10-18: Commute travel expenses

Effective: January 1, 2026
Approved by: Van Christensen
References: IRS Publication 463

Purpose

This policy explains the guidelines and eligibility requirements for the reimbursement of commute travel expenses incurred by employees for commuting to their administratively assigned office.

This policy is written to comply with the Governor’s directive for employees residing within 50 miles to return to the office at least 2 days per week and IRS regulations.

Definitions

Administratively assigned office – The state building officially assigned to an employee for reporting and supervisory functions.

Commuting – Travel by an employee between their residence and their administratively assigned office.

Designee – The person who has written permission from the executive director to act on the executive director’s behalf.

Executive director – The executive leader of an agency.

GovOps – The Department of Government Operations.

High mileage rate – The GSA per diem rate labeled, “If use of privately owned automobile is authorized or if no government-furnished automobile is authorized and available.”

Payroll – The GovOps Division of Finance payroll team.

State mileage rate – A calculated mileage rate rounded to the nearest cent, based on the average of 2 per diem rates: (1) the rate labeled, “If use of a privately owned automobile is authorized or if no government-furnished automobile is available” and (2) the rate labeled “if a government-furnished automobile is available.” These rates are listed on the U.S. General Services Administration website.

Tax home – The entire city or general area where a place of business, employment, or post of duty is located, regardless of where the family home is maintained.

Policy

A – Employees must be assigned an administrative office

1 – All employees must be assigned an administrative state office as their principal place of business based on the agency’s need, except as described in section D. The administrative office cannot be assigned in an attempt to try to avoid a taxable situation, like assigning an administrative office for the employee’s convenience.

2 – An employee’s home does not qualify as their principal place of business due to the IRS’s stringent criteria under which a home office can qualify as an employee’s tax home.

B – Employees who live within 50 miles of their office are not eligible for commute mileage reimbursement

1 – Employees who live within 50 miles of their administratively assigned office are not eligible for the reimbursement of commuting costs. This includes mileage, fuel, maintenance, and other related expenses.

2 – Agencies may reimburse employees who live within 50 miles of their administratively assigned office taxable commute mileage when they commute round trip more than once per day.

C – Employees who live more than 50 miles from their office may be reimbursed taxable commute mileage

1 – Agencies may reimburse taxable commute mileage for employees who live more than 50 miles from their administratively assigned office, but they are not required to.

2 – Employees may only be reimbursed for their actual miles driven at the state mileage rate or the high mileage rate as selected by their agency. Reimbursement for other vehicle commuting-related expenses (e.g., fuel, vehicle maintenance, parking) cannot be reimbursed.

D – Employees with temporary work locations have a different commute definition

1 – Some employees don’t report to their administratively assigned offices or don’t have fixed working locations because their jobs require them to go to various temporary work locations daily. Therefore, these employees don’t have a principal place of business. This means these employees cannot have their home or administratively assigned office as their principal place of business.

2 – Employees without a principal place of business must consider their daily travel between their home and their first work location and the travel between their last work location and their home as their commute.

3 – If commute mileage is reimbursed to these employees, it is taxable like all other commute mileage reimbursements and must be paid according to this policy.

3a – The 50 mile threshold established by the Governor’s directive is not applicable to employees without a principal place of business.

4 – For example, a fish and game warden lives in a remote location and drives daily to various temporary job locations. Their commute is the daily travel between their home and their first work location and the daily travel between their last work location and their home. The game warden’s commute mileage reimbursement is taxable because they do not have a regular place of business and they are not driving to a work site outside of the general area of their home.

E – Employees who are approved to relocate may be reimbursed for commute travel

1 – If an employee is approved by their agency to relocate from their primary residence to a location more than 50 miles from their administratively assigned office for the employee’s convenience, the agency must define the terms of commute travel and reimbursement with the employee.

1a – For example, an employee is hired and their primary residence is in Salt Lake County (within 50 miles of their office); later, at the employee’s request, they move to Washington County (more than 50 miles from their office). The agency must decide whether the agency or the employee pays the commute travel costs.

