Expense Reimbursement Requests

 T.2b Expense Reimbursement Requests 

Policy
Expense reimbursement is a method for paying employees back when they spend their own money on business-related expenses. These expenses can include travel, hospitality, and small, business-related purchases.

Expense reimbursement is not intended for the routine purchase of office supplies or other business-related expenses. The University maintains accounts with numerous vendors.

Employees holding a CBU purchasing card should use their CBU issued card for University expenses.

CBU is exempt from sales tax in the State of Tennessee. The University should not be charged sales tax on purchases made in Tennessee or delivered from out of state to Tennessee. Employees risk forfeiture of reimbursement for purchase which include Tennessee sales tax and will not reimburse employees for Tennessee sales tax paid. Employees are to provide a copy of the Sales Tax Exempt form to vendors. Some vendors require preapproval of sales tax exemptions (e.g., Dollar General) and require a specific process when making purchases. Please see Director of Procurement for additional details.

Before any purchase of $750 or higher is made, an approved purchase order must be obtained through BannerWeb. This includes purchases made with purchasing cards and expense reimbursements. In the event multiple transactions are presented over a period of time in order to stay below the $750 threshold and avoid obtaining approvals, individuals may be subject to disciplinary action.

All purchasing policies apply to expense reimbursements.

Procedure
Reimbursement requests should be submitted by the first and third Monday of each month to be processed in that week’s check run.

Approved reimbursement packets should be turned in to the Business Office.

All reimbursements must be submitted within 60 days of incurring the expense. Based on IRS Guidelines, any payments for items over 60 days will be treated as taxable income (IRS Pub 15).

All reimbursement requests should be submitted via the Expense Reimbursement Form with original detailed receipts.
Original detailed receipts are required for all expenses submitted for reimbursement. Requests for reimbursement lacking complete information will be returned to the requesting employee.

The Organization complies with IRS regulations, which require that all business expenses be substantiated with adequate records. This substantiation must include information relating to:

1. The amount of the expenditure.
2. The time and place of the expenditure.
3. The business purpose of the expenditure.
4. The names and business relationships of individuals other than the employee for whom the expenditures were made.

Expense reimbursement forms, together with required documentation, must be submitted to the employee’s immediate supervisor for review and signature approval. The CFO may approve expense reimbursement in the absence of the employee’s supervisor.

Questions?