Chartered Transportation

All chartered transportation should be processed on a purchase order through Financial Purchasing (FP).

5C.05.40

Check Writing Policy

Except for nights of a scheduled month-end close, checks are generated by the computer on Monday through Friday nights and are distributed the following business day. All travel vouchers will be processed within three days of the date of receipt of the voucher by the Travel Office.

All checks required by a certain date should be flagged and highlighted on the face of the voucher. Every effort will be made to process these vouchers by the designated date.

NOTE: Special requests for manual checks will be processed ONLY IN EMERGENCY SITUATIONS. For a manual check to be processed, a memorandum signed by the Dean or Director documenting the nature of the emergency must be submitted to the attention of the Financial Operations Supervisor or the item must have the approval of the Director of Financial Operations or other appropriate administrative approval. Requests for manual checks must be received by the Travel Office by 1 p.m. of the day the check is to be written.

5C.05.45

Citicorp Diners Club Corporate Card Program

NMSU has entered into an agreement with Citicorp Diners Club to provide employees with credit cards to facilitate business travel. There is no cost to the employee or NMSU. Forms for this program are the Club Cash Enrollment form and application for Diners Club Enrollment form. Please contact Financial Operations at 646-1189 or visit http://www.nmsu.edu/~travel/ for information on this program.

5C.05.50

Federally Funded Travel

Per diem for travel which is reimbursed from Federal funds will be reimbursed at the NMSU-established per diem rate as outlined in subsection 5C.05.15. All University policies regarding travel reimbursement will apply to travel on all funds including Federal sources.

Federally Funded International Travel
For Federally funded international travel, US Flag air carriers must be used when possible. Travelers may fly business class only when a flight is greater than fourteen hours in duration and there are no stopovers of more than twenty-four hours. Economy class must be used for travel not meeting these requirements.

5C.05.55

Local Mileage

A mileage log with odometer readings, dates, and destinations is required for reimbursement requests for local mileage. Local mileage reimbursement is allowed through NMSU Petty Cash system if amount owed is less than $50.00.

5C.05.60

Partial Day Rates

For domestic partial day travel, either when overnight lodging is not required or when it follows a twenty-four (24) hour overnight travel, reimbursement will be based on the destination meal rate in Appendix 5C-B. If the city or county destination is not listed, the standard meal rate of $39 per day will be used. The partial day breakdown is as follows:

For travel outside the continental United States, individual meal cost breakdowns are based on the percentages listed above. If the destination is not specifically listed, use the rate listed under "Other" for the Country or State.

Requests for reimbursement where overnight stay is not required should be reasonable in nature, such as travel during meal times.

Object Codes for Partial-Day Per Diem When Overnight Lodging is Not Required
When submitting claims for partial-day per diem when overnight lodging is not required, departments must use the following object codes:

These codes must be used to allow for required Federal tax reporting. All payments for partial day travel where overnight lodging is not required will be treated as taxable compensation to the employee and reported as such on the employee's W-2.

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5C.05.65

Preparation of Forms and Signatures

Prior approval of employee travel, including prior approval of actual expense reimbursement, is performed by authorized Department Heads, Deans, or Directors. Illustration 5C-8 is provided for departmental convenience but does not need to be submitted to the Travel Office.

All claims for reimbursement must include payee signature plus one additional signature from the Department Head, Dean or Director (see Appendix 2-A for additional information on signature policy). All signatures must be original. Facsimile signatures, initials, and signing another employee's name are not acceptable. Reimbursements for any employee require a different authorized employee approval signature.

All reimbursement requests must clearly state a purpose of the travel.

5C.05.70

Receipted Travel Expenses

Receipts are required when claiming reimbursement for actual lodging expenses (subsection 5C.05.80) or for other non-per diem expenses (subsection 5C.10.30).

All receipts must be identifiable as to payee, and nature and amount of expenditure. Any information not given by the receipt must be added by the department; all such additions must be attested to by the employee's signature on the receipt.

Personal Expenses
Personal expenses such as laundry, dry cleaning, movie rentals, and personal calls are not allowable. Employees traveling for a minimum of ten consecutive days and a maximum of one month, will be allowed reimbursement for laundry and dry cleaning expenses. All laundry and dry cleaning expenses must be supported by original externally produced receipts and attested to by the traveler and approved by the Department Head, Dean, or Director.

Expenses resulting from an employee's non-official or personal activities, and expenses related to guests of the employee, cannot be reimbursed.

