meaning of travel reimbursement

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Topic no. 511, Business travel expenses

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Travel expenses are the ordinary and necessary expenses of traveling away from home for your business, profession, or job. You can't deduct expenses that are lavish or extravagant, or that are for personal purposes.

You're traveling away from home if your duties require you to be away from the general area of your tax home for a period substantially longer than an ordinary day's work, and you need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of your work while away.

Generally, your tax home is the entire city or general area where your main place of business or work is located, regardless of where you maintain your family home. For example, you live with your family in Chicago but work in Milwaukee where you stay in a hotel and eat in restaurants. You return to Chicago every weekend. You may not deduct any of your travel, meals or lodging in Milwaukee because that's your tax home. Your travel on weekends to your family home in Chicago isn't for your work, so these expenses are also not deductible. If you regularly work in more than one place, your tax home is the general area where your main place of business or work is located.

In determining your main place of business, take into account the length of time you normally need to spend at each location for business purposes, the degree of business activity in each area, and the relative significance of the financial return from each area. However, the most important consideration is the length of time you spend at each location.

You can deduct travel expenses paid or incurred in connection with a temporary work assignment away from home. However, you can't deduct travel expenses paid in connection with an indefinite work assignment. Any work assignment in excess of one year is considered indefinite. Also, you may not deduct travel expenses at a work location if you realistically expect that you'll work there for more than one year, whether or not you actually work there that long. If you realistically expect to work at a temporary location for one year or less, and the expectation changes so that at some point you realistically expect to work there for more than one year, travel expenses become nondeductible when your expectation changes.

Travel expenses for conventions are deductible if you can show that your attendance benefits your trade or business. Special rules apply to conventions held outside the North American area.

Deductible travel expenses while away from home include, but aren't limited to, the costs of:

• Travel by airplane, train, bus or car between your home and your business destination. (If you're provided with a ticket or you're riding free as a result of a frequent traveler or similar program, your cost is zero.)
• The airport or train station and your hotel,
• The hotel and the work location of your customers or clients, your business meeting place, or your temporary work location.
• Shipping of baggage, and sample or display material between your regular and temporary work locations.
• Using your car while at your business destination. You can deduct actual expenses or the standard mileage rate, as well as business-related tolls and parking fees. If you rent a car, you can deduct only the business-use portion for the expenses.
• Lodging and non-entertainment-related meals.
• Dry cleaning and laundry.
• Business calls while on your business trip. (This includes business communications by fax machine or other communication devices.)
• Tips you pay for services related to any of these expenses.
• Other similar ordinary and necessary expenses related to your business travel. (These expenses might include transportation to and from a business meal, public stenographer's fees, computer rental fees, and operating and maintaining a house trailer.)

Instead of keeping records of your meal expenses and deducting the actual cost, you can generally use a standard meal allowance, which varies depending on where you travel. The deduction for business meals is generally limited to 50% of the unreimbursed cost.

If you're self-employed, you can deduct travel expenses on Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (Sole Proprietorship) , or if you're a farmer, on Schedule F (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Farming .

If you're a member of the National Guard or military reserve, you may be able to claim a deduction for unreimbursed travel expenses paid in connection with the performance of services as a reservist that reduces your adjusted gross income. This travel must be overnight and more than 100 miles from your home. Expenses must be ordinary and necessary. This deduction is limited to the regular federal per diem rate (for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses) and the standard mileage rate (for car expenses) plus any parking fees, ferry fees, and tolls. Claim these expenses on Form 2106, Employee Business Expenses and report them on Form 1040 , Form 1040-SR , or Form 1040-NR as an adjustment to income.

Good records are essential. Refer to Topic no. 305 for information on recordkeeping. For more information on these and other travel expenses, refer to Publication 463, Travel, Entertainment, Gift, and Car Expenses .

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What Are Travel Expenses?

Understanding travel expenses, the bottom line.

• Deductions & Credits
• Tax Deductions

Travel Expenses Definition and Tax Deductible Categories

Michelle P. Scott is a New York attorney with extensive experience in tax, corporate, financial, and nonprofit law, and public policy. As General Counsel, private practitioner, and Congressional counsel, she has advised financial institutions, businesses, charities, individuals, and public officials, and written and lectured extensively.

For tax purposes, travel expenses are costs associated with traveling to conduct business-related activities. Reasonable travel expenses can generally be deducted from taxable income by a company when its employees incur costs while traveling away from home specifically for business. That business can include conferences or meetings.

Key Takeaways

• Travel expenses are tax-deductible only if they were incurred to conduct business-related activities.
• Only ordinary and necessary travel expenses are deductible; expenses that are deemed unreasonable, lavish, or extravagant are not deductible.
• The IRS considers employees to be traveling if their business obligations require them to be away from their "tax home” substantially longer than an ordinary day's work.
• Examples of deductible travel expenses include airfare, lodging, transportation services, meals and tips, and the use of communications devices.

Travel expenses incurred while on an indefinite work assignment that lasts more than one year are not deductible for tax purposes.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) considers employees to be traveling if their business obligations require them to be away from their "tax home" (the area where their main place of business is located) for substantially longer than an ordinary workday, and they need to get sleep or rest to meet the demands of their work while away.

Well-organized records—such as receipts, canceled checks, and other documents that support a deduction—can help you get reimbursed by your employer and can help your employer prepare tax returns. Examples of travel expenses can include:

• Airfare and lodging for the express purpose of conducting business away from home
• Transportation services such as taxis, buses, or trains to the airport or to and around the travel destination
• The cost of meals and tips, dry cleaning service for clothes, and the cost of business calls during business travel
• The cost of computer rental and other communications devices while on the business trip

Travel expenses do not include regular commuting costs.

Individual wage earners can no longer deduct unreimbursed business expenses. That deduction was one of many eliminated by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017.

While many travel expenses can be deducted by businesses, those that are deemed unreasonable, lavish, or extravagant, or expenditures for personal purposes, may be excluded.

Types of Travel Expenses

Types of travel expenses can include:

• Personal vehicle expenses
• Taxi or rideshare expenses
• Airfare, train fare, or ferry fees
• Laundry and dry cleaning
• Business meals
• Business calls
• Shipment costs for work-related materials
• Some equipment rentals, such as computers or trailers

The use of a personal vehicle in conjunction with a business trip, including actual mileage, tolls, and parking fees, can be included as a travel expense. The cost of using rental vehicles can also be counted as a travel expense, though only for the business-use portion of the trip. For instance, if in the course of a business trip, you visited a family member or acquaintance, the cost of driving from the hotel to visit them would not qualify for travel expense deductions .

The IRS allows other types of ordinary and necessary expenses to be treated as related to business travel for deduction purposes. Such expenses can include transport to and from a business meal, the hiring of a public stenographer, payment for computer rental fees related to the trip, and the shipment of luggage and display materials used for business presentations.

Travel expenses can also include operating and maintaining a house trailer as part of the business trip.

