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Travel Expenses

Overview

Travel expenses may include loans, lodging, meals and incidental, public transportation, mileage, and relocation.

Overview

  • Travel and meal reimbursement documents flow from the university departments to the Controller's Office.  The travel section of Accounting Services pre-audits these travel and meal reimbursement requests in accordance with state and university policy and procedures.  All reimbursements must be in accordance with state accountable plan that has been approved by the Internal Revenue Service so each traveler can be reimbursed without taxable income implications.  All employees and guests of the university must follow the travel procedures found on the University Controller's web page.
  • All travel reimbursements should be entered in Chrome River
  • Chrome River training manuals and tutorials can be found at https://www.controller.vt.edu/resources/travel/chrome-river.html
  • Non-Employees/Non-Virginia Tech Students and Virginia Tech Students cannot access Chrome River as only Virginia Tech Employees have profiles/dashboards within Chrome River.
    • Employee: All employees (with the exception of student employees) can login to Chrome River to process their own pre-approval and/or travel reimbursement. All employees may also have an assigned delegate process their pre-approval and/or travel reimbursements on the traveler’s profile/dashboard.
    • VT Student Reimbursements: While student information exists in Chrome River, students do not have profiles/dashboards or access to complete their own travel reimbursements in Chrome River. An employee must complete the pre-approval and/or travel reimbursement on their behalf.
    • Non-Employee/Non-Virginia Tech Student: These individuals are not affiliated with Virginia Tech but are guests of the university which includes speakers, interview candidates, etc. Departments can submit requests to create a new vendor for these types of situations by clicking on the hyperlink for Banner Payee Request Form on the Message of the Day page in Chrome River.

Credit and Loans

  • A Bank of America (BOA) Corporate Travel Card provides a means of charging expenses incurred while conducting official University business. The card is a business travel card and, as such, is to be paid in full before the following billing cycle starts. It is not a credit card account on which the cardholder can carry outstanding balances. 
  • All regular full-time faculty and classified employees (Pay Band 3 and above) are eligible to apply for a BOA Visa Card simply by completing an application form. 
  • The BOA Visa application is available on-line at https://www.controller.vt.edu/forms/travel/BoA_Travel_Card_App.pdf.
  • Please review Procedure 20335x: Bank of America for additional Corporate Travel Card information.

Lodging and Meals

Moving and Relocation

  • The university may provide a moving and relocation stipend for a newly hired faculty or staff employee to move from their former residence to the new residence. Stipends will be fully taxable income, per a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, and will be limited to one per household.
  • Payments for moving and relocation stipends must be funded from the budget of the university department hiring the employee. The university has established dollar amount ranges that department heads are authorized to offer for each category of employee (Moving & Relocation Stipend Payment Guidelines).
  • To be eligible to receive a moving & relocation stipend, the following eligibility criteria must apply:
    • The employee must be hired into a full time salaried position
    • The relocation must be at the university's request
    • The distance between the employee’s new work location and the former residence must be 50 miles greater than the distance between the employee’s old location and the former residence
    • The employee must be reasonably expected to work on a regular full-time basis in university service for at least 1 year
  • The appropriate vice president, dean or department head must approve the Employment Relocation Agreement. 

Rates and Travel Agencies

  • The traveler should request governmental rates when registering or making reservations for automobile and/or air travel.
  • Public transportation rates must not exceed those for tourist/coach class accommodations.
  • The traveler should use the services of one of our contract travel agencies to ensure that the most economical lodging accommodations are obtained.
  • Department heads must be familiar with the university’s travel policies and ensure that all departmental employees who travel, process travel expenses, and make travel arrangements are also familiar with these policies.
  • Ensuring employees are conservative in expending university funds for travel.
  • Reviewing the traveler’s request prior to the trip
  • Ensure that the trip serves a valid University purpose.
  • Selecting the proper funding source
  • Approving the traveler’s reimbursement voucher