What does your job reimburse?

[Deleted]

I have to travel often for work and some of my travel expenses to get reimburse (currently putting together the expense report to submit by the end of the day).

They reimburse the following:

Mileage: $.50/mile
Tolls: everything
Breakfast: up to $10
Dinner: up to $25 for PA, NY, NH, VT and up to $30 for MA, CT etc.
Hotel: they cover that but you have to pick from their list of hotels.

Ok, I think that is it for now. But sometimes it is a pain:
Last October I was in MA for 4 weeks ; so drive there every sunday night and come back home friday night. Keeping track of all the bills, receipts and making sure not to lose them almost drove me nuts.

This month it is easier, 1 day last week, 2 days this week, 1 day next week and 2 days the week after next. Hopefully no more travelling for awhile after that.

[Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ]

You are really starting to get annoying....

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 14:21:23 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

You are really starting to get annoying....

Bored at work, just got back from Vermont last night.
I just can't wait to just get out of here

[dancinmama]

Feb 18, 2011 14:15:57 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

I have to travel often for work and some of my travel expenses to get reimburse (currently putting together the expense report to submit by the end of the day).

They reimburse the following:

Mileage: $.50/mile
Tolls: everything
Breakfast: up to $10
Dinner: up to $25 for PA, NY, NH, VT and up to $30 for MA, CT etc.
Hotel: they cover that but you have to pick from their list of hotels.

Ok, I think that is it for now. But sometimes it is a pain:
Last October I was in MA for 4 weeks ; so drive there every sunday night and come back home friday night. Keeping track of all the bills, receipts and making sure not to lose them almost drove me nuts.

This month it is easier, 1 day last week, 2 days this week, 1 day next week and 2 days the week after next. Hopefully no more travelling for awhile after that.

I just asked my DH:

Mileage: $.50/mile (from home to the airport and back)
Tolls: 100%
Airline: 100% including tips (and DH gets the frequent flier miles)
Meals: It depends on the city he is in, but generally $70/day.
Rental Car: 100%
Hotel: 100% including tips

[servant_of_dog]

cell phone
gasoline (in addition to car allowance)
business meals
airfare
hotel
conference hosting
certification maintenance/updates
professional subscriptions
Internet

It is a pain to keep track of receipts.

[phil5185]

Breakfast: up to $10
Dinner: up to $25 for PA, NY, NH, VT and up to $30 for MA, CT etc.

This is simpler for most companies - they have a 'per diem' for each area. Eg, it might be $45/day in MA. So if your are there for 5 days you just list $225, no receipts to hassle with. But you do have to turn in your motel bill and mileage ticket.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 14:33:31 GMT -5 phil5185 said:

Breakfast: up to $10
Dinner: up to $25 for PA, NY, NH, VT and up to $30 for MA, CT etc.

This is simpler for most companies - they have a 'per diem' for each area. Eg, it might be $45/day in MA. So if your are there for 5 days you just list $225, no receipts to hassle with. But you do have to turn in your motel bill and mileage ticket.

My job used to have a per diem but a few co-workers had to mess it up for everyone aka getting drunk on company dime or doing a few things that they should not be doing with company money (gentlemen club)

So now my job requires receipt that you actually bought food with it and they only pay for 1 drink (so if you want 4-5, the rest is on you).

I used to only spend like 20 bucks /a day total for both and just pocket the difference (chinese food, fast food, etc instead of seat down dinner at a restaurant).

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 14:33:16 GMT -5 servant_of_dog said:

It is a pain to keep track of receipts.

Amen to that... I don't mind the travelling, it is keeping track of the receipts that I hate.

[Deleted]

Pretty much anything the IRS allows, bless them- including Business Class to Europe and India. No per diem limit on food, but I never eat 3 squares at restaurants every day anyway. I'll frequently pick up food at a local store and camp out in my room. Not to be cheap, but for some peace and quiet after a hectic day. Breakfast may even be included in the room rate- I have Elite status with Hilton so may get free breakfast or munchies in the Executive Lounge. So, if I have an occasional $50 restaurant dinner, it averages out.

In May, the boss has agreed to pay for me to fly from my vacation in Spain to HQ in Switzerland to hang out and network for a couple of days. They're also picking up the hotel costs and airfare back to Madrid. DH and I will pay separately for his expenses, of course, but I'm still happy about it.

I once worked for a small consulting firm where they were reasonable on expenses except for a "No receipt, no reimbursement" policy. Tolls, tips to gate-check bags and to hotel maids, etc- not reimbursed. I really didn't like that policy- it showed a distinct lack of trust.

[Firebird]

Feb 18, 2011 14:24:15 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 18, 2011 14:21:23 GMT -5 Savoir Faire-Demogague in NJ said:

You are really starting to get annoying....

