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The following information is being provided to assist you with preparing your ESU #3 expense reports for reimbursement of business expenses. Refer to Board Policy 3.71 – Reimbursement of Expenses. The reasons for these procedures are Nebraska state statutes, IRS regulations and auditor’s requests which also formulate board policy. Please comply to make this as easy as possible for everybody and keep us all out of “trouble”. Expense reimbursements must be turned in to the department director MONTHLY. Receipts: If an expense item is to be reimbursed by Educational Service Unit #3, there must be a receipt attached validating the expense. (Please see pages A and B for examples of proper receipts.) The receipt must include the following:

⇒ Name of business where purchase was made or service was performed. (Some business receipts do not include the business name. Please write the name on the receipt.)

⇒ Date of service ⇒ Detail of items/service purchased ⇒ If expense is for a meal or food, please include the name of the meeting and the names of the individuals

who attended or ate the meals claimed for reimbursement. ⇒ Receipts should be attached to a plain piece of paper, preferably by tape. NOTE: do not tape over the

print on the thermal paper receipts. The print will disappear.

The following types of receipts are NOT acceptable: (Please see pages C and D for examples of unacceptable receipts.)

⇒ Summary credit card slip showing only the total charge ⇒ Cancelled check ⇒ Credit card statement with the expense circled ⇒ Hotel room receipts in a spouse’s name or other individual who does not have a business purpose with

ESU #3 Bottom Line: If you do not have an acceptable receipt for expense reimbursement, ESU #3 will not be able to reimburse for that expense item. Board Approval: Board approval is required for employee hotel costs when the hotel rate exceeds the IRS approved rate. For conferences where designated hotels are identified by the conference sponsor for accommodation of attendees, board approval will be automatically provided to any ESU #3 employee at the single occupancy rate offered by any such designated hotel whether or not the applicable federal rate is exceeded. Refer to Board Policy 3.71 – Reimbursement of Expenses regarding lodging exceptions in Kearney, NE.

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Rewards or points for travel services: Employees and individuals with an ESU #3 business related purpose are not to apply rewards or perks such as hotel bonus points or airfare miles to a personal account if ESU #3 is reimbursing the cost or directly paying the vendor on behalf of an individual unless the benefit is awarded to the ESU #3 organization. Receipt of these perks results in personal gain which the IRS considers taxable income to the individual. Nebraska statute 49-14,101.01 prohibits personal gain by public officials and employees while using public resources, other than compensation provided by law. The reward value will be determined and included in the applicable taxable income. Taxable income of an employee will be included in the W-2 and an independent contractor will be included in the 1099. Hotel Booking: The following questions should be asked when making hotel reservations.

1. Ask the hotel for their government rate. 2. Ask the hotel if they will direct bill the room costs to ESU #3. The only costs allowed on direct

billing are the room charges. If the hotel will direct bill, ask them to send or fax an application. Forward the application to Accounts Payable for completion. The employee will still need a credit card for the hotel as they will want the card on file for any additional items charged to the room.

3. The room must be reserved and invoiced in the employee’s name or individual with ESU #3 authorized business purpose. Rooms charged in to an individual who does not have a direct business related purpose (such as spouse or friend) will not be paid or reimbursed by ESU #3.

Conference or Meeting Attendance: Expense reports submitted to reimburse conference costs such as hotel, meals, transportation costs, etc. must include a copy of the conference brochure/registration form and the meeting agenda. The information should include the name of the event, the location of the event and the date(s) of the event. Purchasing Items: We are a tax-exempt organization. As a result, we are not required to pay sales tax on purchases. Please check if we have a credit card or account with a store before you purchase a product. ESU #3 does not reimburse sales tax for items purchased. You may pick up a NE Form 13 for Sales tax exemption from the Director, Business Services or Accounts Payable. The form must specifically identify the store name you are purchasing from. A form is needed for each vendor. The form is required by a vendor to prove that purchases on behalf of ESU #3 are exempt from sales tax. NO PERSONAL ITEMS ARE TO BE PURCHASED USING THIS EXEMPTION. PLEASE RING UP PERSONAL ITEMS SEPARATELY! Meal Allowances: Tips: Tips are limited to 20% of the pretax charges for meals eligible for reimbursement. For example: Meal $10.00 The maximum allowable tip is $2.00 (20% of $10). Tax $ .70 Total $10.70 The maximum reimbursement is $12.70 ($10.70 + $2.00 tip). Tips are also prorated when non-eligible expenses are included on the receipt. For example:

