Travel

Those who have a travel card must reconcile via Concur within 30 days of travel.  You will receive reminders once 30 days have passed and at day 90 the amount of your travel, if not reconciled via an expense statement, will be treated as income and you will be taxed accordingly.  This is an IRS regulation that has not been enforced, but effective 1/1/2023 is now in effect.

Learn more at the Travel Card page. 

TCMS User Guide

Approver Responsibilities and Procedures

At the time of booking, prepare a Travel Request detailed itinerary with cost estimates as if the employee was traveling solo and exclusively for business for all travel expenses (business flight only, single occupancy lodging, etc.). This will enable the ease of separating expenses for reimbursement to the University.

If personal travel will result in additional cost, the traveler must reimburse the University the difference in cost (make check payable to UMCES - CBL and submit to the Business Office). For example, if an employee is traveling to a conference and would like to extend the stay by several days but the cost of the ticket to return later is greater, the employee is responsible for the difference in the cost of the flight in addition to all other expenses associated with personal travel.

For near destinations with multiple flight options, flying in/out on same day of business events may be reasonable.

For far destinations there may be more limited flight options and the traveler may need to arrive a day early / leave a day late.

Anything beyond a day early / late is to be considered personal travel and must be reimbursed to the University.

Meals are expensed based on the Federal Per Diem Schedule (FY2022)

The Federal Per Diem schedule is loaded into Concur

Per diems will be paid at a rate of 75% for 8 hours of active travel on the day of departure and return.  If active travel is less than 8 hours, a per diem may only be paid if the meal is within 2 hours of an expected meal time. 

Travelers may charge meals to their Tcards and the charges will be reconciled to the Federal Per Diem for the destination location

If a meal charged to the Tcard exceeds the allowable per diem amount, the traveler is required to reimburse the university for the difference

Alcoholic beverages are not allowed using the Tcard and will not be reimbursed 

Itemized receipts are required for all reimbursable expenses including airfare, parking, rail/metro/bus ticket, car rental, ground transportation and tolls, lodging, conference/event registration, and rental vehicle fuel.

At the end of your hotel stay, check out at the front desk and request a detailed receipt. If a traveler orders room service for a meal during travel status, the meal must be deducted from the room total and a per diem claimed to cover the cost.  If the cost of the room service meal exceeds the per diem and the room is paid via Tcard, the additional cost will be payroll deducted.  If the cost is to be reimbursed, the traveler may only be reimbursed at the per diem rate. 

Receipts are used to verify that the travel purchases were used for the approved traveler, dates, and location. Receipts also document the actual cost and payment of each expense.

If a receipt is unobtainable or lost, the traveler must submit a written statement detailing the expense and why no receipt is provided.

For hosted meals, you must provide:

• An itemized receipt that does not include or has subtracted any alcohol costs (under no circumstances is alcohol reimbursed by UMCES)

• A statement of the purpose of the meal

• A list of attendees

If you request reimbursement above the UMCES per diem rates, you must provide an itemized receipt and a justification (i.e., dietary restrictions) for review and approval.

Travelers are expected to book the lowest, logical fare considering time and cost 

The purchase of First-Class airfare is not permitted.

The purchase of premium seating (includes all types of premium seating including Comfort Class, Business Class, Coach Plus, etc) is allowable under the following circumstances, with pre-approval: 

• When the traveler has provided medical documentation supporting the need for premium seating

• When a single leg of the trip exceeds 5 hours of flight time OR when the scheduled flight time, including non-overnight stopovers and change of planes, is in excess of 14 hours.  The upgrade is allowable for the full round trip when a segment is >5 hours or schedule flight time is >14 hours

• When a trip qualifies for premium seating based on flight time, premium seating is allowable for the full round trip

• When the cost of an upgraded seat is less than the cost to book coach class

Flight change/cancellation fees are the responsibility of the traveler, except in emergency situations and/or for the convenience of the University. For example: network outage, weather, leadership decision.

EarlyBird Check-in as an add on to Regular-Class airfare is permissible.

Costs associated with seat assignment changes and upgrades above the original purchased ticket are the responsibility of the traveler and must be reimbursed to CBL.

Wi-fi access is permissible when for University business.

Baggage fees are permissible with detailed receipt and boarding pass provided by the traveler.

 Fees for TSA pre-check and global entry membership will not be reimbursed and are not to be charged to a UMD Tcard.  These fees are considered a personal expense

All Federally funded travel must comply with the Fly America Act and the use of  U.S. flag air carriers which require that a United States flag carrier be used unless an exception applies.  Refer to Office of Research Administration for additional details . 

All sponsored travel is required to comply with the rules/regulations of the sponsor which may vary from UMD's travel rules/policies 

Traveler should use the most economical airport parking which is appropriate to the travel and whenever possible long-term parking should be utilized.

Please refrain from parking in hourly lots for all trips.

Mileage is measured from the closer of the duty station or point of departure to the airport for travel on days during the employee's normal work schedule.

For travel on days that are not part of the employee's normal work schedule, actual airport mileage is reimbursable.

• For example:

  • Home to Airport: 30 miles

  • Home to CBL: 10 miles

  • Reimbursement on Duty Day: 20 miles

  • Reimbursement on non-Duty Day day: 30 miles

• This also applies to local travel

• If mileage is less than if the employee would be coming into work, they may not claim mileage reimbursement.

• If the traveler is dropped off at and picked up from the airport, one-way mileage should be used and not two round-trips.

Mileage is only reimbursable when the traveler’s privately owned vehicle (POV) is used. 

Mileage reimbursement is based on the current State of Maryland mileage reimbursement rate. 

When signing the rental agreement, the renter must include his/her name, UMCES, and State of Maryland.

The State of Maryland is self-insured, Collision Damage Waivers (CDW) and Loss Damage Waivers (LDW) are not reimbursable when traveling domestically.

If the need for a rental car is restricted to travel to/from the airport, utilize a taxi or car service available. When a vehicle is needed for business purposes daily, rent a car.

CDW/LDW is reimbursable for international rentals, outside the 50 United States.  Travelers are advised to use the available car rental contracts listed on the Travel Discounts page. 

For meals, tips are included in your per diem amounts so please consider this when making meal selections.

For taxis, the maximum tip that would be reimbursed is 20% of the fare.

If a Travel Request is already approved but a change occurs (e.g. a flight got rescheduled, an extra taxi ride was taken) how do we make adjustments?

• Travel Request Adjustments are no longer required. Differences between the approved Travel Request and the actual travel that occurred will be reflected in the Travel Expense Report.

If the dates of my international travel change after it has been approved, how is that handled?

• If there is a change in the flight dates for international travel, the Travel Request is to be canceled and a new Travel Request with the corrected dates must be submitted. This will ensure the correct dates of travel are reflected for comprehensive international health insurance coverage.

What if I have to cancel my trip?

• Information about trip cancellation is included on our Travel Procedures page