Travel

Basic Travel Info

Do I need to read this?

Is your traveling being paid for by UF (either Morgan, Ethan, or some other source)?

Yes? Then read on. If you’re traveling to go to a conference paid for by UF, skip down to the “Travel to Conferences” section.

No? Coordinate with whomever is paying your travel.

General WEC travel page

Important policies to know

• Do not pay for gas with a Pcard unless you have a state vehicle or rental. Fuel in a personal vehicle can only be paid through a mileage calculation.
• The amount of per diem you can claim is based on your actual travel times. (eg If you are flying, it is based on your actual departure and arrival times.)
• You can only get reimbursed for tipping taxi/Uber/Lyft drivers up to 20%.

The travel reimbursement process at UF can be broken down into 2 major steps:

1. Approval of pending travel (TAR)
2. Being reimbursed for travel (TER)

Travel Authorization (TAR):

Before you start the travel authorization process, make sure you know how your trip is being paid. There are two ways things can be paid: 1) by you and then reimbursed after the trip, 2) by a pcard (this is a credit card linked to a grant or other UF account). Pcards can be used to pay for hotels, airfare, gas for rentals and state vehicles, and conference registration.

Step 1

Do you (or the person who is traveling) already have a UFID#?

Yes. Proceed to step 2

No. Send the following info about the traveler to Amelia Baiden (amelia05@ufl.edu) and ask for a UFID to be assigned: Full Name of Traveler (including middle name) Home Address Email Address Date of Birth Last 4 digits of Social Security Number

Step 2

Is a pcard being used to pay for anything for your trip?

Yes. This will influence how you fill out the TA form

No. This will also influence how you fill out the TA form

I don’t know. Then go ask whomever is paying for your trip if they can use a pcard to pay for expenses so it doesn’t come out of your meager earnings.

Step 3

Download a TAR form

Step 4

Fill out the TAR form. Most of the form is self-explanatory. If a pcard is paying for certain things, put that in the pcard column, otherwise, list it under paid by traveler. There are complexities with the form. These are:

• Project #. You will need to get this from the UF entity paying for the trip (i.e. Ethan, Morgan, Department, SNRE, etc)
• Registration: See the Conference travel page for tips on what you need to submit with the TA to document the registration costs.
• Per diem: Per diem is calculated based on precisely the time you were traveling. On the first and last day of travel, you should only claim the amount that includes meals that occurred during traveling time. Your flight itinerary will determine these times. (e.g. if your departure flight is in the evening, you will not be able to claim breakfast the first day)
• International Travel: You will need to fill out the International Travel Checklist as well as register your international travel.
• You need to sign it.

Step 5

• Email your completed TA and any required attachments (registration documentation etc) to: Jen at WECFiscal@ifas.ufl.edu.
• CC your PI on the email. They will need to respond to Jen saying they approve the TA.
• Include the PIs name in the subject line because the person responsible varies by PI (all caps at the start of the subject line)

Step 5a

Jen will email you a copy of the TAR to sign. Sign it and send it back to her. Make note of the TA # (“authorization ID”), because you will need this for the TER and any Pcard invoices.

Step 5b

Be sure to keep copies of all receipts related to the TA until after the TER has been closed. If a problem comes up, you may not be able to access these receipts again if you don’t have a copy. In particular, be sure your airfare receipt lists your exact itinerary (dates and times of flights) as these will be needed to calculate per diem.

Step 6: Travel Expense Report (TER)

You will need to submit a travel expense report after travel is completed. The process will be roughly the same for any type of travel. If you received any travel grants, however, get in touch with the WEC fiscal office for how to address that.

Submit a WEC Travel expense report
Email it to Jen at WECFiscal@ifas.ufl.edu

Make sure you fill in the associated TAR #. You can find this in myUFL at Main Menu -> My Self Service -> Travel and Expense -> Travel Authorizations -> View, or on the file Jen sends you in step 5a.

As of November 2018, Morgan (or associated PI, I - Renata - assume) needs to approve TERs, either by signing them or emailing Jen at WECFiscal@ifas.ufl.edu saying she approves them.

