Travel Meals

Definition

A travel meal is defined as an ordinary and necessary meal that occurs while traveling on university business. The primary purpose for reimbursing a travel meal is to defray the cost of meal expenses when traveling outside of one’s local area, which is defined as more than 50 miles one way from home or Stanford, whichever is greater. Unlike a business meal, no additional justification is needed for a travel meal as long as the meal occurs within the business travel period, because it is covered by the business purpose of that trip. The cost of the travel meal must still be deemed reasonable under university policy, as such, the university has established maximums for travel meal reimbursement. 

Travel Period

To learn when a travel period for a business event begins and ends, visit Business and Travel Expenses.

Group Travel Meals

A group travel meal is when a group of Stanford employees, affiliates or colleagues who are travelling together or attending the same conference share an ordinary and necessary meal. In this example, the meal must be classified as a travel meal, unless it meets the additional requirements of a business meal with a clearly documented business purpose. 

Group travel meals cannot be reimbursed through the per diem method, so group travel meals should adhere to the per person single travel meal limits. The meal would be expensed by one participant and the travel meal cost would be deducted from each of the attendees' expense reports accordingly. The Deducting Provided Meals section on this page provides reasonable guidance for individual meals.

In the Expense Requests System, include the names of employees that participated in the group travel meal. The attendee list can be entered by listing them directly in the transaction or by attaching the list as a supporting document. 

Roles and Responsibilities

It is the responsibility of the individual incurring the travel meal and those involved in the preparation and approval of the reimbursement request or financial transaction 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 & Expense Requests.

To support administrative efficiency, the Stanford Travel Card (TCard) is the preferred payment method for travel costs unless the traveler will choose the per diem reimbursement method. Alternatively, personal funds may be used and a request for reimbursement can be submitted after the trip concludes. When the per diem reimbursement method is available and selected by the traveler, the TCard should not be used for those costs (i.e., meals that will be reimbursed to the traveler at the per diem rate). The same policies and guidelines must be followed regardless of payment or reimbursement method.

When personal funds are used, there are different reimbursement options available depending on the type of travelers and funding source utilized. The selected reimbursement method must be used for the duration of the business trip.
 

Long-Term Travel (30 Days or More)

To learn how to be reimbursed for meals and lodging when a traveler stays in one location for 30 days or longer, visit Business and Travel Expenses.

The per diem reimbursement method uses a fixed daily rate (set amount) which varies by specific location as established by the United States (U.S.) government. The per diem rates are used to reimburse eligible travelers for their incurred travel expenses (Meals and Incidental Expenses [M&IE] and Lodging) rather than calculating and tracking their actual expenses. In the Expense Requests System, the M&IE per diem rates are automatically reduced to 75 percent of the set rate for the specific location for the first and last days of travel.

The per diem method allows the university to take advantage of governmental cost studies and to ensure general equity with grant and contract requirements. 

When using the per diem reimbursement method, receipts are not required in the Expense Requests System. However, documentation is required to demonstrate proof of travel (e.g., boarding passes, lodging or conference receipts) to substantiate trip dates.

• If the destination city is not listed:
  • For domestic travel, enter the county in which the city is located to apply that rate, e.g., “Santa Clara County.”  
  • For international travel, [Other] should be chosen as the city. “Other” cities are displayed in Oracle as: [Other], Country (e.g., [Other], France or [Other], Japan). To search for these general locations, users should either search the full term (with the brackets) or use the wildcard feature to search the country traveled to (e.g., %Japan%, %France%). 

Multiple Locations

When a trip includes more than one university business stop and the cities involved have different per diem rates, the entire per diem for the trip should be included on a single transaction line and each city should be added in the Details page before selecting Generate Per Diem. This will ensure that Oracle does not reduce the per diem rate on the first day in each new city, only the first and last days of the entire trip.  

For additional guidance, please refer to How To: Create an Expense Report for SU Payees.

Adjusted Per Diem

Within expense reports, the Adjusted Per Diem expense type should be used in limited scenarios as detailed below:

• When calculating the reduced per diem rate for extended travel (30 or more days)
• When a reduced per diem is agreed upon with the traveler by the business unit

The daily maximum method allows eligible Stanford travelers who are traveling on non-sponsored funds to be reimbursed for their actual expenses up to a daily maximum described below. Stanford travelers are not required to attach receipts in the Expense Requests System unless there is an individual expense of $75 or more, although schools and units may require all receipts to be attached at their local discretion.

For more information on visitor travel payment and reimbursement methods, visit Business and Travel Expenses.

The maximums cover the actual per person cost for the meal (inclusive of food, alcohol, sales tax, and tip). 

The maximums do not include Living Wage (Cost of Living) fees. These fees are automatically added to dining bills by some restaurants to compensate for high labor costs, ongoing labor shortages and increasing food costs. They may be listed on a receipt as Wellness fees, Dining-in fees, or Health care fees.

When a meal is provided as part of a conference, included in a hotel rate, transportation fare, or is part of an event or meeting where another party pays for the cost, a deduction must be made from the applicable reimbursement method. This includes when a business meal occurs while traveling.

Deducting from Per Diem Method

When reporting travel meal per diem expenses in the Expense Requests System, checkboxes are available to deduct a provided meal. The system will automatically deduct the portion of the applicable per diem rate. The deductible amount varies based on the rate for the applicable city and may be found at the GSA website. 

Deducting from Daily Maximum Method

When reporting expenses with the travel meals daily maximum option, it's reasonable to use the following amounts to deduct the provided meal from the daily maximum.