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Return Personal Expenses Charged to Travel Card

Here are the instructions for returning the funds for any personal expenses charged to the Travel Card. Review important Travel Card usage guidance and restrictions at the Travel Card Policy page. For instructions on repaying PCard charges, please visit,  How To Handle Personal Expenses Charged to the PCard.

Return Personal Expenses Charged to Travel Card

For details on using Expense Reports to manage Travel Card Expenses, review the STARS Course,  FIN-0402: Expense Reports with Travel Card Transactions and/or view the Learning Supplements, Expense Reports with Travel Card Transactions Task Demonstrations.

Stanford Travel Cards are to be used for buying travel and travel-related services required for the conduct of University business. The Travel Card may not be used for any purchases restricted by the University or a sponsored project account or for personal expenses, other than necessary and incidental personal purchases incurred during the course of a business trip or event. Personal expenses charged to the TCard (Travel Card) should be paid back to Stanford University. Please follow the steps below to return funds for these personal expenses made on a Travel Card. 

Personal expenses not paid back to Stanford University may be:

  • Withheld from subsequent reimbursements to the payee
  • Reported as personal income to the payee

If the transaction associated with the personal expense has been force cleared, proceed to Topic Overview: Managing Aging and Outstanding Expense Transactions for next steps.

  1. Enter ofweb.stanford.edu in the browser
  2. Select Login
  3. As prompted, log in using SUNet ID and password

  1. Select SU Expense Requests

All expenses for a trip or that pertain to a single business purpose should be included in one expense report.

  1. Select all Stanford Travel Card transactions that should be applied to the Expense Report (including fully and partially personal charges)
  2. Select Next or Previous to view additional transactions if necessary

For Completely Personal Travel Card Transactions
  1. Identify completely personal Travel Card transactions
  2. Select the checkbox for each fully personal transaction line
  3. Select the Categorize as Personal button above the line items 

The fully personal transactions will be listed as personal expenses.

For Partially Personal Travel Card Transactions

Demo: Itemize a Partially Personal TCard Charge

  1. Identify partially personal transactions 
  2. Select Travel Card transaction and add to transaction lines
  3. Select Details for that line
  4. Select Itemize for the line with the personal charge
  5. Under Itemization 1-1, enter just the business portion of the charge as the amount
  6. Enter Remarks regarding the personal portion of the charge, and the non-business portion now shows as Personal Expenses
  7. Select Return to List and continue

  1. Continue to add additional Expense Lines as needed, Expense Allocations, Approvers and Approval Notes 
  2. Review the transaction carefully for completeness, accuracy and policy compliance.

  • To pay the amount that you owe, mail a personal check or money order made out to Stanford University for the personal charges made on a Travel Card.
  • Include a note with the check giving the related Expense Request number, and, if possible, attach the check to a printout of the Full View of the Expense Request.

    Send the check to:
     
    • Stanford University Payment Services
      P.O. Box 20410
      Stanford, CA 94309-0410

Do not scan the check and send the scanned image by email. Send the check via the U.S. Mail. Mail is checked daily.

What Happens Next?
  • Payment Services receives the check or money order, records the Expense Request number, and creates a transaction to reconcile the amount due to the university.
  • Outstanding transactions can be tracked using the TCard Personal Transactions Payment Due report, available in the OBI Dashboard: Expense Requests and SU Card Activity (ERR).
  • If payment is overdue, reminders are sent at 15 and 45 days. At 60 days, a final notice is issued, warning of force-clearing and tax reporting to the payee. The force-cleared amount, including a $35 fee, is charged to the organization’s Accounts Payable (AP) Default PTA.
  • If the department incorrectly deposits the check, a copy of the deposit (including the PTAE) must be submitted to clear the outstanding transaction
    • Submit a Support Request with the deposit details as proof referencing the transaction number and transaction details.
    • Once the copy of the deposit is received by Business Expense, a transaction will be processed to reconcile the outstanding balance.
Last Updated: Apr 16, 2025

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