Can I Deduct My Business Travel Expenses?

Business travel expenses can no longer be deducted by individuals.

If you are self-employed or operate your own business, you can deduct those "ordinary and necessary" business expenses from your return.

If you work for a company and are reimbursed for the costs of your business travel , your employer will deduct those costs at tax time.

Do I Need Receipts for Travel Expenses?

Yes. Whether you're an employee claiming reimbursement from an employer or a business owner claiming a tax deduction, you need to prepare to prove your expenditures. Keep a running log of your expenses and file away the receipts as backup.

What Are Reasonable Travel Expenses?

Reasonable travel expenses, from the viewpoint of an employer or the IRS, would include transportation to and from the business destination, accommodation costs, and meal costs. Certainly, business supplies and equipment necessary to do the job away from home are reasonable. Taxis or Ubers taken during the business trip are reasonable.

Unreasonable is a judgment call. The boss or the IRS might well frown upon a bill for a hotel suite instead of a room, or a sports car rental instead of a sedan.

Individual taxpayers need no longer fret over recordkeeping for unreimbursed travel expenses. They're no longer tax deductible by individuals, at least until 2025 when the provisions in the latest tax reform package are due to expire or be extended.

If you are self-employed or own your own business, you should keep records of your business travel expenses so that you can deduct them properly.

Internal Revenue Service. " Topic No. 511, Business Travel Expenses ."

Internal Revenue Service. " Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses ," Page 13.

Internal Revenue Service. " Publication 5307, Tax Reform Basics for Individuals and Families ," Page 7.

Internal Revenue Service. " Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses ," Pages 6-7, 13-14.

Internal Revenue Service. " Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses ," Page 4.

Internal Revenue Service. " Publication 5307, Tax Reform Basics for Individuals and Families ," Pages 5, 7.

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Tax Resources for Accountants and Small Businesses (U.S.)

• Expense Reimbursements / IRS / Meals and Incidental Expenses / Mileage / Payroll / Per Diem Rates / Small business
• Complete Guide to Reimbursing Employees for Travel Expenses

Published September 2, 2020 · Updated April 21, 2021

When an employee travels away from the office and incurs expenses, the company should reimburse them. Whether travelling across the world or just driving their car to a client’s location, getting the reimbursement right isn’t hard.

Keep reading to learn how to make proper employee reimbursements.

Accountable Plans

You’ll first need to decide if you will implement an accountable or nonaccountable plan. This is just as it sounds; either you’ll have employees be accountable for business expense reimbursements or not.

All businesses should have an expense reimbursement plan in writing. This includes corporations, sole proprietors, the self-employed, and non-profits. Non-profits should be extremely careful when reimbursing disqualified persons because nonaccountable plan reimbursements not properly approved or recorded can cause significant tax exposure to the charitable organization.

An accountable plan must follow the IRS guidelines for expense reimbursement. To qualify, the following rules must be met:

• Expenses must be for business purposes.
• Expenses must be adequately reported to the company in reasonable time.
• Any excess reimbursement or allowance must be returned in a reasonable amount of time.

Any expense that doesn’t meet these three criteria is considered a reimbursement under a nonaccountable plan.

This distinction between these two types of plans is important because accountable plan reimbursements are not taxable to the employee, whereas nonaccountable plans are taxable.

Business Purpose

Expenses incurred as an employee while completing work for an employer have a business purpose. Examples include things like registration fees for a conference, taxi rides to the airport for a business trip, or meals while away on a business trip.

If however, an employer reimburses an employee for dinner when the employee works late, this does not qualify as a business purpose. This reimbursement would be taxable to the employee because it was made under a nonaccountable plan.

Reporting in a Reasonable Time

While what is considered a reasonable amount of time is subjective, the general rule is that all reimbursable expenses must be submitted within 60 days of when they were incurred.

Adequate reporting involves providing a record, like an expense report, of all expenses incurred and providing evidence, like receipts, to support the expenses.

Excess Reimbursement

If an employee receives a travel advance to cover travel expenses but spends less than the advance, the difference is an excess reimbursement and must be returned to the employer to not be taxable. If the excess isn’t returned in a reasonable amount of time, it’s taxable.

A reasonable period of time in this instance is generally deemed to be within 120 days of when the expense was incurred.

With a travel advance, employees should submit an expense report and receipts to substantiate all expenses.

Mileage and Business Use of Personal Vehicle

When an employee uses their personal vehicle for company business, you’ll need to reimburse them. You have three options.

• Standard mileage rate
• Actual costs
• Monthly allowance

Standard Mileage Rate

If you use the standard mileage rate, it is 57.5 cents per mile for 2020.

You can pay more, but the IRS’ safe-harbor threshold of 57.5 cents per mile will allow you a tax deduction without having to substantiate the rate.

Note that the IRS typically updates rates in December. So, you can expect to see the 2021 rate announced in December 2020. IRS 2021 Mileage Rates are here.

IRS Standard Mileage Rates 2020

Actual Costs

Instead of using the standard rate, you can reimburse employees for actual expenses.

The employee will sum up all the costs of owning the vehicle including everything from fuel, maintenance, tolls, registration, and insurance. And based upon the percentage of business miles driven, that portion of the total actual costs is reimbursed.

Monthly Allowance

Using the monthly allowance method is relatively easy. Each month you provide a set dollar amount to the employee.

If you require the employee to provide a mileage log at the end of the month, this will determine if any part of the allowance is taxable. If no mileage log is required, the entire allowance is taxable under an unaccountable plan.

If a mileage log is provided and the employee drove less than expected, they should return the excess allowance within 30 days. If they don’t, the excess becomes taxable to them.

An employee’s commute from their home to their normal place of business is not a reimbursable expense. Any business miles driven in excess of the commute miles is reimbursable.

For example, an employee’s normal round-trip commute is 20 miles. On Fridays, the employee works on-site at a client’s office that is 30 miles away from the employee’s home. So, the employee drives 60 miles round-trip on Fridays. Since this is longer than he would drive if he commuted to the office, you’ll want to reimburse the employee for 40 miles (60 miles – 20 miles).

Mileage Logs

Employees should keep mileage logs when using a personal vehicle for business use. The log should include:

• Employee’s name
• Description of vehicle
• Date of business use
• Purpose of business use
• Starting mileage on odometer
• Ending mileage on odometer
• Approval authorization

Here’s an example of a mileage log using Microsoft Excel.

Mileage log and expense report – employee reimbursement

Note that in this example, the employee drove from the office to a client and then back to the office. Therefore, there is no need to deduct commuting mileage.

But suppose, like in our example from above, that on Fridays the employee drives from home to the client’s location and back home. His mileage log would look like this:

Mileage log and expense report example – employee reimbursement

But what if in this example, the drive to the client’s office from the employee’s home was shorter than his regular commute? In this case there is nothing to reimburse and the employee enjoys the benefit of less driving.

