UC regulations require that reimbursements must be made within 60 days of travel. To allow time for paperwork, your requests should be submitted no more than 45 days after travel.
1. Registration to conferences and workshops
You must attach an original registration receipt when you submit your Domestic Travel Reimbursement Worksheet or Foreign Travel Reimbursement.
2. Transportation
LAUC-SB base allocation funds cover airfare, bus, train, car, taxi, and parking. E-tickets must be accompanied by documentation showing your name, ticket number, trip date, destinations, total amount, and method of payment. If you expect to claim reimbursement for ground transportation or parking, put an estimate of these costs on your application and submit receipts when you return. The amount granted for travel is based on the application and will not be increased after travel is completed. For more information about reimbursement for personal car use, see the Transportation page.
3. Lodging
Receipts for lodging must show a zero balance. This is most easily done by officially checking out at the desk. Please be aware that if you use a hotel’s “express checkout” your receipt will not show a zero balance. Accounting will not accept this, and you will be required either to call the hotel and request a faxed copy of your hotel bill, or submit your credit card statement. This can significantly delay your reimbursement.For hotel receipts, travelers should have a hotel receipt in their own name, showing their individual costs for each night. If two people share a room and the total cost of the room per night is $100 and they stay for 4 nights, each traveler should have a receipt indicating a $50 cost per night. It is not acceptable for the receipt to show one guest paying for two nights and the other guest paying the other two nights. It is also not acceptable to have a total bill for $100 for each night.
Lodging with a friend or relative
When a traveler stays with a friend or relative while traveling for professional development or official business for the University, a non-cash gift such as flowers, groceries, or a restaurant meal, may be provided to the host. The actual cost of such a gift may be reimbursed up to $75. You must provide a receipt. Only one gift per stay may be provided to a host.
4. Meals and incidental expenses
Meals and incidental expenses (defined as expenses including laundry, cleaning and pressing of clothes, and tips and fees for services, e.g., for waiters and baggage handlers) will be reimbursed based on the actual amount spent, up to a maximum daily reimbursement cap of $62 (note that this is not a per diem). Itemized receipts are required for meals. Domestic Travel Reimbursement Worksheet
Travel of 24 hours of less
When the entire length of a trip is 12 hours or less, meals and incidental expenses will not be reimbursed. An exception may be allowed when a meal is an integral part of a business meeting (e.g., actual luncheon costs at an organized conference or working meals served at a meeting site.) The business purpose of the meal must be explained on the Travel Expense Voucher or substantiated by other documentation (e.g., an agenda), which should be attached to the Voucher.For a trip that lasts more than 12 hours but less than 24 hours, a daily maximum of $33.00 is allowed.
Personal phone calls may be reimbursed up to $5 per day.
5. Canceled trips
If you must cancel your travel plans, please contact your booking agent or airline to explain your situation. Many airlines will allow you to cancel for a small fee. If your reason for canceling is due to a personal tragedy or illness, it is possible that the sponsoring organization of the conference will refund your registration money. UCSB does not reimburse its employees for travel expenses if the trip was canceled.
6. Travel Packages from Online Vendors
In July 2006, Accounting Services and Controls sent out a memo titled Travel Packages Purchased from Online Vendors. The memo included this warning:
“The Office of the President has recently made a determination that travel packages purchased on the internet for University-related business trips would not be allowed for reimbursement to the traveler unless there is sufficient itemized documentation.”
You are encouraged to read the memo in its entirety before purchasing travel packages that combine hotel and airfare.