11.2) Travel Rules and Procedures

It’s important to follow UT’s rules and regulations regarding travel in order to be in compliance and be reimbursed for your expenses. Do your part to be frugal with expenses. Please refer to the following section as you make your travel plans.

1. Get approval from Dr. Webber for your travel.

2. Request for Travel Authorization (RTA): This is an electronic document that has to be prepared and approved before you travel. When you know the dates of your travel, please provide the when, where, why, and what (and be as speciﬁc as possible) in an email to Sarah. Upon approval, your RTA information will be emailed to you.

3. Conference registration: If you are attending a conference and need to register, you may do so with Dr. Webber’s ProCard (available for check-out). You must return the card as soon as you are finished with it.

4. Airline reservations: You must follow UT’s travel procedure. Please familiarize yourself with the travel department’s website (http://www.utexas.edu/travel/). With your RTA information, you may make travel arrangements through UT's contracted travel agent (Anthony Travel 512-617-8444 or online through Concur, www.concursolutions.com) If you use Anthony Travel to make your arrangements, Dr. Webber's account is billed directly and you won't be out of pocket. You may also make travel arrangements online direct with the airline, if you prefer. Please not that you may still use your travel rewards or a credit card with rewards with the UT agent. Be sure and reply with the agent's email to confirm your reservation. If you purchase tickets on your own, be sure to include the receipt with your reimbursement request.
There are a few diﬀerent options for contacting the travel agent. You may call, ﬁll out an online form, or register with the booking website Concur. Please see the travel website for more information: http://www.utexas.edu/travel/.

5. Ground transportation: You must provide original receipts for your taxis, shuttle bus transportation, subway transportation, etc. To save money, sharing rides is appreciated. You can rent a car with any of the UT contracted rental companies (Avis/Budget, Enterprise/National, or Hertz). You can rent a car either on your own or through Anthony Travel.

6. Reimbursement for use of personal automobile: When you use your personal automobile to travel for UT purposes, you are allowed reimbursement for mileage or fuel expenses, but not both. Requests for reimbursement based on mileage must be accompanied by MapQuest or Google Map directions from Point A to Point B including mileage. Mileage is reimbursable at $0.565 per mile. You must provide a receipt to be reimbursed for fuel.

7. Food expenses: Dr. Webber asks that you provide receipts for your meals. The maximum allowed per day is $41. Anything over that will not be reimbursed except for extenuating circumstances. Alcohol is not reimbursable. Meals for one-day trips are also not reimbursable.

8. Lodging/meals and per diem: Per diem is based on combined lodging and meals. Please refer to the following guidelines when traveling (these guidelines are for travel on local accounts. Most of the time you will be on a local account. If you are traveling on a state account, the guidelines vary by city.

Individual hotel rooms for local funds follow the HBP guideline limitations:

In-State: Lodging $209 ($51 per diem meals)
Out of State: Lodging $324 ($51 per diem meals)
International: Lodging $374 ($51 per diem meals)

9. State hotel tax: When staying overnight within the state of Texas you never pay state hotel tax. Ask the hotel for a state tax exemption form when you check in. You cannot be reimbursed state tax at a Texas hotel. Be aware that if you place hotel reservations via a website like Orbitz or Priceline, you may not get the appropriate documentation for reimbursement. Furthermore, you will pay the state tax and not be reimbursed.

10. Reimbursement for shared accommodations: Sharing lodging is expected when appropriate. Ask the hotel to split your bill for each night that you share a room. Policy is to only reimburse for an individual’s expense. You cannot pay for your colleague’s hotel room and expect to be reimbursed. Always ask the hotel to split the room charges and provide two receipts. Anything other than this will cause you and Sarah a big headache. You may be reimbursed for business related internet and telephone charges that are included on your hotel bill.

11. Documentation: After your trip, you will provide all original receipts to Sarah. Please use these guidelines when preparing your receipts:

(a) Meals: Add up all meal receipts, staple them together (in order), and write the total amount on the top receipt (or post-it).

(b) Small paper receipts: On letter-sized paper, tape smaller re-ceipts on all sides. You can ﬁt as many as you can on a page.

(c) Mileage: Print out a Google map of your route and indicate if the trip was round-trip or one-way.

(d) Summary: On a blank page, write down all of the elements and $ amounts for what you expect to be reimbursed for. Show the total amount to be reimbursed. You can leave mileage oﬀ if you are unsure. Sign the paper showing that everything is true and accurate and that you accept the amount to be reimbursed. Paperclip everything together and deliver to Sarah for processing.