#tongue2#

Bored at work, just got back from Vermont last night.
I just can't wait to just get out of here

Oh God, me too. THREE DAY WEEKEND HERE I COME!!!

My work reimburses my cell phone bill... also a new cell phone every 2 years, up to $250 ;D That's my favorite. I just got a brand-new Droid (a $500+ phone), and I only paid about $50.

If you live out of state my company will also reimburse your commuting expenses. I'm hoping that applies to me someday so I can leave this state.

[Firebird]

Feb 18, 2011 14:40:58 GMT -5 TheHaitian said:

Feb 18, 2011 14:33:16 GMT -5 servant_of_dog said:

It is a pain to keep track of receipts.

Amen to that... I don't mind the travelling, it is keeping track of the receipts that I hate.

I do expense reporting for my company and all I can say is - JUST DO IT, and do it the way they tell you to for God's sake ;D As much of a pain as it is for you, it is EXPONENTIALLY more of a pain for whomever audits the reports if people don't put them together properly.

You may not like doing your (one, single, lone) expense report but imagine reviewing 100+ and correcting the zillions of errors in them, mostly errors that are caused by people being lazy/careless about receipts. Trust me, it's worse.

BE NICE TO YOUR ACCOUNTING TEAM. REMEMBER, THEY USUALLY DO PAYROLL AS WELL

[phil5185]

I used to only spend like 20 bucks /a day total for both and just pocket the difference (chinese food, fast food, etc instead of seat down dinner at a restaurant).

Right - 'per diem' isn't meals only, it covers incidentals, magazines, shoe shine, etc. And we turn in a separate dinner receipt if it is an 'entertain customer' meal.

[souldoubt]

The IRS mileage reimbursement rate was $0.50 but it went up to $0.51 in 2011 so those of you who get $0.50 may want to see if your company forgot to update the rate.

My company covers pretty much everything business related but not incidentals. Basically if you head off for a trip and don't bring toothpaste or take clean clothes those expenses are on you. There's limits on flights and hotels but if there's absolutely no way around the cost and you have to be somewhere for work it's going to get reimbursed.

$25 per meal with an allowance for up to 3 meals a day but the total allowance is based on the $ amount over the course of a trip. What this means is you could get something small for breakfast, a snack, lunch and an afternoon snack most days and get a nice dinner.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 14:53:53 GMT -5 Firebird said:

My work reimburses my cell phone bill... also a new cell phone every 2 years, up to $250 ;D That's my favorite. I just got a brand-new Droid (a $500+ phone), and I only paid about $50.

Yeah, I suppose I should have mentioned that they pay for my Blackberry. It's been locked down so I can't download ring tones or e-mail pictures I've taken with it, and it goes through a server that blocks FaceBook, but it was nice to get rid of my regular cell phone bill when the contract was up.

[sheilaincali]

With my employees they already all drive company vehicles so they don't get reimbursed for mileage. We pay a hotel if they have to stay in one (but that usually goes on a company credit card). Meals- I will reimburse for breakfast, lunch and dinner if they were out of town on company business. If they leave their house in the morning to drive to a meeting, I don't pay for breakfast. As well as if they are home in time to eat in the evening I don't pay for dinner.
I demand receipts for all of it. When I came on board I cracked down on that and enforce a strict "no alcohol" policy. I am sorry but I shouldn't have to pay for your booze. We had a guy that would sit down to a full dinner with appetizer and dessert and 4+ drinks of hard liquor. I don't judge but we are a small company and a $60 meal for one guy in rural Minnesota is a little extreme.

[The Walk of the Penguin Mich]

Airline tickets, parking, mileage at 0.50/mile (I think). Hotels covered at 100%, regardless. Food per deim of $38/day, goes up to nearly $50 in some cities.

[Deleted]

I don't have expenses that my job would reimburse me for.

cawiau, can you use a specific cc only for your business-related travels to help you keep track of what receipts you should have? I honestly don't know if that's a valid suggestion or not though.........

[wvugurl26]

Mileage at whatever the IRS rate is, minus your normal commute to office.
Meals at whatever per diem rate is for the city you are traveling to. Only get 75% of that on day of travel. If you are traveling in afternoon I get it but if I'm flying from one coast to the other I'm traveling all day and airport food is expensive! No receipts necessary for any expense under per diem amount. I try to keep them for anything that isn't per diem related though.
Hotels are subject to limits set by gsa. We have to file a justification to exceed that rate. Flights must be with contract carrier unless there are no direct flights, cheaper flight, etc. Hotels, flights, rental vehicles have to go on govt CC. Hotels and flights are paid directly when reimbursement is approved.
We used to get $5/day for calls but now they want us to buy a phone card.
Rental cars, shuttles, taxis, etc are covered but they want you to use cheapest option. Parking is covered. Tolls are covered.
There's a bunch of other stuff like laundry, dry cleaning, etc but the longest I've been out is Sunday-Friday so haven't dealt with that. Regional travel is normally 2 weeks straight at a time so I'm sure there are things they get covered I'm not aware of.
Anything not paid directly by govt goes on my personal CC, I'm going to get the rewards and only have to pay one bill not two. I think some agencies try to require you use your govt CC but mine doesn't.