2 – Agencies are responsible for determining the commuting and travel expenses that the employee and/or agency will pay when the employee travels to their administratively assigned office.

2a – Agencies may decide to have the employee be responsible for all costs, including situations involving overnight stays. The justification is that the remote work arrangement and subsequent travel are primarily for the benefit and convenience of the employee and not the operational needs of the agency.

3 – When an employee is responsible to cover any or all commute and travel costs, the agreement must be documented in writing and approved by the executive director or designee. If an agency agrees to cover all of the costs, they will follow regular reimbursement procedures and no additional documentation is needed.

4 – This policy does not apply to involuntary employee relocations or moving expenses. See 1-7: Relocation allowances.

F – Agencies must have their own policy for commute travel expenses

1 – Agencies must have their own policy that defines when they will reimburse commute travel expenses, including the situations outlined in sections D and E. Agencies’ policies must comply with this policy.

2 – Agencies’ policies must ensure that:

commute travel reimbursements are fair and equitable and do not favor any employee or group of employees; and
policies and procedures are based on sound rationale and consistently followed.

G – Commute travel expenses are taxable

1 – All mileage from an employee’s home to the administratively assigned office is considered commute mileage and is taxable regardless of the reason and/or their telework location.

2 – Other travel expenses from an employee’s home to the administratively assigned office for overnight stays are also taxable, such as lodging, rental vehicles, and meal expenses. These expenses are taxable due to the administratively assigned office qualifying as the employee’s tax home under IRS regulations.

H – Commute travel reimbursements must be paid through Concur

1 – Employees are reimbursed commute travel expenses through Concur.

2 – Employees must use the expense type: Taxable mileage for commute mileage reimbursements.

2a – Employees must use the mileage calculator in Concur to report miles driven.

3 – Employees must use the expense type: Taxable lodging for overnight lodging related to traveling to the administratively assigned office.

4 – Employees must use the expense type: Taxable fuel for rental vehicle fuel costs.

5 – All other travel expense types like meals will be considered taxable when the above expense types are selected.

6 – The Concur team will report the amounts paid to payroll so that they can be added to the employee’s taxable income.

6a – If an employee submits a commute travel reimbursement request in Concur without any taxable expense types, agencies are responsible to report these expenses to payroll by submitting a ticket to [email protected]. For example, if an employee has a multi-day trip with only meal and incidental expenses and rideshare expenses, the agency must report these expenses to payroll.

6b – Agencies do not have to report travel expenses for same day trips because the Concur team already reports these expenses as taxable.

7 – Agencies are responsible to ensure that employees use the taxable object codes for commute travel.

I – In-state rental and fleet vehicle costs must be reported to payroll

1 – The commute use of in-state rental and fleet vehicles is the amount charged by either the rental company or the GovOps Division of Fleet Operations; this amount is taxable and must be reported to payroll by the agency since these expenses will not be in Concur.

2 – Agencies are responsible for reporting in-state rental and fleet vehicle costs to payroll by submitting a ticket to [email protected].

3 – To determine the taxable amount of in-state rental and fleet vehicles used for both commute and business purposes, see policy 23-1: Personal use of employer-provided vehicles.

J – Employees that cannot use Concur use Vantage Financial

1 – Employees that cannot use Concur must be paid their commute travel reimbursement requests through Vantage Financial using:

the form FI 40: Mileage reimbursement for employees who are requesting reimbursement for their commute mileage expenses and no other commute travel expenses ; or
the form FI 51: Travel reimbursement request for employees requesting reimbursement for their commute mileage and other commute travel expenses; and
the necessary documentation listed in 10-6: Reimbursement requests.

2 – Commute travel reimbursement requests must be coded to object code 5125.

3 – Agencies must report these reimbursements to payroll by submitting a ticket to [email protected].

K – Agencies are responsible for ensuring that commute travel reimbursements meet IRS regulations

1 – Agencies are responsible for ensuring that employees’ commute travel reimbursements are handled properly and paid correctly. If an agency has a situation that is not addressed in this policy, they should consult with the GovOps Division of Finance and research IRS guidance to determine the proper handling.