What would happen if this same employee didn’t normally work on Fridays or he always worked from home on Fridays? Then the entire drive to the client’s office would be reimbursable since the employee’s normal work schedule didn’t require him to commute on Fridays.

Many employees will forget to deduct their normal commute from mileage reimbursement requests. You’ll want to remind them.

Direct Expense Reimbursement of Travel Expenses

For employees who travel frequently, providing them with a company credit card is ideal. But for those times when an employee must use their own money for business expenses, you’ll want to reimburse employees quickly.

For easy recordkeeping, have employees complete expense reports when seeking reimbursements. Like the mileage log, it will detail who incurred the expense and when, what it was for, and the amount.

You can reimburse your employees with cash; however best practices would be to pay with check or some other trackable means, like ACH.

Here’s an example of an easy expense report in Excel.

Travel expense report example – employee reimbursement

For each expense, the employee should include receipts to support the amounts requested.

Receipts for purchases should contain the amount, date, place, and a brief description of the expense.

For example, hotel receipts should include:

• The name and location of the hotel.
• The dates stayed.
• Separate amounts for charges (i.e. lodging, meals, or food).

Restaurant and meal receipts should include:

• The name and location of the restaurant.
• The names of people in attendance.
• The date and amount of the meal.

You may choose to reimburse employees for meal tips. Be sure to have a clear policy of what will be reimbursed and what will not. For example, you’ll reimburse up to 20% for tips. Anything above that will not be reimbursed.

You’ll also need to consider your policy for lost receipts. You can still reimburse but have the employee fill out a missing receipt form to document the expense.

In lieu of direct expense reimbursement, consider using a per diem.

A per diem provides the employee with a specified dollar amount per day to use on meals, snacks, lodging, or other miscellaneous purchases. Larger expenses like airfare would be paid using the direct expense reimbursement method or paid for directly by the company.

Per diems should be prorated for partial days of travel. Acceptable methods include the ¾’s method or any other method you choose that is reasonable.  The ¾’s method adds ¾ of a daily per diem rate on departure days and another ¾’s on return days.

The IRS sets per diem rates for cities and metropolitan areas. More expensive locales have higher daily rates than cheaper cities. For example, the daily rate for high cost cities like San Francisco, Vail, Colorado, and Nashville, Tennessee is $297. And many cities are designated high cost for only portions of the year. Miami and Park City, Utah are considered high cost only from December 1 – March 31.

And if you’re not in a high cost city, the daily rate is $200. These per diem rates are often updated each year. So you’ll always want to check for the current rates.

For example, Dave is travelling to Seattle for business. Seattle is a high cost locale. He’s leaving on Monday and returning on Thursday. Seattle’s maximum per diem rate is $297 per day. Dave will receive $222.75 ($297 x ¾) for Monday and Thursday and the full $297 for Tuesday and Wednesday.

Per diems are not taxable income to your employee if you use the IRS rates and your employee provides an expense report with receipts. However, using higher rates will create taxable income for the amount above the federal rate. And not submitting an expense report and receipts will make the entire per diem taxable because you’ll have an unaccountable plan and your company will not have the required receipts to support the tax deduction.

If your business operates in the transportation sector (i.e. shipping, trucking, or rail, etc…), it’s important to note that there are different per diem limits and rules you must follow.

Entertainment Expenses

With the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, entertainment expenses are no longer tax deductible for companies.

As an employer, you may still reimburse your employees for entertainment expenses; however, these reimbursements will need to be segregated so that they are not included on your tax return. Examples of entertainment expenses include tickets to entertain clients at sporting events or country club fees for golf memberships.

What documentation you require for entertainment reimbursements is up to you but best practices suggest following the same requirements for travel or mileage reimbursements.

Commingling

If travel or meals involve both a business and personal aspect, only the portion of the expense that is business related is reimbursable.  Expense reports and receipts should indicate whether there are any personal expenses.

For example, an employee makes a business trip to California from Georgia and elects to stay two days after business is finished for a mini-vacation. Best practices would have the employee check out of his hotel room and check back in using his personal credit card to pay the hotel bill for his extended stay. This way he has two different receipts; one for business and one for pleasure. However, if he doesn’t do that and the entire hotel stay is charged on the same receipt, you’ll need to back out the charges related to his personal stay.

None of this information should be taken as legal or financial advice, nor should it deter you from seeking the assistance of a licensed attorney, accountant, or financial services professional. But if you want to make sure your company’s policies for employee reimbursements are consistent with best practices, implementing these policies is a great place to start!

Tags: Business Use of Personal Vehicle Commingling Direct Expense Reimbursement employee Commuting reimbursement Employee Expense Reimbursement employee Monthly Allowance employees reimbursements entertainment expenses Excess Reimbursement Expense Reimbursement IRS Accountable Plans IRS Expense Reimbursement Mileage log and expense report Mileage Logs mileage on odometer Per Diem reimbursed expenses Reimbursing Employees Standard Mileage Rate travel expenses

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"Shoeboxed makes it stupid simple to scan receipts...”

What to know about travel expense reimbursement + templates.

The best way to establish an accurate reimbursement strategy for your employee and your company is to ensure that you have an expense reimbursement policy in place and that it is covered with all applicable employees during the onboarding process.

Caryl Ramsey

Published on

June 2nd, 2023

Shoeboxed is an expense & receipt tracking app that helps you get reimbursed quickly, maximize tax deductions, and reduce the hassle of doing accounting.

Employers and employees should understand the business’s guidelines for  T&E  or travel expense reimbursement policies so that neither runs into any issues over business-related expenses down the road.

The IRS is pretty flexible with employers when it comes to employee reimbursement for business travel expenses while away on a company trip.

Table of Contents

Does travel expense reimbursement qualify as a deductible travel expense?

What the IRS is not flexible about is whether or not the travel-related expenses incurred on the business trip qualify as a deductible travel expense.

Employers can deduct “ordinary and necessary expenses” of employees traveling away from their tax home.

According to the IRS, any reimbursement that does not qualify as a deductible travel expense is considered employee wages.

What are “accountable” and “non-accountable” plans?

There are two methods for reimbursing workers for expenses incurred when traveling for business. These are the “accountable plan” and the “non-accountable” plan.

An “accountable plan” is based on the Internal Revenue Service’s guidelines for reimbursing employees for the actual travel costs so that the reimbursable expenses incurred are not counted as income.

This means that the reimbursements are not subject to W-2 reporting or withholding taxes.

The expenses, however, must be business-related. To qualify for the “accountable plan,” expenses must be business-related, reported accurately, and excess reimbursements issued.

If the company’s reimbursement process doesn’t meet the guidelines under federal law for the “accountable plan,” then the expenses fall under the “non-accountable plan.”

If a reimbursed cost is non-accountable, then it is subject to being taxed as part of the employee’s compensation, therefore, it must be reported on the W-2 form and is subject to withholding.

What is travel expense reimbursement?

