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The VPF Travel and Card Services team handles more than 160 expense reports per day, with the average total of $1,629. If you are traveling on MIT business and want to get your travel expenses processed and reimbursed as quickly as possible, check out the top five reasons that expense reports get sent back to the traveler and tips to avoid these common reporting mistakes and omissions.

1. Missing receipts/missing itemization: Itemized receipts are required for expenses of $75 or more, for all business meeting meals, all meals with alcohol and all local travel expenses regardless of the cost. Itemized receipts are also required for airfare, hotels, and car rentals. Consider downloading Concur Mobile to your smart phone and taking pictures of your receipts for easy upload to your expense report. (Remember to save the paper copy in case of an audit.)
2. Business/first class airfare or upgrade fees are not itemized: Travelers may fly Business Class (or First Class if Business Class service is not offered) when the flight—or any segment of the round trip— has a scheduled in-air flying time greater than 6 hours, or the destination is outside North America (defined as the continental U.S., Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, and the Caribbean Islands). Travelers must itemize the lowest available coach fare (providing documentation) and the airfare difference. Consider using The Travel Collaborative (TTC)—MIT’s preferred travel agency— or the Concur booking tool (fulfilled by TTC) for travel arrangements. TTC documents the equivalent coach fare on all itineraries. Unless specifically allowed by the sponsor, the cost of Business Class/First Class may not be charged to sponsored projects. Travelers must allocate the difference in airfare to a discretionary cost object.
3. Alcohol not itemized: If alcohol is not permitted by the sponsor it must be itemized and charged to a discretionary account. Even if it is permitted by the DLC, it still must be itemized in Concur. An itemized receipt is required for meals with alcohol regardless of the amount.
4. Meals on hotel bill require confirmation no alcohol was included: If you charge meals to your hotel bill and they are less than $75 you need to include a comment that the meals did not include alcohol if there was none. For meals more than $75, or if there is alcohol, you must have an itemized receipt and itemize them in Concur.  (See #3 above.)
5. Missing comments on miscellaneous expenses under “other fees, materials, incidentals”: You must include a comment for miscellaneous expenses explaining how they relate to the business purpose of the travel. Please note that every purchase you make while traveling is not necessarily reimbursable. For example, if you forgot your toothpaste and bought some on your trip, it is not reimbursable. While dental hygiene is important, toothpaste itself has no direct benefit to MIT or the sponsor. Use this sponsored-focused example when considering miscellaneous travel expense reporting.

Review MIT Travel Policies.

Contact the V PF Travel and Card Services team.