Liberal Arts Business Office

Having difficutly getting your travel reimbursed in a timely manner?

Your travel reimbursement can be delayed for numerous reasons. Many times information submitted on the travel reimbursement conflicts with the travel request or clarifications are necessary. We have identified some of the most common problems. Please work with your business office to provide them with the following information to ensure your travel reimbursement is processed quickly.

Common Travel Request (Form 17) Mistakes:

Remember to put the dollar amount or the percentage of the trip to be charged to the account number beside the account number in section #14.

If the department is limiting the amount of the trip to be charged to the account number, indicate that in section #14, and state "Department $ limit for trip is x" in section #15.

Form 17’s must be submitted at least two weeks prior to travel. If this is not possible, there should be an explanation of why the Form 17 is being submitted with less than two weeks notice in section #15.

Itemize all trip expenses even if some expenditures (i.e. registrations) will be placed on the department’s procurement card. The Form 17 is the back-up documentation that authorizes the trip’s expenditures on the particular account number.

An explanation of the need for a rental vehicle is required in section #15. Example: "Rental vehicle required for local transportation between hotel and conference while in Tampa, Florida."

If a Purdue University aircraft will be used for travel, indicate this in section #15.

If the traveler will be staying extra day(s) (i.e. over a weekend) in order to get a less expensive flight back, a cost comparison of how much it would have cost must be included in section #15. Example: "Staying extra night to save $200 in airfare. See attached quote from Irvine Travel indicating that flight back would be $250 more on Friday than Saturday. Hotel for one extra night is $50. Thus the net cost savings is $200."

If traveler is staying extra days as vacation, indicate this in section #15. Example: "Traveler will be staying two extra days for vacation. No expenses will be reimbursed for these extra days."

If there will be no expenses charged to the university for a trip and it is not blanket travel, a Form 17 is still required. The dollar amount will be zero, and an explanation of "no expense to the university-all expenses covered by x" should be in section #15.

If students will be accompanying the traveler, a list of attending students must be kept on file in the department (this was commonly called the "Dean of Students" form in the past—the Dean of Students no longer receives these forms).

Common Travel Reimbursement (Form 25) Mistakes:

Receipts are not required for taxis, tolls, and subsistence.

Receipts for all other expenses must be attached to the Form 25 upon submission.

Maximum Subsistence Reimbursement for same day travel is $13.00.

Maximum Subsistence Reimbursement for in-state travel per 24 hours is $26.00.

Maximum Subsistence Reimbursement for out-of-state travel per 24 hours is $32.00.

If meals are provided on a trip, this must be indicated on the Form 25, and appropriate deductions from the subsistence reimbursement must be made for these meals.

If the travel agency charges a "ticket fee", a receipt for this must accompany the Form 25 in order to be reimbursed for this fee.