Travel expense reimbursement is when you pay employees back for business expenses incurred while traveling.

The expenses that are reimbursed are dependent upon the reimbursement policies determined by your business.

A travel reimbursement policy should be set up by your business that specifies the rules and procedures regarding reimbursement for travel-related expenses.

Many companies are using traditional expense management systems where staff can use a credit card and submit refunded trip expenses after the trip ends.

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What common types of travel expenses qualify for deductible expense reimbursement?

As an optional reimbursement provider, you have a choice on whether or not to  reimburse employees for travel expenses .

Regardless, a clear reimbursement policy should be established within the company.

Some of the most typical reimbursable expenses include the following:

Transportation costs between your home and the business destination

Transportation between airport/station and hotel

Transportation between the hotel and the work location

Sending company-related supplies from your regular work location to your travel work destination

Business use of a rental car or the actual expenses of operating your personal vehicle when traveling away from home on business such as mileage reimbursement

The cost of parking your rental car can vary significantly depending on factors such as location, duration, and demand. Urban areas and popular tourist destinations often have higher parking fees, while off-peak times or less crowded areas may offer more affordable options

Lodging and meal expenses

Dry cleaning and laundry

Business communication expenses

Business related tips

Parking fees and tolls

How do expense reports play a role in a business’s expense reimbursement policy?

To prevent fraud and to keep company records updated and accurate, companies should  use expense reports  as part of their expense reimbursement policy.

The expense report should be used by employees to report incidental expenses such as travel expenses , business meals, and small purchases of supplies or equipment for the office.

Employees fill out these expense reports, which require the information of a typical transaction.

Some of the information found on an expense report include the vendor’s name, date paid, expense description, amount paid, and totals for each expense category .

Then the expense report is submitted to the company and according to the reimbursement policy, the employee is reimbursed.

See also: Expense Report Template Google Sheets: 4 Free Templates

Receipt requirements

It’s important to always have proof or documentation of the expenses that you incurred. The best proof is to provide the original receipt from the store, merchant, or a  receipt book .

Therefore, when turning in an expense report, always attach any  supporting documentation such as your receipts  to the expense report.

This safeguards the company against  expense fraud  and ensures that the company will have the documentation needed for tax deductions and any  audits  if requested.

Processing expense reports for travel reimbursements

Once expense reports are submitted to the company, the company is responsible for the accuracy of the expense reports.

The company has an obligation to check the expense report against its business travel and reimbursement policies.

This is meant as an assurance system for ensuring accurate compliance with corporate policies.

Deadlines for expense reimbursement

Businesses should establish monthly or quarterly deadlines for expense reports. This ensures that the business can claim the expense as a tax deduction.

It also ensures that records are kept more accurate and up-to-date, that an expense doesn’t fall through the cracks, and that the company maintains a more efficient cash flow.

Not only should there be a deadline for the employee to submit an expense report, but there also should be a deadline for when the employee will be reimbursed by the company.

See also: Travel Nurse Expenses: Put Money Back in Your Pocket

4 Free travel expense reimbursement form templates

Whether you’re a new business looking for an easy way to keep up with eligible travel reimbursements or an employee that often travels for work, these free travel expense reimbursement form templates are a great way to record travel expenses and separate them from non travel reimbursements.

1. Hloom free travel expense reimbursement spreadsheet

Hloom free travel expense reimbursement spreadsheet for Excel.

Hloom offers a  free travel expense reimbursement spreadsheet  that you can use to report any travel expenses made while away on a business trip.

Employees’ travel expenses should be recorded in a concise, organized template so it’s easy to categorize eligible reimbursement claims, see if expenditures were within spending limits, and receive reimbursement all by looking at a single form.

Use this template to record:

The date, time, and location you traveled to

The meals you ate

The cost of lodging

Cost of transportation

Private vehicle license

This template is 100% free and customizable, so you can adjust the columns as needed to suit your company.

2. GeneralBlue simple free travel expense reimbursement form

This  free travel expense reimbursement form by GeneralBlue  is as easy as it gets. It’s an Excel template with 8 columns for recording the expenses incurred traveling for business.

With this straightforward form, you can record:

The date you traveled

A description of your trip

The cost of transportation

The cost of hotels

The cost of meals

Miscellaneous expenses

The total amount of travel expenses

There is also a line for employee and approval signatures so you have an official record of travel expenses and reimbursements.

3. U.S. General Services Administration travel expense reimbursement template

Travel expense reimbursement template from the U.S. General Services Administration.

For state employees, the U.S. GSA offers a  free travel expense reimbursement template  that you can use to record spending while out on state business.

This template has everything an employee would need to record official business expenses, including:

Department or establishment

Official business categories

Mileage, including fare or toll

Date traveled

Additional persons

Tips and miscellaneous expenses

Spaces for authorizing signatures

The U.S. GSA travel expense template has to be printed and written as a paper copy.

4. Vertex42 travel expense reimbursement sheet

The  Vertex42 travel expense reimbursement sheet  is available for free and can be downloaded as an Excel file or Google Sheet .

This expense report includes:

Description of travel

Air and transportation costs

Fuel and mileage costs

Conferences and seminars

Meals and tip costs

Entertainment

Other expenses

The total cost of expenses

There’s also a place for authorized signatures, department, manager name, employee ID, and more.

Bonus: Shoeboxed for receipt tracking and expense reports

Use Shoeboxed to capture your receipts and create detailed expense reports for reimbursement.

If you don’t want to deal with the hassle of keeping up with your receipts, manually inputting the expenses into a spreadsheet, or printing out an expense report for your boss,  Shoeboxed  can help!

Tracking receipts with Shoeboxed

Shoeboxed  is a great  travel management software  that allows you to snap photos of your receipts, digitally extract the important information, and categorize the expenses so that they’re easy to find and manage in your Shoeboxed account.

Break free from manual data entry ✨

Use Shoeboxed’s Magic Envelope to ship off your receipts and get them back as scanned data in a private, secure cloud-based account. 📁 Try free for 30 days!

Creating expense reports for business travel expenses

Once your receipt details are uploaded to your  Shoeboxed account , you can select the receipts you want to put in your expense report and either export, print, or email them to the appropriate authority.

Shoeboxed will then create a detailed and organized  expense report  with images of your receipts attached so you can get reimbursed!

And if you didn’t think it could get any better, Shoeboxed also offers a  free mileage tracker  so you can effortlessly calculate business mileage and add it to your expense report.

Frequently asked questions

Can i get reimbursed for travel expenses.

The IRS offers two plans for reimbursing workers for travel expenses that are deductible: 1. Employers don’t have to pay employment tax by not including the reimbursement for travel-related expenses from the worker’s wages with the accountable plan; or 2. Employers will have to count all payments to workers as wages under a non-accountable plan.

What are travel reimbursements?

