COLA Official Occasion Expense Form
Please review the Handbook of Business Procedures entry on Entertainment 9.1.1 for complete details on entertainment spending. EntertainmentThe College Official Occasion Expense Forms (OOEF) policy pertains to all entertainment expenditures. Entertainment expenditures include food and beverages, facility rentals, flowers, invitations, or and other similar expenses and must serve a clear business purpose. The university’s process for paying for entertainment costs changed on May 1, 2025.
New:
OOEFs are submitted with payment voucher paperwork and are not required to be approved or signed.
Cost per person limit is $100/person per meal or event, including food/beverage, alcohol, tax, gratuity, and required service fees (See: HBP 9.1.1.4.2 and the OOE Policy Chart.)
Accounts Payable in the Office of Accounting reviews voucher coversheets with entertainment charges for your chair or director’s approval signature or an approval signature from the Dean’s office, in some cases.
If you are attaching an OOEF to the payment packet for VPE, VP2, VP7 etc. that you submit to OA, then you need to make sure the appropriate signature is on the coversheet.
As of June 1, 2025 the COLA online OOEF system is retired. Please use only for research purposes.
Procedure:
Determine who needs to sign the coversheet:
Did your chair/director host the event? Host can be any of the following:
their name is on the invitation
they are running the meeting or event,
or they are being reimbursed for the event.
Is your chair/director being reimbursed?
Is the total amount of entertainment expenditures over $5,000?
Is alcohol the primary expense? (Review the policy carefully for limited scenarios where this is applicable. HBP 9.1.1.4.2c)
If the answer is yes to any of the above, the coversheet will need to be signed by the Dean’s Office.
If the answer is no to all of the above, the coversheet can be signed by your chair/director.
Get a signature
For coversheets to be signed by the Dean’s Office, submit your completed packets for review via SmartSheet.
SUBMIT HERE: Dean’s Office Entertainment and Official Occasion Expense Approval Request
Once you select one of the four Reason for Submission options, additional fields pop up. Once your form is signed, submit the completed paperwork to OA for payment.
For coversheets to be signed by your chair/director, you can FYA the document in Define or create a PDF of the coversheet to be signed digitally. Once your form is signed, submit the completed paperwork to OA for payment.
For CBS units, please upload backup documentation (receipts, OOEF, PO/contract, etc) to your area’s CBS Submission Box folder. CBS will create the appropriate voucher, send for the required signature, and submit to OA for payment.
Resources:
COLA Resource Guide for Entertainment Expenses
Event Budgeting Spreadsheet - Tool to help you budget for your event
OOEF Tabulator - Tool to help you calculate cost per person
Types of OOEFs|Food & Miscellaneous |Alcohol | Taxes | Delivery & Fees | Attendees
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Types of OOEFs
Pre-Approval:
Events that exceed an estimated budget of $1,000 or events that will serve alcohol during a breakfast or lunch meeting require a final approved OOEF prior to the event date. You will need to submit an itemized budget using the budgeting spreadsheet link here. Please submit as soon as possible to ensure the OOEF is final approved prior to the event date. The average turnaround time once the OOEF is at the Dean’s Office for review is 5-7 business days.
Post Event:
Events that have an estimated budget that is less than $1,000 can have OOEFs submitted after the date of the event. These OOEFs should have stamped itemized receipt(s) and invoice(s) included as attachments. Please note the system allows for a maximum of 5 attachments per OOEF, so some items may need to be combined before being uploaded. It is generally best practice to submit an OOEF prior to the event or meeting; however, circumstances may not allow for that, in which case please be sure to follow the guidance above.
Multiple OOEFs:
There are some situations where more than one OOEF may be required due to the nature of the meeting or event. If your event spans multiple days, the cost of the event differs by more than 10%, or the intended audience changes throughout the day, multiple OOEFs would be required. The examples listed below are not meant to be an exhaustive list, but the most common reasons.
Blanket:
If you answer ‘yes’ to all these questions, you are eligible to submit a blanket OOEF for your entire event. When submitting blanket OOEFs, an estimated budget for the event is required. You can find the budgeting spreadsheet here.
- Is the event part of a recurring series over a period of time such as a semester or fiscal year?
- Is the title and purpose of the event the same for each occurrence?
- Is the “host” and core audience/group for the events the same for each occurrence?
Useful Resources:
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General Tips:
Alcohol
Alcohol will only be reimbursed up to 50% of the food and drink subtotal before tax, tip, & fees. Per UT policy, alcohol costs more than 50% of the food and drink subtotal before taxes, fees, and tips, will not be paid using UT funds.There are narrow exceptions in the HBP policy around recruiting and donor-relations. Please reach out to la-finance@austin.utexas.edu with questions before an event if you think this could apply to your situation to get confirmation that you can proceed.
Serving alcohol on campus at a non-licensed venue requires the Alcohol Exception Request Form to be approved in advance of your event.
COLA will not reimburse alcohol costs for events held at private residences.
Resources:
List of Pre-Approved Venues On-Campus to Serve Alcohol
Alcohol Exception Request Form_______________________________
Food & Miscellaneous
Includes food, non-alcoholic beverages, flowers, greeting cards, and miscellaneous supplies (such as pens, sticky notes, paper clips, tissue, hand sanitizer, etc.) for the event. Please use the “Delivery/Fees” field for other types of costs such as linens, A/V rentals, or facility rental fees.
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Taxes
Provide vendors with tax exemption certificate below to exempt your purchases from sales tax. Sales tax can be reimbursed for an employee who paid for a business meal that was eaten at the restaurant with personal funds. Otherwise, sales tax is not reimbursable.
Resources:
Alcohol
Alcohol will only be reimbursed up to 50% of the food and drink subtotal before tax, tip, & fees. Per UT policy, alcohol costs more than 50% of the food and drink subtotal before taxes, fees, and tips, will not be paid using UT funds.
Example: If food = $50.00, alcohol cannot exceed $49.99; Subtotal would be $99.99 and alcohol percentage would be 49.99%.
Useful Resources:
List of Pre-Approved Venues On-Campus to Serve Alcohol
Alcohol Exception Request Form
Handbook of Business Procedures: Alcohol (9.1.1.F and 9.1.1.H)
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Food & Misc
When calculating cost per person, include food, non-alcoholic beverages, flowers, greeting cards, and miscellaneous supplies (such as pens, sticky notes, paper clips, tissue, hand sanitizer, etc.) for the event. Please useTaxes
Provide vendors with tax exemption certificate below to exempt your purchases from sales tax. Sales tax can be reimbursed for an employee who paid for a business meal that was eaten at the restaurant with personal funds.Otherwise, sales tax is not reimbursable.
Useful Resources:
Handbook of Business Procedures: State Sales Tax and Mixed Beverage Sales Tax (9.1.1.M.1.f)
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Delivery & Fees
When calculating cost per person, include Includes delivery fees, rental fees, AV fees, and any other fees that do not fit in the “Food & Misc.” section. Service fees can also be included in this section, as long as tip is not included within the service fee charged by the vendor. If you have questions about whether this is applicable, please reach out to the vendor to gather clarification.
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Attendees
Please be as accurate as possible when describing who will be attending an event, as this will influence the guidelines around the event. See below for more details regarding the restrictions for each group type.
Student Attendees
UT Employee Attendees
Donors, Speakers, Special/Honored Guests/Companions, and Recruitment Attendees
Questions?
If you have questions regarding any information listed above, please contact la-finance@austin.utexas.edu.