Expense Requests System Help

Consider the following when deciding what type of new transaction to create.

The tracking of foreign expense activity has become critical to Stanford University, as the global reach of the University's activities continues to grow. Data about expenses related to foreign travel, foreign purchases, and activities outside the United States are important for a variety of reasons:

• Statistics regarding Stanford's global presence
• Risk Management
• Compliance

The Expense Requests system has been designed to collect the much-needed data around foreign travel and expenses.

See definition of foreign transaction in Guidelines for Use of Categories for SU Payees.

Exceptions to the Rule:

• All expenses related to a business purpose involving foreign travel, including the purchase of goods and services while traveling (regardless of where they are used or provided), should be included in a foreign expense report.
• Non-PO Payments related to a business purpose involving foreign travel should be considered a foreign expense, even if service was provided or goods used in the U.S.

Expense Reports Foreign Expense Categories

Foreign Events

All foreign transactions must be associated with a foreign event in the Expense Requests system. It is recommended that a Foreign Event be set up in My Events Preferences prior to entering a transaction related to that event. See How To: Set My Events Preferences.

A Foreign Event consists of an Event Name (created by the user), and Start and End Dates that define the duration of the event. A Foreign Event also consists of one or more activities. You must identify the country, types of activities in the country, and number of faculty, employees, graduate students, and undergrad students involved with each activity. There may be multiple countries in an event, and multiple activities in a country.

Once a foreign event is set up, you can apply it to multiple transactions related to that event (if needed).

FAQs

Q: If a visitor travels from outside the U.S. to Stanford, and is given honoraria for speaking at an event, should the honorarium be requested as a foreign or domestic expense?

A:  Foreign expense, because the honorarium was for an activity related to foreign travel (the travel originated outside the U.S.), even though the speaking event was in the U.S.

Q:  Is it possible to have a Foreign Event with an activity in the U.S.?

A:  Yes. The U.S. should be entered as the Country of Activity when the activity occurs in the U.S., and travel from outside the U.S. was required.

Advances are limited to the following categories and expense types regardless of dollar value. There is no Miscellaneous category for advances. Advances requests must be for travel or human subject incentive. For more information about advances, visit the Advances Topic Overview page.

A beneficiary refers to the person benefiting from the expense. Every SU Payee transaction requires a response to the question, Is the payee the only beneficiary? If the response is Yes, all reimbursed expenses will be attributed to the Payee. If the response is No, then the preparer must add a line to the beneficiary table to enter the name or names of those who benefited from the expense.

• Add beneficiary information if expenses benefited someone other than the payee, including GIFT Recipients and STAP Participants. Do not add Payee name as beneficiary
• It is recommended to calculate beneficiary amounts prior to creating the Expense Request
• Total amount for all beneficiaries and payee total must equal the total expense report transaction amount
• Beneficiaries included on an expense request do not receive payment from the processing of that transaction. Only payees will receive disbursements

The preparer must enter the Type, Beneficiary Name, response to Non-Resident Alien question and the USD amount attributed to the beneficiary. Whatever amount is not listed under specific beneficiaries will be allotted to the payee.

Beneficiary Type definitions:

1. Faculty, Staff, or Student = Stanford (SU) Payee
2. Visitor (found in Supplier Database) = any non-employee who has been paid previously by Stanford
3. Other* = any guest not found in the Supplier Database or for all lists of beneficiaries over five names (including SU Payees)    
   For five individuals or fewer, enter each name per line
   For more than five individuals, enter an explanation in the free form field, such as,
         "# of beneficiaries, list attached" and attach the list of names as back-up
   or for Human Subject Advance clearing for more than five human subjects, "HS Advance ADVXXXXX protocol name or number"
   REQUIRED: For all beneficiaries, more than five:
   • Number of beneficiaries should be listed in Other field, i.e., 17 Department of Music staff, list attached or 21 Stanford Law School students, list attached
   • List of beneficiary names should be attached to the transaction backup
   • If a group includes more than 25 people, it is permitted to synopsize the group. For instance, "all employees from Financial Management Services" or "the Ophthalmology Department and their spouses."

*Preparers should select beneficiary type, “Other” for transactions with:

• Multiple beneficiaries
• Business/travel meals that exceed five people
• Office supplies for a department
• Research lab supplies where the principal investigator (PI) is the beneficiary
• Human subject participants, where names are confidential and cannot be listed in the business purpose

On the final page of the transaction before selecting Submit, the preparer must check a box to attest that the beneficiary information is accurate and supporting documentation will be attached. The total amount for Payee beneficiary and Non-Payee beneficiary will be shown on this final page.

Non-PO Payments are limited to the following expense categories regardless of dollar value. Some categories allow for a single request for payment to multiple payees.

Visitor Reimbursements are limited to the following categories regardless of dollar value. When creating a new expense report for Non-SU Payee (Visitor Reimbursement), begin on the General Information screen by choosing the correct category based on the descriptions below. Visitors may be reimbursed for eligible out-of-pocket travel expenses and other eligible expenses.

Expense Reports are used to report business and travel expenses (including TCard and receipt-based expenses) for the purpose of expense approval, and the allocation of expenses to the appropriate Project, Task, Award, and Expenditure Type (PTAE). An expense report may also result in a reimbursement to the Payee for eligible out-of-pocket expenses.

Each expense report will fall into one of the categories listed below. When creating a new expense report for an SU Payee, begin on the General Information screen by choosing the correct category based on the descriptions below.

Additional Guidelines for Determining Domestic vs Foreign Transactions

Domestic Expense:

• Travel is completely within the U.S.
• If travel is not involved:
  • Expenses for goods purchased for use in the U.S.
  • Expenses for services provided or consumed in the U.S.

Foreign Expense:

1. First, determine if the expense is during foreign travel – that is, the origination location or the destination location, during any leg of a trip, is outside the U.S.
   • If yes, the travel expenses and any other expenses (e.g., honoraria, conference registration, goods and services purchased, regardless of where they are used, provided or consumed) incurred or paid as a result of the trip are considered Foreign Transactions.
   • If no (not foreign travel-related), then go on to Step 2.
2. Second, determine if goods are used, or services provided or consumed outside the U.S.
   • If yes, it is a Foreign Transaction.
   • If no, it is a Domestic Transaction.

This How-To offers instructions on how to itemize travel and business expenses when creating an expense report. The procedures apply to both TCard charges and out-of-pocket expenses. This How-To also covers how to itemize a partially personal TCard charge (specifying the portion of the charge that is business and the portion that is personal).

Itemize Expenses or Itemize a Partially Personal TCard Transaction

1. Click Details for the expense line on the Transaction Lines or Travel Card Expenses screen
2. Click Itemize
3. Change the Itemized Receipt Amount field to the dollar amount of the business portion of the expense
4. Enter description in the Remarks
5. Click Add Another Row and repeat the process to itemize other business portions of the expense Any remaining amount not put on an itemized line will show as Personal Expenses.

See Demo: Itemize a Partially Personal TCard Transaction

When payments or incentives are made to a non-resident alien, tax withholding rules apply. The human subject or the Department must pay the 30% Federal withholding tax at the time the money is disbursed. See details and examples in the Resource: Proper Tax Treatment for Human Subject Incentives Paid to Non-Residents.

Each Supplier / Payee will have a default Payment Method of either Check or Electronic (ACH / Direct Deposit) in the database.

When Check is the default, Special Payment Types (Foreign Draft, Wire Domestic, and Wire Foreign) can be chosen, and additional delivery options are available for checks and foreign drafts.