Travel compensation consists of reimbursements for out-of-pocket expenses by employees when they travel for work. The employee typically fills out an expense report and turns it in to the employer. Your employee’s costs will be affected according to your company and reimbursement policies. Travel insurance policies provide you with guidelines for reimbursement of travel expenses.

How much travel expense can I claim?

During business travel the actual cost of transport is 100% deducted—whether it is a flight ticket, train ticket, or bus ticket. Similarly, renting a motor vehicle can make your travel expenses deductible.

In conclusion

The best way to establish an accurate reimbursement strategy for your employee and your company is to ensure that you have an expense reimbursement policy in place and that it is covered by all applicable employees during the onboarding process.

Providing an expense report template makes it much easier for the employees and for those processing the expense reports.

The expense reports will also help to maximize tax deductions, make the audit process much smoother, and ensure that the employee is being reimbursed the correct amount.

Caryl Ramsey  has years of experience assisting in different aspects of bookkeeping, taxes, and customer service. She uses a variety of accounting software for setting up client information, reconciling accounts, coding expenses, running financial reports, and preparing tax returns. She is also experienced in setting up corporations with the State Corporation Commission and the IRS.

About Shoeboxed!

Shoeboxed  is a receipt scanning service with  receipt software  that supports multiple methods for receipt capture: send, scan, upload, forward, and more!

You can stuff your receipts into one of our Magic Envelopes (prepaid postage within the US). Use our receipt tracker + receipt scanner app ( iPhone , iPad and Android ) to snap a picture while on the go. Auto-import receipts from Gmail. Or forward a receipt to your designated Shoeboxed email address.

Turn your receipts into data and deductibles with our expense reports that include IRS-accepted receipt images.

Join over 1 million businesses scanning & organizing receipts, creating expense reports and more—with Shoeboxed.

Try  Shoeboxed  today!

Turn business receipts into data & deductibles

Join over 1 million businesses scanning receipts, creating expense reports, and reclaiming multiple hours every week—with Shoeboxed.

Travel Expense Reimbursement: Importance, Process and Platform

Home » B2B » Travel Expense Reimbursement: Importance, Process and Platform

Implementing a faster, precise, and transparent business travel expense reimbursement process is crucial as travel expenditure contributes substantially to an organization’s operating costs. The process of travel expense reporting, approving, checking, and reimbursing consumes the valuable time of employees, line managers, and office staff.

Using paper-based expenditure statements can be a tedious process with a probability of errors while filling out complex forms. Advanced mobile expense software solutions and desktop platforms can eliminate the complexities of expense filing and reimbursements.

What is travel expense reimbursement?

The process of compensating your staff for out-of-pocket costs incurred during a business trip is known as travel expense reimbursement. If the employee used his wallet to pay for expenses like travel, food, etc. while on the job, the company is required to fully reimburse the employee. All over the world, businesses check the accuracy of the expenses before paying the employee back. Employees are required to provide a travel expense report detailing the actual cost in order to do that. The report is then double-checked by the corporate travel managers and finance teams to ensure its accuracy and compliance.

Fundamentals of travel expense reimbursement

Any employee who incurs expenditure for business-related activities receives reimbursement from the company. Employees may spend money on business travel, accommodation, food, or local transportation by complying with the company’s expense policy. The policy provides clarity about reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses.

Calculate business travel expenses

To calculate business travel expenses one must divide their expenses in three sections. Once done, it becomes easy to calculate the expenses.

1. Business Expenditure: One may incur expenses to purchase stationery and other essentials for the office. These are reimbursable under the business expenditure head.

2. Travel Expenses: These cover traveling expenses to make business visits, attend conferences, review meetings, and training programs. An employee may have to spend on meals and local travels if the company takes care of flight and hotel bookings.

3. Medical Expenses: Expenses such as hospitalization or treatment are reimbursable, per the benefits of medical insurance schemes.

One may spend money on personal reasons while on a business trip, but such expenses are not reimbursable. All reimbursable expenses must cover official or business activities. Some companies have a policy of paying an advance to cover reimbursable expenses. The employee should provide expenditure details and return the balance amount within a stipulated period.

Importance of clear business travel reimbursement

The travel expense reimbursement policy of the company should have no ambiguity. It must provide clarity about all aspects of expenses and the reimbursement process. Providing clear guidelines for approval flows, timelines, and other rules will help employees and finance staff adhere to the policy with no uncertainty.

The manual process of travel expense reimbursement is inefficient, slow, and unreliable. It causes delays and errors. Employees are not comfortable filling out the forms and waiting for the line managers to approve and forward them to the finance department for reimbursement. It can destroy the purpose of an expense reimbursement policy.

1. Simplifying the employee expense filing and reimbursement process

The availability of seamless communication platforms and tailored software solutions help companies adopt automation for effective implementation of travel policy . Automation of travel expense reimbursement expedites the process without the possibility of deviation from the travel policy.

Integration of business travel policy in the expense reimbursement platforms prohibits employees from bypassing the rules. The platform can instantly raise red flags by detecting errors. The user can proceed only after resolving the error. It prevents the submission of expense statements with errors.

Travel expense reimbursement platforms are easily accessible by using smartphones. With these platforms, employees will not have to wait till the last moment to prepare an expense statement for approval and reimbursement. The platform can update expenses in real-time to reduce the entire process of preparing expense statements to a single click. It does all the work of submitting and notifying the line manager for approval.

2. Gain instant visibility and analytics

Tracking business spending in real-time is a helpful attribute of intelligent travel expense management platforms. Businesses can have real-time visibility into the spending trends for necessary corrective actions to prevent financial losses. They can detect policy violations and get advanced analytics, including risk forecasting, to help the finance teams explore avenues to curtail expenditure.

Compliance is crucial for the successful implementation of an expense policy. The platform can ensure seamless compliance across all departments, transactions, and employee levels by automating policy checks. Reliable automation platforms ensure audit readiness by enabling an audit trail recording every transaction with relevant supportive documents and receipts.

3. Promises employee satisfaction

The process of manual filing of expense reimbursement is a hassle for employees, as it consumes a lot of time and affects the core business activities. Further, while on a business trip, the employees should focus on business generation instead of doing a clerical job of filling out forms.

Travel expense reimbursement software and platform relieves employees from the repetitive and unproductive task of preparing manual expense reporting. It promises higher productivity through better employee satisfaction. The intuitive interface of such software enhances user convenience by saving staff hours.

4. Ease in calculating business travel expenses

A good travel expense reimbursement platform or software not only helps in reporting the expenses, it also helps in tracking the expenses in the duration of the business trip. Corporate travelers can upload their receipts and other expenses on the interface which will help in documenting the expenses as well as calculate the expenses for a smoother process of reimbursement.

What to look for in an ideal travel expense reimbursement platform?

One may look for the following features in the expense reimbursement platform:

1. Real-time Reporting And Analytics: Get seamless real-time visibility into expense trends and benefit from actionable analytics.

