10-6: Reimbursement requests

Effective: January 15, 2024
Revised: January 29, 2026
Approved by: Van Christensen
References: Utah Code 63A-3-107, Administrative Code R25-7, Administrative Code R25-5, IRS Publication 15-B, IRS Publication 463

Purpose

This policy outlines how reimbursement requests must be submitted, what documentation must be included, and who must approve the requests. This policy also states which expenses are not eligible for reimbursement.

This policy is written to meet the IRS’s requirements for an accountable plan.

Definitions

Agency – Any agency, board, bureau, commission, office, department, or other administrative subunit of state government. This definition includes the executive, legislative, and judicial branches.

Chief of staff – The chief of staff to the governor.

Concur – Software used by the state to manage travel, reimbursements, and p-card transactions.

Conference hotel – A hotel designated by the conference sponsor or organizer as a conference hotel.

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.

Lodge card – A state-operated account that is designated for the purchase of airfare and State Travel Office booking fees.

P-card – A state-issued purchasing card used for approved business purchases.

Reimbursement – Money paid to compensate travelers for money spent while traveling on official business.

Reimbursement request – The general term for requesting payment for travel expenses. In Concur, the state’s travel software, travelers add their expenses to a report. Travelers who can’t use Concur use form FI 51: Travel reimbursement request.

Sufficient documentation – The documents that show the merchant, amount paid, method of payment, date incurred, and description of the item purchased or service received. A combination of supporting documents may be needed to verify each element of the expense. Sufficient documentation includes the following official evidence of transaction:

Itemized receipts
Invoices
Cash register tape receipts
Canceled checks or other documents reflecting proof of payment or electronic funds transferred
Account statements
Credit card statements

Traveler – Any person traveling on official state business for an agency or political subdivision. This definition includes employees, non-employees, board members, elected officials, vendors, volunteers, grant recipients, and award beneficiaries.

Travel policy – All policies labeled travel policy established by the GovOps Division of Finance.

Travel request – The general term for asking permission to travel for state business. In Concur, the state’s travel software, travelers add their expected expenses to a request. Travelers who can’t use Concur use form FI 5: Travel request.

Vantage Financial – The financial management system used by the state for accounting, budget control, and reporting.

Policy

A – Travelers are reimbursed for business expenses

1 – Travelers must only be reimbursed for necessary and reasonable expenses directly related to business travel.

2 – Travelers must not be reimbursed for expenses already paid or reimbursed by the state or by other parties.

B – Reimbursement requests must be submitted in Concur

1 – Travelers must record their travel expenses in a reimbursement request in Concur, including expenses paid for with their own p-card or the state’s lodge card.

2 – Travelers must submit reimbursement requests in Concur within 60 days of the trip end date.

3 – Travelers must code their travel costs, including booking fees, to the correct expense type and accounting template in Concur.

C – Necessary documentation must be attached to reimbursement requests

1 – Receipts: Travelers must attach sufficient documentation to each expense in their reimbursement request, except for meal and incidental expenses. The documentation must show the following information:

the items or services;
merchant;
dates the items were purchased or services incurred;
quantities;
cost of each item;
total cost; and
proof of payment.

1a – If a traveler doesn’t have sufficient documentation, see section D.

2 – Business purpose: Travelers must write a business purpose for each expense in their reimbursement request. Travelers must describe why they paid for the expense and how it’s related to state business.

3 – Travel itinerary: If travelers booked a flight, hotel, or rental car, they must attach the travel itinerary to their reimbursement request. The travel itinerary must show the amounts charged to the lodge card.

3a – Travel itineraries are attached to document that the flight, hotel, and/or rental car were booked properly and to substantiate lodge card expenses.

4 – Documentation of miles: If travelers used their personal vehicle for state business, they must document their mileage. Travelers must use the mileage calculator in Concur to report miles driven.

4a – If unable to use Concur, the traveler must attach a map from a generally accepted route planning website to document the mileage or provide the starting location and destination with enough specificity that the mileage can be recalculated by an independent person. The traveler is reimbursed based on the most commonly traveled route.

5 – Agenda: If travelers attended a seminar, conference, convention, training, or meeting, they must attach an agenda to their reimbursement request.

6 – Registration materials: If travelers attended a seminar, conference, convention, or training, they must attach registration materials to their reimbursement request. The materials must show the following information:

the registration cost;
dates;
location;
schedule;
conference hotel and rates; and
provided meals.

7 – Approvals: Written documentation of approvals required by other policies that are not included on a travel request, for example rental vehicles, conference or training registrations, etc. See individual policies for which expenses need prior written approval.

D – Insufficient documentation requires a missing receipt affidavit

1 – Travelers without sufficient documentation must use the missing receipt affidavit option in Concur to be reimbursed.

1a – The use of the missing receipt affidavit is not a substitute for responsible record-keeping. Travelers are expected to obtain and submit itemized receipts for all business expenses. The affidavit option should be used infrequently and only after all reasonable efforts to obtain a copy of the receipt have failed.

