Official Occasion Expense Form
Please review the Handbook of Business Procedures entry on Entertainment 9.1.1 for complete details on entertainment spending. Entertainment expenditures include food and beverages, facility rentals, flowers, invitations, or 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
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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
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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:
Appendix A: State Sales Tax and Mixed Beverage Sales Tax (section d)
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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 use the “Delivery/Fees” field for other types of costs such as linens, A/V rentals, or facility rental fees.
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Delivery & Fees
When calculating cost per person, include 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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Questions?
If you have questions regarding any information listed above, please contact la-finance@austin.utexas.edu.