INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARINGINT’L TRAVEL EXPENSE REIMBURSEMENT VOUCHERS

All receipts must be translated. All translations should occur on the receipt page, not in the travel date line description. Can you determine the items below? If not, you must ask the traveler.

Transaction/Payment date

Receipt total

Type of vendor (hotel, taxi, etc.)

What was purchased – All items purchased must be explained.

TRANSPORTIf it’s a transport receipt (airfare, train, bus, taxi parking, tolls), what was it used for (from where to where)?

  • If it’s airfare or train-fare, can you determine:
  • The date of departure/arrival
  • Departure and arrival city & country
  • Fare was economy/coach
  • Proof of payment (internet receipt showing paid, hand-held credit card receipt, credit card statement, etc.).
  • If it’s other transport, can you determine:
  • Date, departure/arrival city & country.
  • Was there a tip given and does it fall within the 15% that’s allowed for transport? If not, calculate the allowable tip and note the corrected receipt total on the receipt page.

LODGINGIf it’s a hotel receipt, all charges must be identified (Is it a room charge? Meal charge? Parking? Internet?). Calculate the “per night” room charges based on the credit card statement provided or the conversion to USD if a credit card statement was not provided.

  • If it’s a business meal receipt, is there alcohol? How much is the meal? How muchis the tip (cannot exceed 20%)? What was the business purpose of the meal? Number and Names of attendees and their affiliations (who are they?).
  • If it’s a purchase of supplies or other tangible items, what are the items purchased? What is business reason for the items (why were they purchased?).

Convert the foreign currency to USD. Note: If a credit card statement is provided that shows actual payment made, you do not need to convert.

The conversion date used must be the date of the transaction/payment. Note: Hotel receipts should be converted once on the day the bill was paid (usually, this is the check-out date). Donot convert for each night of the stay. Once the total bill is converted, the nightly charges can be determined.

Small Receipts– Print the conversion page and tape the receipt on the bottom section of the conversion page being careful not to tape over any printing on the receipt or the conversion date/amount.

Large Receipts – Print the conversion page and place the conversion page behind the receipt.

Put all conversion/receipt pages in order of when they occurred.

Pull and print the foreign travel Per Diem Schedule (PDS) for the country.

Be sure the PDS printed coincides with the appropriate travel dates. If travel crosses months (example: some hotel or business meal expenses are dated July and some are dated August), be sure to pull both month’s PDS to see if the rates changed. If the per diem rates did not change from month to month, you may print only one PDS and note that rates did not change for the other month.

After printing the PDS, highlight the per diem line for the city location.

Pull the Meals & Incidentals (M&IE) breakdown . Locate the City/Country rate and note the amounts for each meal & the amount for incidentals on the PDS. Printing the M&IE breakdown is not necessary.

If needed, calculate the 75% travel day per diem amount (75% of meals + full incidentals) and note the amount on the PDS.

If a conference or training seminar was attended, print out the agenda that shows the daily schedule with breaks.

Prepare the TERV:

Enter all travel dates.

Dates for receipts paid prior to first actual travel date should not be put on the TERV. Receipts paid prior to travel for the trip should be included in the first actual travel date line.

Notes in the description line for the travel date do not have to include explanations for airfare, per diem or lodging unless an explanation is needed to justify a disallowed or unusual expense.

  • Travel date descriptions should include:
  • Why mileage is charged (from where to where?)
  • Travel city/country
  • Description and USD cost of items that make up the “Other” column total such as:
  • Transport other than airfare (car rentals, taxis, parking, tolls)
  • Business meals
  • Visa or passport fees
  • Foreign transaction fees
  • Registration fees
  • Miscellaneous purchases

Each time the location city changes (they travel from one city to another), the description line for the date it occurred must include the new city/country information.

IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

  • The TERV must tell acomplete andcohesive story. Are there missing days that are unexplained? Did the traveler take personal days during the travel? Do all of the expenses make sense or are there unanswered questions? It is the department’s responsibility to determine the answers prior to submitting the voucher to travel.
  • If the traveler submits a credit card statement, use the statement charges for the correct reimbursement amounts. A conversion print-out does not need to be done for charges noted on a credit card statement.
  • Receipts must be original and itemized. If receipts are missing, a Missing Receipt Certification (MRC) must be completed and approved by the department for each missing receipt (missing receipts cannot be combined on one LRC).
  • It is recommended that any traveler going to a 3rd world or underdeveloped country purchase a standard receipt book. A receipt should be prepared at the time of purchase when the traveler realizes that a proper receipt will not be provided by the vendor. Each hand-written receipt should include the date, the location city, the foreign currency amount paid and what the payment was for. The cost for the receipt book is reimbursable.