2 – Travelers must make a good-faith effort to contact the merchant and request a copy of the itemized receipt before using the missing receipt affidavit. The level of effort put into obtaining the copy of the receipt should be based on the dollar amount and frequency of lost receipts by the traveler.

3 – Travelers must not use the missing receipt affidavit for lodging, airfare, and rental car costs or booking fees. Travelers must contact the merchant or the State Travel Office as applicable to get a copy of the itemized receipt for these expenses.

4 – Travelers must document the items purchased and their efforts to obtain a copy of the receipt.

5 – In Concur, travelers attach the missing receipt affidavit to the expense and add the other documentation (credit card or bank statements) using the option: manage receipts then manage attachments. Concur will consider any attachment added to the expense as receipts and will prevent the use of the missing receipt affidavit, so travelers must upload the attachments as described.

6 – Approvers may deny the reimbursement of any expense using the missing receipt affidavit, especially when its use is considered unreasonable or abusive. Approvers should consider the amount, frequency of use, and the traveler’s familiarity and compliance history with policy before approving.

7 – Agencies are required to monitor the use of missing receipt affidavits and take appropriate corrective action when their use becomes frequent.

E – Expenses not eligible for reimbursement

1 – The state does not reimburse the following expenses:

personal expenses;
alcoholic beverages;
pet or animal care, food, or boarding services;
child care or house-sitting;
prepaid fuel or refueling charges for rental cars; and
any expenses for or on behalf of family members, friends, relatives, acquaintances, or other travel companions.

2 – Agencies must contact the GovOps Division of Finance if they encounter unusual expenses and are unsure if the expenses are eligible for reimbursement.

F – Reimbursement requests must be approved by an appropriate authority

1 – Agencies must assign an employee as their agency’s compliance officer. This employee must know travel policies and is responsible to ensure reimbursement requests comply with policies.

1a – The compliance officer may be the same person as the budget officer.

2 – All in-state reimbursement requests must be approved by:

a budget officer;
the traveler’s supervisor; and
a compliance officer.

3 – All out-of-state reimbursement requests must be approved by:

a budget officer; and
a compliance officer.

4 – The executive director or designee must also approve a reimbursement request if the reimbursement amount exceeds 125% of what was approved in the original travel request.

5 – Each approver has 10 calendar days to approve a reimbursement request.

G – Approvers must make sure reimbursement requests are accurate and comply with policy

1 – Approvers must make sure reimbursement requests are accurate and comply with travel policy. Approvers must:

confirm that all necessary documents are attached to the reimbursement request (see section C);
review documentation to make sure expenses have a valid business purpose, are applicable to travel dates, and represent actual goods and services received;
confirm that expenses are coded correctly;
make sure travelers aren’t reimbursed for p-card purchases or expenses on other reimbursement requests; and
review alerts to make sure there are no errors in the reimbursement request.

2 – If approvers find errors in a reimbursement request, they must send it back to the traveler with a note explaining what needs to be changed. For example, if a traveler didn’t attach a necessary document or didn’t use the mileage calculator, the approver must send the reimbursement request back to the traveler.

H – Expenses that don’t comply with policy must be reported to the executive director or designee

1 – If approvers find expenses that don’t comply with policy, they must notify the traveler. For example, if a traveler paid for airfare using their personal credit card instead of the lodge card, an approver must tell the traveler that paying for airfare with a personal credit card is against policy.

2 – The traveler must notify the executive director or designee in writing and ask for approval to be reimbursed for the expense.

3 – The executive director or designee must decide if the traveler may be reimbursed for the expense and may take appropriate corrective action if needed. Decisions about reimbursement are subject to oversight by the GovOps Division of Finance.

3a – The traveler must attach a copy of their communication with the executive director or designee to the reimbursement request.

I – Agencies must collect overpayments

1 – Agencies are responsible to collect payment from travelers who were overpaid when reimbursed.

J – Travelers who can’t use Concur must use Vantage Financial

1 – Travelers who can’t use Concur must use the form FI 51: Travel reimbursement request and FI 40: Mileage reimbursement. Travelers must include the necessary documentation listed in section C.

2 – Agencies must report taxable reimbursements to the GovOps Division of Finance payroll team by submitting a ticket.

3 – Reimbursements must be entered and approved in Vantage Financial instead of Concur.

4 – Travelers without sufficient documentation who can’t use Concur must use the form FI 49: Missing receipt affidavit and attach it to their request in Vantage Financial to be reimbursed. Travelers using this form must follow the policies described in section D1a–D3.

4a – The missing receipt affidavit must show the merchant, date, items purchased, amount, and description of the traveler’s efforts to obtain a copy of the receipt.

4b – Travelers must attach credit card or bank statements showing the vendor name, date, and amount to the affidavit.

4c – Travelers must certify that they lost the receipt and the costs are valid business expenses, including an acknowledgement that they might be responsible to repay any reimbursement not deemed valid business expenses.

5 – Agencies and approvers must follow the policies described in section D6-D7.