5C.05.75

Registration/Conference Fees

Registration fees may be paid by NMSU in advance of a trip by submitting a Direct Pay Request form along with the original and one copy of the registration document or charged on an University Procurement Card. Employees who pay a registration fee from personal funds will be reimbursed upon presentation of the registration document and proof of payment, such as receipt, credit card slip or canceled check. All registration documents must provide cost and a breakdown of services included in the fee. All lodging and/or optional meals included in a registration fee or otherwise paid for by NMSU must be deducted from the total reimbursement claimed. For any optional meals, the reimbursement claimed must be reduced by the greater of the meal per diem amount or the actual cost paid. The following schedule, based on location (Appendix 5C-B), provides the individual meal costs included in the per diem:

For travel outside the Continental United States, individual meal cost breakdowns, are based on the percentages listed above for each meal.

5C.05.80

Reimbursement of Actual Lodging Expenses

With prior approval of the Department Head, Dean, or Director, employees traveling on official business either in-state or out-of-state may receive:

• Reimbursement for actual expense for lodging (original and externally produced receipts are required); and
  
• Reimbursement of the meal rate cannot exceed the current meal rate on Appendix 5C-B. If the city or county destination is not listed, the employee must use the current standard meal reimbursement per diem. An employee may receive reimbursement of actual meal cost, not to exceed the allowed rate for such destination. No receipts are required.

Travel Outside the Continental United States
For travel outside the Continental United States, high cost destinations, including partial day rates and individual meal cost breakdowns, please refer to Appendix 5C-C.

Prior sponsor approval for reimbursement of actual expenses will be required on individual restricted grants and contract accounts if expressly stated as a requirement in the external sponsor guidelines. Please refer to grant/contract terms and conditions for specific requirements. For partial day per diem rates refer to subsection 5C.05.60.

Meal and lodging expenses may not be direct billed to NMSU. These expenses must be paid for by the employee and subsequently be reimbursed in accordance with University policies.

5C.10

EMPLOYEE REIMBURSEMENT

Within five working days after completion of a trip, prepare and submit a Reimbursement Voucher. Reimbursement requests for travel older than sixty days may become the responsibility of the traveler. Three working days are required by the Travel Office to process reimbursement requests.

5C.10.05

Statement of Per Diem

This section should be completed according to guidelines provided (see Appendix 5C-D for additional guidance) for one of the following:

• Per Diem in subsection 5C.05.15
• Reimbursement of Actual Lodging Expenses subsection 5C.05.80
• Partial Day rates subsection 5C.05.60

Driving: For those employees who elect to drive, per diem may be reimbursed at the lesser of actual travel time or the amount of time which would have been claimed if the travel had been by commercial airline (see subsection 5C.10.10).

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5C.10.10

Statement of Transportation

The mode of transportation must be clearly indicated. Reimbursement for mileage is allowed only when employees are traveling from their primary official place of work on approved University business. Employees traveling from this place of work to an approved site related to their official duties, such as teaching an off-campus class in addition to regular duties, may receive reimbursement only if their regular or primary place of work is the originating point.

Privately Owned Vehicle/Airplane

Employees traveling on official business shall receive $.585 (effective July 1, 2008) per mile for each mile traveled in a privately owned vehicle, or $1.07 per mile for each mile traveled in a privately-owned airplane. These rates will adjust automatically in accordance with Internal Revenue Service standard rates. These rates are intended to cover all expenses related to use of the vehicle, such as gasoline, repairs, etc. University gasoline credit cards may not be used for personal vehicles (see subsection 5C.10.20).

Allowed Mileage: Mileage allowed is the official map mileage, which may be obtained from the Travel Office. See Appendix 5C-A for frequently used round-trip mileage figures. Reimbursement of mileage claiming in excess of official map mileage, without official odometer readings, will be allowed provided that a short written explanation is indicated on the voucher.

Trailers pulled by Private Vehicles
Employees using their personal vehicles for official university business to tow trailers for animals, feed, equipment, or other bulky loads may receive reimbursement for mileage of $.50 per mile.

Carpooling Employees for Official Trips
If a privately owned vehicle is used to transport more than one employee, reimbursement for mileage is limited to one employee.

NOTE: When electing to drive to a destination, reimbursement claimed should be the lesser of the cost of airfare or mileage. Estimated rental car expenses in the city of destination may be included as a part of the estimated cost of flying, for the purpose of determining allowable transportation cost.