New Rates for Mileage and Meals

The University mileage reimbursement rate will decrease from $.485 to $.445 for travel occuring on and after January 1, 2006. This decrease is the result of an announcement by the IRS to lower its rate as of January 1st. The following rate adjustment is reflected in ISU's travel policies:

Effective for travel on or after January 1, 2006, mileage for personal vehicle usage will decrease to $.445 (from $.485) for trips meeting any one of the following:

• the round-trip is less than 100 miles,
• the traveler is permanently based off-campus,
• the traveler was unable to reserve a vehicle from Transportation Services, or
• the traveler is not an ISU student or an ISU employee. This includes travel expenses reimbursable under Professional Service Agreements.

For travel on or after September 1, 2005:

• In-state meal maximums increased to $31 (from $26). The breakdown per meal is: Breakfast - $6; Lunch - $9; Dinner - $16. Meals will still be reimbursed based on actual costs and may include gratuities.
• Out-of-state meal maximums were not increased by the Board of Regents and remain at: Breakfast - $8; Lunch - $12; Dinner - $20.

If you have any questions, contact Bill Cahill (515-294-5181), Keith Schmidt (515-294-5124), or Kathy Dobbs (515-294-6653).

Web Travel System Implementation

For fiscal year 2005 we processed 20,149 travel reimbursements.

Approvers, proxies and verifiers are now allowed to have up to 40 department codes for their permits. Previously, the limit had been 23. Please contact Bill Cahill at 294-5181 if you have additional departments for which you need access.

Users are now able to route authorizations for zero dollars, although a fund account number is still required for routing purposes. Previously, users had to have a dollar amount for authorizations, even when a third party was paying for all expenses.

In May 2004 we enhanced the system to allow crediting of travel advances. No special entry is required on the web travel system to make sure the advance is deducted. When the reimbursement run is processed on Wednesday and Friday nights it checks the Accounts Receivable accounts of the travelers to see if there are any outstanding travel advances. If so, it applies the reimbursement to the advance and pays the traveler the net amount. The e-mail the traveler receives states the amount applied to the advance and the amount being sent to the traveler's bank account.

Persons designated by their departments as approvers, proxies or originators (verifiers) should always use the Ubusiness tab rather than the Employee tab when accessing the system. Extension employees also should always use the Ubusiness tab.

An online tutorial also is available at http://www.adp.iastate.edu/vpbf/accounting/webtravel/contents.htm

A copy of the Web Travel System Routing form and instructions can be obtained online here for departments that have not yet established routing paths for approving travel transactions.

For more information, please contact Bill Cahill at 515-294-5181.

Internet Air Ticket Purchases Now Allowed

Effective July 1, 2002, Iowa State University travelers will be allowed to purchase air tickets from Internet sites if approved by their department chairs. Our contracted agencies still are accepting faxed Air Ticket Requisition forms, which in most cases will be the most efficient way to purchase tickets.

Please click here for guidelines in comparing Internet travel sites to our contracted travel agencies. Return to Travel Information Homepage