[Regis]

Mileage: $0.51/mile
Per Diem: $32/day
Motel: We make the reservations so there is no reimbursement necessary. We also only work within our state so no airline.
Cell Phone: The company owns them so no reimbursement there, either.
Tolls: Everything but we only have one toll road across the far northern end of Indiana and we rarely travel that far.

[runewell]

I rarely travel more than once a year to a conference (athena53 might be there) but everything is covered. One curiosity: Anytime a drive of a few hours has been involved the boss has always mandated a rental car. It's a bit of hassle, but imagine driving 500 miles: That's $250 dollars but gas and car fees is easily half that. Fine with me, I'd love to depreciate my car at that rate but it's not good for business.

[illinicheme]

Everywhere I've worked has had pretty standard reimbursement rules (mileage beyond your daily commute, meals, hotel, tolls, airfare, etc.) Each company has had slightly different rules about which receipts get turned in, what's the dollar limit on meals/hotels in what cities, etc, but in general, traveling for business doesn't cost anything out of pocket.

The one problem I've had is that kennel expenses aren't covered for pets. It isn't usually an issue, but there was one time that I had to travel to Ireland for a week that happened to overlap exactly with a week-long business trip that my DH had to make to China. We had no option except to kennel our dog. I talked my management into covering half of the kennel fees. I made up the rest by goosing up meal totals on the ones I didn't have to turn receipts in for. (DH works in academia - there was no chance his university was going to cover it.) I find the lack of standard kennel coverage frustrating, because it seems to assume a stay at home spouse, or local in-laws or something. Not all of us have that.

[wvugurl26]

That's why I don't have a dog with just me. My job requires a few weeks of travel every year. I get that you wouldn't need to kennel the dog if you didn't have to travel for work but most jobs are pretty upfront about travel frequency and duration. Kennel costs can also very widely depending on type of place.
And I can just imagine the uproar if the federal government decided to reimburse kennel costs. I understand its an additional cost bc of your job requiring you to travel but I see it as one of the additional costs of having a pet. You'd be a fool not to consider the possiblity of needing to kennel the pet while traveling before you got one.

[illinicheme]

I don't have a problem covering the kennel costs of my pet when I travel for pleasure. It just doesn't sit right to have a required lengthy business trip cost me hundreds out of pocket. (Travel in this particular job was not a regular thing unless you got on a late stage project in which case you went through a 1-2 yr period with multiple 1-4 weeks stays in Ireland.)

[wvugurl26]

I guess I just don't see why your employer should cover the cost of a decision you made to have a dog. I know my employer would absolutely not cover the cost. It sounds like you have very little travel most of the time, so I'd chalk it up to the cost of owning a pet.

[Deleted]

"What does your job reimburse?"

nothing.


And I am with wvugurl26 regarding kennel reimbursements...

[midjd]

Mileage ($0.40)
Per diem of $20something a day
Hotel expenses... doesn't seem to be any price ceiling, though I'm sure you'd get a talking-to if you stayed at the Four Seasons
Any food you buy for meetings or any money you spend on remotely work-related things

My personal favorite is having all my bar association and CLE registration fees paid. I'm taking a 5-day mediation training course in April and it is entirely paid for, plus I don't have to take any PTO. I keep looking for some seminars in Cabo, but no luck so far

[Deleted]

Red pens 0%
Blue/black pens for kids 0%
hand sanitizer 0%
kleenexes 0%

This is why there is a $250 teachers credit in the tax code. Trust me that the kleenexes alone add up more than you can imagine. 125 kids can empty a box in a DAY.

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 19:04:01 GMT -5 @illinicheme said:

It just doesn't sit right to have a required lengthy business trip cost me hundreds out of pocket.

Try being a single mother, with Dad incapable of pitching in and no family nearby. I sucked it up and paid for someone to stay at the house with him.

[Deleted]

Oh yeah, mileage is refunded at $.51/mile; guess my company did update it

[Deleted]

Feb 18, 2011 17:12:37 GMT -5 @pinkcshmere said:

cawiau, can you use a specific cc only for your business-related travels to help you keep track of what receipts you should have? I honestly don't know if that's a valid suggestion or not though.........

Yes I do charge it all on my credit card... the issue is the receipts that I have to keep. After 1 week or sometime two, my wallet can barely close because it is so full of receipts.