2. Automated Travel Expense Reimbursement: Allows one-click reimbursement across bank accounts.

3. Bespoke Travel Policy Adoption: Ease of configuring policies and expense parameters for different employee levels and departments

4. Easily Automate Approvals: Smoothly integrate complex workflows and one-click approvals for faster reimbursement.

One can directly choose Paxes as a travel management platform to save precious time hunting for the right solution.

Suggested Read: Are Travel Expenses Tax Deductible Or Not?

Travel management platforms transforms the tedious and repetitive travel expense reimbursement activity by providing a fast, reliable, and flexible app for single-click reporting, submission, approval, and payment. It eliminates errors and saves crucial staff hours for greater employee satisfaction and productivity. It enables seamless access to innovative features like real-time analytics, policy configuration, and data insights to enhance control and improve a company’s financial health.

Travel Expense Reimbursement FAQs

Who can claim reimbursement for travel expenses.

Employees of a company who spend money on their travel arrangements, like airlines, hotels, and local transportation, can claim reimbursement for travel expenses.

Can medical expenses get reimbursement?

Yes, expenses such as hospitalization and treatment will be reimbursed according to health insurance benefits.

Why integration of travel policy is important in the reimbursement process?

It prohibits employees from voiding the rules by integrating them into travel policies. The platform can detect errors and immediately set a warning signal. The user can continue only after the error is resolved.

What are the characteristics of an ideal travel expense reimbursement platform?

The platform should support real-time reporting and analytics, travel policy adoption, and hassle-free approval.

Pratyush is a traveling enthusiast who always looks for innovations in business travel management. He has 5 years of experience writing content on corporate travel management and working closely with expert business travel facilitators.

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Mastering Expense Reimbursement: The Complete Process and Best Practices

Expense reimbursement is a significant cost for businesses, requiring efficient methods and technology to manage effectively. Without proper systems, time and money can be lost in the process. 

The complexity of expense reimbursement not only consumes your and your employees’ valuable time but also leaves businesses vulnerable to fraud. To mitigate these challenges, businesses need streamlined processes and reliable technologies. 

In this blog, we will explore the intricacies of expense reimbursement, highlighting the importance of efficient management and the role of technology in simplifying the process and reducing the risk of fraud.

What is Expense Reimbursement?

Expense reimbursement is a crucial process for businesses of all sizes and industries. It involves compensating employees for out-of-pocket expenses they incur while performing their job duties. Unlike regular salaries, these reimbursements are not subject to tax deductions.

Employees often need to pay for work-related expenses upfront, such as travel or client entertainment. A formal expense reimbursement plan ensures that employees are reimbursed fairly and promptly. It also helps management control spending and maximize tax benefits.

Without a well-structured reimbursement plan, requests and reports may be overlooked, leading to delays in reimbursing employees. A disorganized process can also create frustration and tension between employees and management. Therefore, it’s essential to establish a clear and efficient procedure for employee reimbursement .

Example of Expense Reimbursement

Imagine you’re a sales representative for a company, and your job involves traveling to meet clients. During one of your trips, you need to book a hotel for two nights and have meals while away. You pay for these expenses using your credit card, totaling $500.

After returning from your trip, you compile an expense report detailing your expenditures, including receipts for the hotel stay and meals. You submit this report to your manager along with the receipts as proof of your expenses.

Your manager reviews the report and approves the travel expense reimbursement . The finance department then processes the reimbursement, and you receive $500 to cover the costs you incurred during your business trip.

Types of Expenses Reimbursement

There are several types of expense reimbursements that businesses commonly use:

• Travel Expenses: This includes costs employees incur while traveling for work, such as airfare, hotel accommodations, rental cars, and meals.
• Mileage Reimbursement: When employees use their vehicles for work-related travel, they can be reimbursed based on the number of miles driven at a standard rate.
• Meal Expenses: Employees can be reimbursed for meals purchased while traveling for work or during business meetings.
• Transportation Expenses: This includes costs for public transportation, taxis, or ride-sharing services used for business purposes.
• Supplies and Materials: Reimbursement for office supplies or materials purchased by employees for work-related activities.
• Client Entertainment: Expenses related to entertaining clients, such as meals or event tickets, can be reimbursed.
• Training and Education: Reimbursement for costs associated with attending work-related training or educational events.

Businesses need to have clear policies and guidelines regarding what expenses are eligible for reimbursement and the documentation required to process reimbursement requests.

What Qualifies as a Reimbursable Expense?

When determining the validity of employee’s expense reimbursements, adherence to the organization’s travel and expense policies is paramount. Any expense incurred personally by employees must align with these policies.

If the expense fits into any of the following categories, it qualifies for reimbursement:

• Is the expense necessary for the completion of the job? 
• Would any employee in the same position incur the same expense?
• Are the expenses related to travel that are essential and unavoidable for job completion?
• Did the employee use their funds to cover on-the-job expenses?
• Has the employee submitted a reimbursement claim for an expense?
• Has the employee submitted proof of payment for the expense incurred?
• Did the employee inform the higher management or accounting department within a reasonable time?

How Should Employees Report Expenses?

Employees should report expenses by filling out an expense report form, detailing costs incurred while conducting business activities. This form is essential for reimbursement and financial reporting purposes.

An expense report typically includes:

Expense Details: Date, description, amount, and currency of each expense.

Expense Categories: Grouping expenses by type (e.g., lodging, meals, travel) to help organize and analyze spending.

Supporting Documents: Receipts, invoices , or other proof of payment for reimbursement and auditing purposes.

Total Charges: Summing up all expenses for a specific period, with subtotals for different expense categories if needed.

Additional Details: Purpose of the expense, project/client associated with it, and any special notes.

Once completed, the expense report is submitted to the appropriate department or authority within the organization for review, approval, and processing. The organization’s policies and procedures will determine how expenses are evaluated, reimbursed, and recorded in financial records.

A Step-by-Step Guide to Expense Reimbursement Process

1. define a clear expense policy.

Begin by developing a comprehensive expense policy that clearly outlines which expenses are eligible for reimbursement and the procedures for submitting reimbursement claims. This policy serves as a guide for employees and helps prevent overspending or reimbursement requests for non-allowable expenses.

2. Categorize Expenses

Establish a method for organizing and categorizing expenses to streamline the reimbursement process. This could involve creating expense categories based on the nature of the expense (e.g., travel, meals, supplies) and ensuring that expenses are properly classified for accurate reporting and accounting purposes.

3. Educate Employees on Reimbursement Procedures

Ensure employees understand the rules and procedures for submitting reimbursement claims, including the importance of accurate documentation and adherence to the policy guidelines. Encourage open communication and address employees’ questions or concerns to ensure compliance with the policy.

4. Specify the Documentation Requirements

Clearly define the documentation requirements for each expense category to ensure compliance with the policy. This may include receipts, invoices, or other proof of purchase. Explain to employees the importance of maintaining and submitting accurate documentation to support their reimbursement claims.

