Beginning July 1, faculty and staff traveling on Vanderbilt University business may file meal expenses using a per diem rate.
Under the new policy, faculty and staff may choose to file a $51 a day per diem expense instead of filing itemized receipts through Concur for all meals, if they meet the criteria. Per diem filing is only for travel with funding that is fully nonsponsored and unrestricted, and the $51 daily rate includes all meals, snacks and incidental expenses (such as baggage and porter tips) for the entire day.
The per diem method cannot be used in all cases. People traveling on federally funded grants must continue to use actual receipts for meal reimbursements. Travelers who pay for entertainment or group meals must also use actual receipts to file all their meal expenses for that trip. Travelers must choose just one method —either per diem or actual receipts — for each trip. A quick guide to the new per diem meal expense type is available here. More information about the new meal per diem expense is available on pages 8-10 of the online Concur travel and expense FAQs.
Also, Vanderbilt’s requirement to file receipts for out-of-pocket reimbursements and One Card transactions is increasing to $75 from $25. Schools and departments will continue to have the option of enforcing more restrictive guidelines at the local level.
If you have further questions, please contact concurexpense@vanderbilt.edu.