the Expense Requests System so the expense report preparer should calculate the reduced rates (0.55 x listed rate) and enter the adjusted amount in the Expense Requests System via the Adjusted Per Diem expense type in transaction lines.

• To learn about travel meal policies for travel periods of 30 days or longer, please visit the Travel Meals Policy page.
• To learn about lodging policies for travel periods of 30 days or longer, please visit the Lodging Policy page.

Expense and reimbursement requests must include sufficient documentation to support the business purpose and alignment to the purpose of the funds. Per the IRS Accountable Plan, documentation must demonstrate that the amounts incurred are reasonable based on the facts and circumstances, and specific explanation when they have deviated from university guidelines. Departments and units may have more restrictive requirements for receipts and documentation at their local discretion.

Requirements

• Receipts:
  • When the method of reimbursement will be based on actual expenses, original receipts are required in the Expense Requests System for expenses of $75 or more and should correspond to an individual expense line. If an individual expense is $75 or more, and an original receipt is not submitted as a backup document, some form of proof of payment, such as a credit card statement, must be submitted.
  • When using the per diem reimbursement method, documentation or receipts are not required in the Expense Requests System, although individual schools, units or departments may require receipts. Documentation is required to demonstrate proof of travel, such as boarding passes or conference receipts to substantiate trip dates.
• Currency: Foreign receipts must be converted to U.S. dollars. The Oanda website is a currency converter that can be used to convert foreign receipts. On the Oanda website, enter the date of receipt or date the plane ticket was issued (not necessarily the travel date) to get proper conversion. The currency conversion result must be attached to the expense report.
• Students and postdoctorates: Reimbursement to students and postdoctorates requires certification by the appropriate signatory within the Expense Request System. Learn more on the Student Travel page.

Additional Documentation 

Some expense categories, such as meals, airfare, car rental, lodging and conferences require additional documentation, which is detailed on those respective policy pages.

Using eReceipts to Collect and Share Receipts

The eReceipts app lets travelers and others easily upload and share images of receipts from their mobile device. The app helps users manage business and travel expense receipts required for Expense Requests System (ERS) transactions or Purchasing Card (PCard) verifications more efficiently. Receipt uploaders and their preparers can learn more about eReceipts and how to integrate it into their workflow on the eReceipts System page.

This application does not replace paper receipt retention requirements that may be in place for your department.

Meals

The university reimburses for reasonable and necessary meal expenses of two types:

• A business meal is defined as a meal at which faculty, staff, students and/or guests are present for the purpose of conducting university business. 
• A travel meal is defined as an ordinary and necessary meal that a traveler has while traveling on university business.

For more information, visit the Meals Overview page.

Travel Expenses

The university pays for reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by Stanford employees, affiliates and visitors in the course of university-related business travel. Travelers should neither gain nor lose personal funds as a result of business travel on behalf of Stanford University.
Travelers must have necessary approvals and travel documents prior to travel.

• Airfare overview and airfare policy
• Lodging overview and lodging policy
• Meals overview, business meal policy, and travel meal policy
• Ground transportation overview and ground transportation policy

Other Common Reimbursable Expenses 

For information about other common reimbursable expenses, such as employee morale, recruitment expenses, human subjects and gifts, visit the Other Business Expenses page.

For information about tips and gratuities, see the section below.

Tips for Meals

Tips should not exceed 20% and should be based on the subtotal that excludes fees (such as for food delivery). Mandatory service fees/gratuities over 20% charged by restaurants for large groups are acceptable. If a restaurant or food service provider offers a pre-calculated tip, you may choose up to the 20% option.

When the total cost of a meal includes additional banquet or service fees charged by the venue, additional tipping is not allowed and will not be reimbursed.

The total cost of a meal, including any tips, must not exceed the meal maximum. For daily meal maximums and other meals guidance, visit the Business Meals Policy page or the Travel Meals Policy page.

Tips for Ground Transportation

Tips to drivers should not exceed 20% of the total cost.

If your ground transportation offers a pre-calculated tip, you may choose up to 20%, if appropriate.

When car service is allowed, the total cost, including tip, must not exceed the maximum reimbursement listed on the Ground Transportation Policy page.

Below are some, but not all, expenses that are considered non-permissible expenses. Unless specifically noted, listed items may not be purchased or reimbursed, regardless of the funding source. As a general policy, purchases in excess of reasonableness are not allowed. Travelers should neither gain nor lose personal funds as a result of business travel on behalf of Stanford University. Unless Stanford University has approved the purchase of a product or service in advance, these items cannot be reimbursed to a university employee, affiliate or visitor for personal use.

Any costs specifically disallowed by school, department policy, external agreement or gift restriction are non-reimbursable.