Reimbursement
Access to Concur, information regarding petty cash transactions as well as guest travel reimbursements and tax exemption status for the University.
Penn Faculty, Staff and Students
Concur
Concur, an online travel booking and expense management tool, is available to all staff, faculty and students. In order to access the system and create your expense report, you will need to log in using your PennKey and password. Individuals who are new to Penn (GSE), need to request that their Travel and Expense profiles be active. Complete this initial steps document and check with the Business Office to ensure you have access.
Students should complete this initial steps document and check with the Business Office to ensure your access is set.
- Student Specific Initial Set Up
- Student Reimbursements - Use Concur or Not?
- Create an Expense Report - Students
- Reimburse a Student with a Travel Stipend - Create an Expense Report
- Reimburse a Student with a Travel Stipend - Initial Set Up
Bank of America Travel Card Imported Card Charges
As you use your BOA Travel card, your purchases will import as expense items in your Concur profile. This saves time and administrative steps in completing your expense report reconciliation. As you import your charges, attach receipts and complete missing or additional information, you are well on your way to the easiest possible process in submitting your expense report.
The Bank of America Card application doesn’t go against your personal credit score nor is it reported to credit agencies.
For any charges that are business-related and approved by your manager/supervisor, you should not pay for these directly to Bank of America. Your reconciled report serves as your payment documentation so that Penn can pay Bank of America on your behalf.
Receipts
Copies, scans or pictures of receipts are acceptable.
Receipts should be collected in any and all circumstances when possible. However, University policy states that purchases under $25 do not required a receipt. For those purchases over the mandated threshold, please be sure receipts include an itemization of expenses, any fees, taxes or tips incurred, along with proof of purchase (document or receipt showing the last four digits of the credit card used and your name). Submitting or uploading a bank statement is not sufficient.
In all situations, any alcohol purchases deemed reimbursable must be itemized.
Please note: receipt requirements on grants may have stricter guidelines than the University mandates.
Missing Receipts
Complete the Missing Receipt Affidavit form via the Concur Expense Management website. This option will only be available for use on expense line items $25 or higher. A step-by-step guide is provided for your use.
For guest travelers or reimbursements through the supplier portal or petty cash, please use the Missing Receipt Affidavit form.
Per Diems (Meal Offset)
Per Diems are an acceptable expense that can be reimbursed under Penn’s policy. Should you choose to claim per diems, you will not be able to submit any receipts for meals during the duration of your trip.
You can access the Per Diem Automatic Itinerary Builder within Concur by following these instructions or alternatively you can check the GSA website:
Once you populate your rates, you can use this guide to adjust your meal rates per day. Please note: if you are attending a conference or event and meals are covered with your registration or attendance fee, you cannot claim per diems for those parts of the day where meals were provided.
TIP: Did you know? You can claim per diem on the first and last travel days of your trip, however, you will be entitled to only 75% of the full day’s rate.
Payment Expectations
Please be aware that once an expense report is submitted to the Concur portal, it is reviewed by three approvers. This can add anywhere from 3-5 days to the processing timelines which doesn’t include funding to your direct deposit funding account or for payments made to Bank on America made on your behalf of reconciling the BOA Travel Card. For these reasons it is most important to reconcile your expenses within 7-10 after returning from your travels.
Making ‘Non-Reimbursable’ Expense Item Payments to Bank of America
Be sure to have your card handy and visit the Payment Center. If visiting the site for the first time, you will need to register your card and create your profile and log on credentials. Once in the system, you can set up a payment from your personal checking account to BOA to make for your non-reimbursable expenses.
More information on items that are non-reimbursable can be found here (reference 2364).
Important! The BOA Travel card is not to be used for personal expenses. Only Penn GSE related business expenses are approved transactions. Please be mindful of your card usage!
Non-Affiliates & Guests
Reimbursement through the Supplier Portal
Please do not collect a W9 form from guests and non-affiliates.
Copies, scans or pictures of receipts are acceptable.
Non-Affiliate Reimbursements are processed using a Non-PO Payment Request via the University's Supplier Portal and will be processed through Accounts Payable. In order to process travel reimbursement requests, non-affiliates need to submit the Guest Travel Worksheet and receipts.