5. Record and Manage Expenses

Implement a system for employees to capture and document their expenses. This could be a digital system where employees can upload photos of receipts or a manual process where employees keep physical copies of receipts. Ensure that the process is easy to use to encourage compliance.

6. Submit Expense Reports

Offer a platform to employees where they can submit their expense details seamlessly. The platform can be an automated travel and expense management software or a manual form or spreadsheet. Encourage employees to submit their reports on time to avoid delays in processing. Provide guidance on completing the expense report form and what information is required for each expense.

7. Review and Approve Expense Claims

Designate a review process for expense reports to ensure compliance with the policy. This may involve a review by the finance team or department managers to verify the accuracy and validity of the expenses. Any discrepancies or non-compliant expenses should be addressed and resolved before expense approval .

8. Reimbursement Expenses

Once expense reports have been reviewed and approved, ensure that reimbursements are processed promptly. Timely reimbursement helps maintain employee satisfaction and ensures that employees are not financially burdened by out-of-pocket expenses incurred while performing their job duties.

Major Roadblocks in the Manual Expense Reimbursement Process

1. Employee cash flow constraints . Traditional reimbursement processes strain employees’ finances and satisfaction; delays worsen this, especially with check-based payments.

2. Ambiguity in expense policies. Complex policies lead to confusion, non-compliance, and overspending; clear policies are crucial for adherence and a smooth reimbursement process.

3. Limited spend visibility. Lack of real-time expense data hampers effective monitoring and managing of employee spending, impacting financial processes.

4. Cumbersome paperwork. Manual receipt management is time-consuming and error-prone; automation can streamline this process, reducing manual efforts.

5. Prone to errors. Manual entry increases the likelihood of inaccuracies in financial records, emphasizing the need for digital solutions for accuracy.

6. Communication Challenges. Miscommunication delays reimbursements; clear instructions on documentation and approval procedures are essential.

7. Receipt management issues. Manual receipt handling is challenging; automation simplifies receipt verification and matching with expense reports.

8. Approval delays. Manual approval processes are inefficient and lead to delays; automation can streamline workflows for faster approvals.

9. Manual audit and compliance challenges. Manual checks are time-consuming; automated solutions are needed for efficient compliance checks and error detection.

How to Streamline Expense Reimbursement Process?

Streamlining the expense reimbursement process can significantly improve efficiency and reduce administrative burdens. Automation plays a crucial role in achieving this goal. By automating expense reimbursement, organizations can eliminate manual tasks, reduce errors, and speed up the reimbursement cycle.

Automation allows employees to submit expenses easily through digital platforms, such as expense management software or mobile apps. These tools can automatically validate expenses against company policies, ensuring compliance and reducing the need for manual review. 

Furthermore, automation enables faster approval processes, as managers can review and approve expenses digitally, from anywhere. This eliminates the need for physical receipts and paper-based approval workflows, making the process more efficient and convenient for everyone involved.

How Automated Expense Reimbursement Benefit Everyone?

Automated expense reimbursement offers advantages that boost morale, tax deductions, and productivity. Let’s delve into these benefits for both employers and employees.

Benefits for Employers

• Error Reduction: Automation eliminates errors in expense reporting and reimbursement processes, reducing mistakes made by employees, managers, and finance departments.
• Paperless Processes: Automation reduces paperwork, allowing supervisors and finance teams to manage reports efficiently and quickly.
• Policy Compliance: Automation ensures greater compliance with company expense policies, flagging and preventing reimbursement for reports that violate these policies.
• Increased Visibility: Automation provides better visibility into spending, helping identify overspending or underspending categories and allowing for better control and forecasting of expenses.

Benefits for Employees

• Reduced Personal Burden: A good reimbursement process assures employees that their money spent on business expenses will be reimbursed, reducing financial stress.
• Stress-Free Travel: Structured reimbursement systems guarantee that employees’ business trips are stress-free by eliminating the possibility of payment delays.
• Simplified Expense Claims: A clear and straightforward reimbursement process helps employees adhere to procedures and expense policies, making expense claims easier and more manageable.

How Peakflo Streamlines Expense Reimbursement?

Peakflo’s Travel and Expense Management solution streamlines expense reimbursement. It provides a suite of features that simplify the entire process from policy creation to auto-disbursement . It allows companies to configure specific policies for allowable expenses, manage expense categories, and define rules for approvals based on various criteria. 

With Peakflo, employees can easily submit travel requests and expenses, while managers can quickly review and approve them. Automation ensures compliance with company policies, reduces errors, and speeds up reimbursement cycles. 

The system also offers 2-way matching with OCR technology , flagging any mismatches or duplicate expenses. Additionally, Peakflo centralizes communication and approvals, providing a clear audit trail for transparency and accountability.

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How to Handle Your Business Travel Reimbursements Efficiently

Team Kissflow

Updated on 12 Feb 2024 • 4 min read

Travel reimbursement can sometimes be an overlooked   financial process   in an organization, perhaps because it used to be a particularly time-consuming task. But the truth is, if the process is done right, it can yield profitable time and resource efficiencies for both employees and the business as a whole.

Here’s how to make sure that the travel reimbursement process in your organization is offering you the best value, regarding time, ease, and money.

How does travel reimbursement work?

Travel reimbursement is the way employers pay their employees back for expenses they have incurred during business-related travel. Such expenses can range from airfare to mileage, event registration, parking, and meals. Depending on your travel policy, employees may need to pay for these first.

How to speed-up travel reimbursement process?

Digitally automating the travel reimbursement process has become an increasingly popular way for businesses to handle what was once a   manual process . Regardless of how the travel expense management process is done, it is important to both employees and the company alike.

Here are some simple tips to get your travel reimbursements faster:

• Make sure the workflow fits
• Keep it simple
• Stick to cloud

1. Make sure the workflow fits

Choosing an out-of-the-box travel reimbursement solution might seem like a good idea, but there may be significant differences in how you want to process reimbursements. Rather than buying a standalone solution, you should consider building your own workflow and form on a simple automation platform.

2. Keep it simple

Many automated solutions actually make the process more complex. More than automated, employees want easy, so don’t choose a solution that complicates things more.

3. Stick to the cloud

Cloud-based travel reimbursement handling is easier for organizations of all sizes. It allows users quick and easy access to the system, coupled with sophisticated data manipulation and analysis, thus, meeting the needs of all parties in the process.

Features to look for in a travel reimbursement system

Every business has unique requirements, but there are a few features that you cannot do without. Here are some essential features that every travel reimbursement system should have:

1. Travel expense policy management

The travel management tool should let you define custom expense policies and approval hierarchies for different kinds of T&E expenses. The system should display the company’s guidelines when employees report their expenses, so they don’t submit unqualified expenses.

2. Expense reporting

Employees report their business expenses to managers or the finance team when they come back from business trips. The travel reimbursement system should let them submit expenses as and when they happen with a mobile app so no expense is left unaccounted.

