Travel Expense Policy

Effective Date: October 1, 2006

POLICY STATEMENT

Columbia University faculty, staff, and students routinely travel out of town on behalf of the University or in support of sponsored research activities.  The University reimburses these travelers for necessary and reasonable business expenses incurred while traveling.  Reimbursable expenses must conform to federal and state law and the restrictions placed upon sponsored projects. In order to provide this reimbursement, the University requires travelers to complete and submit an approved Travel and Business Expense report which documents the business purpose of the trip and the types of expenses incurred.

REASON FOR POLICY:

The travel expense policy:

• Assures that the University and the traveler are in compliance with Internal Revenue Service regulations that define the types of expenses that can be reimbursed without being counted as taxable income.
• Assures that travel charged to sponsored projects conforms to the regulations and restrictions placed on the use of the funds by the sponsor.
• Enables the University to protect its reputation and not-for-profit status by avoiding excessive or inappropriate spending. 
• Provides departments with the ability to control how their budgets are expended. 

PRIMARY POLICY TO WHICH THIS POLICY RESPONDS:

This policy primarily responds to the regulations of the US Internal Revenue Service, the rules established by the agencies and entities that sponsor research at Columbia and the federal and state laws that govern not-for-profit organizations.  For more detail, please see the appendix A.

RESPONSIBLE UNIVERSITY OFFICE & OFFICER

Finance Division, - Accounts Payable, Joe Labetti, Executive Director, Accounts Payable

REVISION HISTORY

Revised - 1/5/2009

WHO IS GOVERNED BY THIS POLICY

Any University traveler who seeks reimbursement for expenses incurred during approved University travel.  Individuals other than employees or students (e.g., consultants, job candidates) who seek reimbursement from the University for Travel Expenses must also comply with this policy. Due to budgetary constraints, some University departments have instituted more restrictive reimbursement guidelines.  In cases where there is a discrepancy between this policy and a department, granting agency or donor policy, the more restrictive policy will apply.

WHO SHOULD KNOW THIS POLICY:

The employee or student requesting reimbursement for business travel should know this policy along with:

• Senior Executive Officers, Provost
• Deans
• Senior Financial or Business Officers
• Chairs of Departments, Directors of Institutes and Centers
• Department Administrators
• Divisional Administrators with financial responsibility and oversight
• Program Directors
• Principal Investigators
• Faculty
• Students
• Post-doctoral fellows
• Graduate research assistants
• Junior Officers and Non-Officers with financial responsibility and oversight
• Administrative staff with significant travel responsibility

EXCLUSIONS & SPECIAL SITUATIONS

This policy covers University out of town business travel.  It does not cover local transportation (taxis to meetings or other University campuses and offices in the NYC area) and miscellaneous business expenses.  These types of expenses are addressed in the policy on Business Expenses.

This policy is designed to address the majority of expenses that a traveler may incur.  On rare occasions, a traveler may incur an extraordinary expense for which they believe they are entitled to reimbursement.  In cases where a traveler believes that they are entitled for reimbursement for an expense that is not addressed by the current policy or not allowed under current policy they may request an exception.  Exception requests should be infrequent and require the approval of a Dean, Vice President, Associate Dean, or Senior Financial Officer.  See the procedures for detailed instructions for requesting an exception
 

POLICY TEXT

For full policy text, please use link in right-hand menu.