If you are requesting the $21/day per diem, which is what we usually do, you also need to email Jen and state that you are requesting that per diem and you are aware it is lower than the other option.

Step 7

Confirm Travel Expense Report is in the system:

Login to my.ufl.edu and click on Main Menu -> My Self Service -> Travel and Expenses -> Expense Reports -> View  
Leave everything blank and click Search to view all expense reports.

Step 8

Print the travel expense report signature page from my.ufl.edu (or the one emailed to you) and email signed version to WECFiscal@ifas.ufl.edu:

On the page for the expense report click View Printable Version -> Print Expense Report  
Current consensus is it only needs the Employee Signature

Traveling to Conferences

So, you’re going to a conference? Conferences have slightly different rules because of registration costs. Official UF language at end of page

Step 0

You will need to submit a TA BEFORE you spend funds. This is only true for conferences/workshops.

• Proceed to step 1

Step 1: Registration costs?

Does your conference have registration costs?

• If yes, proceed to 2.
• If no, stop and go to Basic Travel Reimbursement

Step 2: Registration reimbursement?

Are you getting registration reimbursed?

• If yes, proceed to 3.
• If no, stop and go to Basic Travel Reimbursement

Step 3: Get Registration Documentation

UF needs to know if meals and housing are included in registration costs so they know they are not double reimbursing you for meals. (Yes, you still need to do this step if you are not planning on getting reimbursed for meals, because: bureaucracy). What they say they want: (from Fiona in WEC’s office): Travel now requires that you attach a breakdown of the conference registration fee. This is meant to show that there are no meals/social events/lodging included in the fee that we might inadvertently pay for. I’ve attached examples of what they will accept. Note, both of these files were sent as the documentation for the 2015 ESA meeting

• Registartion form
• Statement from website about what was included in registration

Step 4: Submit Travel Authorization

When you send in your TA form, attach the registration documentation as well to the email

Step 5: Travel expense report

Once you’ve completed your travel, complete a Travel Expense Report as detailed above

Some notes about traveling to conferences:

UF Documentation on PCARDS and Registration The PCard can only be used to pay registration fees for conferences, conventions, or seminars.

The PCard may be used when the registration fee includes meals or social events. Optional events, those with separate fees, cannot be paid via PCard. Optional events must be paid for by the traveler.

Because conference fees are typically paid in advance the cardholder must sign the registration confirmation to affirm the event is for official business.

Travel Authorizations, required for all travel relating to conferences/conventions, must be done BEFORE making charges. The Travel Authorization number must be written on the payment documentation.

Please refer to UF’s Travel Directives and Procedures for additional information.

Share Registration Documentation. Be kind and share with your labmates. Email the documentation to the lab list or share on Slack.

Personal Travel Before or After UF-related Travel

You are welcome to add some personal travel to a UF-related work trip. You will just need to submit a cost comparison and will be required to pay for the difference if your chosen travel ends up costing more than it would have if you had not taken a personal trip.

If you are flying, there are a couple ways you can deal with that.

1. Have UF pay for the first and the final leg of travel -or-
2. Have UF pay for the flights to and from the location of your business travel

To submit a cost comparison, what I (Ellen) have done in the past is screenshot a cost breakdown of the flight you would have taken if you had not included any personal travel. This can either be for the day you would have flown in/out or the same day you are actually flying, all from the location you would have been flying to/from if personal travel was not included. Do your best to include the date of “alternative” flight, itinerary (AKA cities of origin and destination), and cost-breakdown. It can be helpful to also include the date you are looking at said flights. You will probably also have to include an explanation of why you’re flying to/from a different airport, if that is something you’re doing. You still have to submit a cost comparison for flights/travel even if your destination/origin don’t change (aka you stay in New Orleans for a couple extra days after ESA but still fly out of the NOLA airport back to Gainesville) and pay for the difference in cost if it’s more.

Feel free to ask Ellen any questions you might have about this process.

Any issues or questions with the steps above can be resolved by asking Cassy Summerlin