[Policies Home Page]
Editor's notes:
POLICY TITLE: Carnegie Mellon University Non-travel Business Expense Reimbursement Policy
DATE OF ISSUANCE: This policy was approved by the President's Council on March 23, 1999, to take effect on July 1, 1999.
ACCOUNTABLE DEPARTMENT/UNIT: Financial Services. Questions about policy content should be directed to Financial Services, x8-5158.
RELATED DOCUMENT: Travel Expense Reimbursement Policy
ABSTRACT: Carnegie Mellon University will reimburse reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by individuals in the conduct of official university activities.
This policy applies to all individuals who incur non-travel business expenses in the conduct of official university activities. The non-travel business expense program meets the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) definition of an accountable plan. As a result, expenses and reimbursements that conform to this policy are not reported as taxable income to the individual.
Preferred purchasing methods at the university include the Tartan Trust Card and purchase orders. Refer to the Purchasing Manual for complete information on how to purchase goods and services at Carnegie Mellon University. Although Carnegie Mellon discourages the use of personal credit cards and cash for university-related activities, the university will reimburse reasonable and necessary expenses incurred by individuals in the conduct of official university activities.
Both the person who incurs the expense and the person who approves reimbursement of the expense are responsible for ensuring maximum practical economy in the expenditure of funds. For purposes of determining economical purchases, the price paid by the individual is compared with the price that would have been paid by the university in a similar situation. When the price paid by the individual exceeds that which would have been paid by the university, the lesser amount will be reimbursed.
Individuals preparing expense reports have the responsibility for applying the correct account to each receipt to ensure compliance with sponsor, donor and university requirements.
The associate vice president for finance has sole authority to approve exceptions to provisions of this policy. Approved exceptions must be explicitly justified as beneficial to both the university and the individual and generally require the recommendation of the individual's division head.
Individuals should spend university funds prudently. Business expenses will be paid by Carnegie Mellon only if they are reasonable, necessary and in accordance with this policy. Individuals who incur business expenses should neither gain nor lose personal funds as a result of their activities.
The individual is responsible for submitting all forms related to his/her business expenses within 30 days of incurring the expense. The individual may delegate responsibility for preparation of the forms but will always retain accountability for business expenses.
Authorized departmental approvers are identified and approved by the division or department head. All forms related to business expenses must be approved by the authorized departmental approver, who is responsible for verifying the following:
All forms related to business expenses must be approved by the authorized central reviewer. The authorized central reviewer is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy and must verify that expenses are reasonable and meet the following criteria:
An individual's outstanding expense advance will be applied against his or her next submitted expense report.
Only the following are reimbursable expenses under this policy:
Under no circumstances will individuals be reimbursed for cash gifts (cash or personal check) given to employees, students or guests. All cash gifts, regardless of the amount, must be issued as university checks and reported as taxable income to the recipient.
Any non-cash gift (gift certificates, jewelry, clothing, office accessories, etc.) with a value of $75 or greater given to an employee must be purchased directly with university funds and included as taxable income on the employee's payroll records. Under no circumstances will individuals be reimbursed for non-cash gifts with a value of $75 or greater given to employees.
Note one exception to the above: Employee achievement awards will not be included in payroll records but must still be purchased directly with university funds. An employee achievement award is tangible personal property that meets all the following requirements:
Employee gifts must be charged to the Employee Service Gift or Employee Gift object codes to ensure proper treatment for employee tax purposes.
For a list of other non-reimbursable business expenses, see Carnegie Mellon University's Travel Expense Reimbursement Policy.
Individuals will not be reimbursed for purchases of capital assets.
A capital asset is any item that costs $1,000 or more at the time of purchase and has a useful life of two years or more.
There are a number of special requirements for purchasing capital assets, as well as for recording its purchase, that are effective whether or not the asset is funded by a sponsored project, donor contribution or general university funds. To ensure that these requirements are met, capital assets must be purchased using a purchase order as defined in the university's Purchasing Manual.
General questions related to this policy should be directed to Financial Services, x8-5158.