3. Multi-currency expenses

When employees undertake international travel, they spend in a foreign currency. They get reimbursed in the local currency once they are back. The travel reimbursement system should accommodate multiple currencies and conversion rates.

4. Data validation

Whenever employees submit their reimbursement claims, the system should validate the expenses and throw red flags if they don’t adhere to the spending guidelines. Auto-validation deters the employees from submitting personal expenses, resulting in significant cost savings.

5.   Expense approvals

If there are any expenses in the report that don’t comply with the organization’s policy, the system should notify the approver. This makes it easier for managers and the finance team to approve or reject a claim.

6. Integrated system

If the travel reimbursement software is connected with corporate credit cards, travel expenses can be automatically fetched. The system should also post journal entries to the accounting software and update the payroll software so employees can be reimbursed along with their regular paychecks.

Benefits of automating travel reimbursements

By automating the travel reimbursement process, you can experience these benefits:

• Faster, on-the-go processing
• Fewer errors or requests for more information
• Immediate insight into the state of every request
• Analytics on how long the process usually takes
• Clearer sharing of travel policies and approvals

Steps involved in manual travel reimbursement process

In the past, this reimbursement process was often laborious and time consuming for all involved.

Let’s have a look at the different steps of this manual process.

Requesting Reimbursement

Approving reimbursement, requesting payment, approving payment.

The employee would likely have to fill out a paper form by hand, completing full details of the type of travel reimbursement being sought, the reasons for it, and a total cost breakdown, along with attaching all the paper receipts in an envelope or stapled to the back of the form.

This form would then be handed to their line manager, along with all those receipts, for the line manager to authorize.

The authorized form would be sent to the finance team for payment.

The payment would be approved and wired by the finance team. Finally, the employee receives the payment.

Drawbacks of manual reimbursement process

Manual process in a travel expense tracker system is prone to a number of potential issues, one of the biggest being the fact that the reimbursement crossed a number of hands before its eventual payment to the employee.

Employees relied on their manager to approve the claim quickly. Subsequently, they were bound to strict payment and processing rules, which often caused delays and inevitable frustration.

The manual travel reimbursement process often resulted in errors, or a need to further clarifications between the three key parties within the process: the employee, the manager, and the finance team.

Travel reimbursement with Kissflow Finance & Ops Cloud

Kissflow Finance & Ops Cloud   offers organizations robust yet simple solutions to overcome obstacles in their travel reimbursement processes. It gives employees and managers the opportunity to make and authorize claims on the move, and its built-in system formulas mean that the number of fields that need to be manually completed is minimized, leading to quicker and more accurate processing.

The system offers substantial flexibility to add customizable features that suit the needs of the business.

For example,   workflows can be adjusted to add in supervisor approvals over an absolute monetary value or auto-approvals for lower amounts. It is also straightforward to add or change permissions to the app, to ensure that the system is customized to each user, adding to the simplicity and ease of the process even further.

With   Kissflow Finance & Ops Cloud , you can streamline all your key finance processes like travel reimbursement claims, travel approvals, and budget requests. Get improved control over finance approvals and see your efficiency soaring. Get your free demo today.

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Definition of reimburse

transitive verb

pay , compensate , remunerate , satisfy , reimburse , indemnify , repay , recompense mean to give money or its equivalent in return for something.

pay implies the discharge of an obligation incurred.

compensate implies a making up for services rendered.

remunerate clearly suggests paying for services rendered and may extend to payment that is generous or not contracted for.

satisfy implies paying a person what is required by law.

reimburse implies a return of money that has been spent for another's benefit.

indemnify implies making good a loss suffered through accident, disaster, warfare.

repay stresses paying back an equivalent in kind or amount.

recompense suggests due return in amends, friendly repayment, or reward.

Examples of reimburse in a Sentence

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'reimburse.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

re- + obsolete English imburse to put in the pocket, pay, from Medieval Latin imbursare , from Latin in- in- + Medieval Latin bursa purse — more at purse

1511, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Articles Related to reimburse

The Words of the Week - 1/15/21

Some of the words that defined the week ending January 15, 2021

Dictionary Entries Near reimburse

Reimer-Tiemann reaction

Cite this Entry

“Reimburse.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary , Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/reimburse. Accessed 18 Jun. 2024.

Kids Definition

Kids definition of reimburse.

from re- "again, back" and obsolete imburse "pay, put in the pocket," from Latin imbursare (same meaning), from earlier in- "in" and bursa "purse, small leather bag" — related to disburse , purse

Legal Definition

Legal definition of reimburse, more from merriam-webster on reimburse.

Nglish: Translation of reimburse for Spanish Speakers

Britannica English: Translation of reimburse for Arabic Speakers

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An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• Explore sell to government
• Ways you can sell to government
• How to access contract opportunities
• Conduct market research
• Register your business
• Certify as a small business
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• Market your business
• Research active solicitations
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• Explore real estate
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• Commissioning
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• NEPA implementation
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• Explore small business
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• Explore travel
• Per diem rates
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• Region 1 | New England
• Region 2 | Northeast and Caribbean
• Region 3 | Mid-Atlantic
• Region 4 | Southeast Sunbelt
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• Region 10 | Northwest/Arctic
• Region 11 | National Capital Region
• Per Diem Lookup

M&IE breakdowns

The meals and incidental expense (M&IE) breakdowns in the tables below are provided should federal travelers need to deduct meals furnished by the government or included in a registration fee from their M&IE allowance consistent with Federal Travel Regulation 301-11.18 . Meals provided by a common carrier or a complimentary meal provided by a hotel/motel do not affect per diem ( 301-11.17 ).

M&IE breakdown for foreign and non-foreign areas outside the continental U.S. (OCONUS)

For M&IE rates greater than $265, allocate 15%, 25%, and 40% of the total to breakfast, lunch, and dinner, respectively. The remainder is the incidental expense allowance.

PER DIEM LOOK-UP

1 choose a location.

Error, The Per Diem API is not responding. Please try again later.

No results could be found for the location you've entered.

Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. Territories and Possessions are set by the Department of Defense .

Rates for foreign countries are set by the State Department .

2 Choose a date

Rates are available between 10/1/2021 and 09/30/2024.

The End Date of your trip can not occur before the Start Date.

Traveler reimbursement is based on the location of the work activities and not the accommodations, unless lodging is not available at the work activity, then the agency may authorize the rate where lodging is obtained.

Unless otherwise specified, the per diem locality is defined as "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city, including independent entities located within those boundaries."

Per diem localities with county definitions shall include "all locations within, or entirely surrounded by, the corporate limits of the key city as well as the boundaries of the listed counties, including independent entities located within the boundaries of the key city and the listed counties (unless otherwise listed separately)."

When a military installation or Government - related facility(whether or not specifically named) is located partially within more than one city or county boundary, the applicable per diem rate for the entire installation or facility is the higher of the rates which apply to the cities and / or counties, even though part(s) of such activities may be located outside the defined per diem locality.