[IASHRM] Hotel and Meal Per Diem Rates

Thu Jul 10 09:31:24 EDT 2008

Teresa,

I've copied and pasted the portions of our travel policy related to meals 
and lodging below.

MEALS 

A.      The traveler must be in travel status during the following time 
frames to qualify for individual meal reimbursements.  Travel status is 
defined as the time the traveler leaves his/her home or office until the 
time the traveler returns to his/her home or office. 

Meal
Must Leave Prior To:
Must Continue Past:
Breakfast
6:00 a.m.
8:00 a.m.
Lunch
11:00 a.m.
1:00 p.m.
Dinner
5:30 p.m.
7:30 p.m.

Reimbursement will be made on a per meal basis, subject to the following 
amounts:

Meal
In State
Out of State
Breakfast
$5.00
$8.00
Lunch
$7.00
$12.00
Dinner
$14.00
$20.00
Daily Total
$26.00
$40.00

For partial days of travel, the amount allowed for each covered meal will 
be reimbursed.  For a whole day of travel, the daily total amount applies 
and allows    individual meal flexibility.  Receipts are not required for 
meals.

B.      Banquet meals included with conference registrations may be 
reimbursed above the
limits with appropriate documentation (a copy of the conference brochure 
or the banquet ticket).

C.      When meeting or conference registration includes meals, no 
additional meals will be
reimbursed by Black Hawk County. 

D.  Expenditures for alcoholic beverages and/or gratuities are not 
reimbursable.

E.  No reimbursement will be made for meals within the County unless prior 
approval is
given or unless the cost is included in the registration fees.

F.      In compliance with Internal Revenue Service guidelines and 
rulings, reimbursement for meals eaten on trips for county business not 
requiring overnight travel will be subject to withholding and reported as 
taxable income.  Such income will be paid to the employee with biweekly 
wages on a payroll warrant and will be taxed at the same time as the 
biweekly wages.

LODGING

A.  Lodging expenses shall not exceed $75 per night (plus applicable 
taxes), except as herein allowed.  The incurred expense shall include a 
request for government rates and a completed “Claim for Exemption from 
Iowa Sales Tax” form (Exhibit B) shall be provided to the hotel clerk at 
the time of check-in.

B.  Receipts for all lodging costs must be submitted in order to receive 
reimbursement. Lodging receipts consist of the itemized billing obtained 
from hotel/motel and contain such information as the dates, room number, 
number of guests, and additional pertinent information, which may be used 
to verify other sections of the expense voucher claim.  A lodging facility 
"statement" is not the same as an invoice and is not acceptable. 
Photo-copies of receipts are not acceptable, unless the original invoice 
has been lost or destroyed.  If a photocopy is used as a substantiating 
document, a notation of explanation is to be made on the photocopy by the 
appropriate department authority.

C.  Hotel accommodations should be appropriate for the purposes of the 
trip. If members of an employee's family accompany him/her, the 
reimbursable lodging cost shall be that of a single room.  When requested, 
hotels and motels will furnish a single room receipt although a double 
room was used.  If such an arrangement cannot be made, the price of a 
single should be noted on the receipt for actual lodging costs.  If two 
(2) or more County employees share a room, the cost of the room will be 
reimbursed on a pro-rata basis and not a single room basis, if both 
persons are eligible for reimbursement.

D.  Expense for lodging begins on the day in which you check into the 
facility.

E.  Employees are to seek lodging facilities whose rates are within those 
prescribed above or a reasonable justification is to be noted on the 
expense claim in order to be considered for reimbursement over the defined 
maximum rates.  When seeking overnight lodging, be sure to request 
"government" rates and provide a completed “Claim for Exemption from Iowa 
Sales Tax” form (Exhibit B) to the hotel clerk at the time of check-in. If 
a special rate is not shown on a claim and reason for this is not noted, 
the claim will be reduced to the appropriate special rate.  However, if a 
facility's special rate is in excess of the County's "reasonable rate," 
this is not sufficient justification to satisfy payment of the full claim. 

F.  Black Hawk County will not be responsible for penalty charges due to 
failure to cancel hotel registration, unless determined by the Board to be 
a justifiable emergency.

G.  Employees are to seek lodging facilities which rates are within those 
prescribed above.  Prior approval by the Department Head (or the Board of 
Supervisors in the case of a Department Head’s lodging) is required to 
exceed the maximum lodging reimbursement rate EXCEPT in the following 
instances:

1. There is only one lodging facility in the city.

2. Employee is attending an in-state conference being held at a lodging 
facility which is above the allowed rate, and stays at the facility where 
the conference is being held.

3. Employee is staying in town where there is a major event that limits 
available rooms in that city (i.e. state or county fairs, state 
tournaments, festivals, etc.)

(In these three instances, to be considered for reimbursement over the 
defined maximum allowed, a reasonable explanation for the additional 
lodging reimbursement must be attached to the claim.)

4.      Lodging is not limited outside the state, but the incurred 
expenditures are to be reasonable.

H.  Department heads or their designees will provide, and employees will 
present to appropriate lodging facilities, a completed “Claim for 
Exemption from Iowa Sales Tax” form (Exhibit B), which will exempt 
employees from paying sales tax at the lodging facilities for only those 
dates approved on the form.

June Watkins
Human Resources Director
Black Hawk County
316 E. Fifth Street
Waterloo, IA  50703
Telephone:  (319) 833-3009
Fax:  (319) 833-3144

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"Teresa Cross" <crosst at almaco.com> 
Sent by: iashrm-bounces at list.iashrm.org
07/09/2008 11:43 AM
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Subject
[IASHRM] Hotel and Meal Per Diem Rates

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_______________________________

We are looking to set per diem rates for our employees for hotel and meal 
expenses.  Please let me know if you have per diem rates or standard 
allowances for these type of expenses for your employees. 
Best regards, 
Teresa 
Teresa J. Cross 
Human Resources Coordinator 
ALMACO 
Phone: (515) 382-3506 
Fax: (515) 382-2973 _______________________________________________
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