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Meal $20.00 Includes meal for employee (cost $9) and spouse ($11) Tax $ 1 .40 ($9 x 7% (or applicable tax rate) = $.63) Total $21.40 Tip $ 4.00 ($9 x 20% = $1.80) Total with tip $25.40 The maximum reimbursement is $11.43 (employee meal $9 + $.63 tax + $1.80 tip). If the tax rate is not stated on the receipt, you can allocate the tax by using the formula: Total sales tax / meal cost before tax = percentage of sales tax X employee meal cost = reimbursable portion of sales tax $1.40 / $20.00 = .07 (or 7%) X $9.00 = $.63 IRS Requirements: Educational Service Unit #3 is only allowed to reimburse meals per person up to the IRS M & IE (meals and incidental expenses) Rate. The IRS establishes this rate annually and the IRS publication lists these rates by city and state. For example, the rate for a state is $39 per day. Per IRS Publication 463, you are allowed the 75% of the M & IE Rate on the date of departure and the day you return from a business trip. For example, you go to City 1 for a 3 day meeting. The day you depart for City 1, you are allowed reimbursement for meals up to $29.25 (75% of $39). The 2nd day, you are allowed reimbursement of meals up to $39. The 3rd day as you depart from City 1, you are allowed reimbursement of meals up to $29.25. For conference daily meal allowances may be averaged over the number of days of the conference or convention. The IRS rate daily per diem may be exceeded as long as the total allowance for all days is not exceeded. In the example above, the total meal allowance for all days would be $97.50 (day 1 $29.25 + day 2 $39 + day 3 $29.25) The per diem rates can be found at http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287 on the US General Administrative Services (GSA) website. You can enter the destination city and state OR zip code to obtain the applicable per diem rate. Once you have the rate, print the web page as backup for the rate that is being used for the trip. To capture all the entire width of the page, you will need to print in landscape. Since the rates can be updated at any time on the website, it will be important to capture the printed information in case the rate would change. Meals are not reimbursed for a meeting out of town where the meeting is a day trip. A day trip means that the employee leaves during the day and returns the same day. For example, the employee travels to Lincoln for a day-long meeting. The employee eats lunch at a restaurant because the meal was not provided as part of the meeting. The employee is not eligible to have the meal reimbursed. Expenses that will not be reimbursed:

1. Alcoholic Beverages will NOT be reimbursed. PLEASE PAY FOR ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES SEPARATELY FROM YOUR BUSINESS EXPENSE MEAL SO THAT THESE CHARGES ARE NOT LISTED ON YOUR MEAL RECEIPT.

2. Entertainment such as movies, etc. 3. Laundry fees 4. Personal maintenance items 5. Tips for services such as housekeeping, bellman, etc. Tips for cab fare, shuttles, and meals will be

reimbursed but are limited to 20% of the charges before taxes are charged.

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6. Cab fares, shuttle costs, etc for employee’s personal travel such as sightseeing, shopping, etc. Restaurants for dining out should be selected close to the hotel to keep transportation costs to a minimum.

Mileage: Mileage will be reimbursed at the standard IRS mileage allowance. The IRS updates the rate annually. Refer to Board Policy 3.71 – Reimbursement of Expenses for the requirements for claiming mileage. Employees may check the availability of ESU #3 vehicles as they may be used for travel. You can contact the Director, Buildings and Grounds at by email or by phone at ext. 4810 for vehicle availability. Trips where the employee wishes to drive rather than travel via the typical airfare mode of travel: If an employee wishes to drive the trip rather than travel via the airlines, the employee will not be reimbursed for actual mileage. The following information describes what the employee will be reimbursed for. ESU #3 will reimburse the most economical cost of travel. The employee must first discuss the situation with their director and obtain approval to drive to the destination from their director. The employee will:

• Be reimbursed for the cost of a plane ticket to fly to the location of the conference. The cost of the ticket and amount eligible for reimbursement will be determined by the Administrator’s designated staff.

• Submit MapQuest or similar mapping software printout showing the distance in miles to and from the destination. The mileage is calculated from ESU #3 to the designated hotel. This will serve as backup documentation for the computation of the value of the actual mileage reimbursement amount. This is the maximum amount that can be reimbursed for airfare and additional estimated expenses if the employee had traveled via the airlines.

• The following additional items may be submitted for reimbursement, when requested with appropriate backup information supporting the amount claimed:

o Round trip mileage from the employee’s home to the airport for departure from and return to the Eppley Airfield.

OR One way mileage to and from the airport plus estimated airport parking costs calculated at the current Eppley Airfield long-term parking rate for the days the vehicle would have been parked at the airport for the duration of the conference.

o The lower amount of the estimated shuttle fare or taxi fare from the airport/hotel to the hotel/airport with no more than a 20% tip.

o NOTE: Reimbursement requests for specified additional items submitted without the

backup documentation used to arrive at the requested amounts will not be reimbursed. If the travel time to drive is longer than one day, the employee must use vacation time (if available) for the additional travel time to and from destination. If vacation time is not available, the employee is not paid for those workdays. Hotel costs for the additional travel days will not be reimbursed. Rental Cars: Rental cars are not reimbursed to the employee unless the following conditions exist:

1. Prior approval from Director AND one or more of the following conditions exist:

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2. The cost of the cab fare or shuttle, to or from the airport, is more that the daily rate plus incidentals, such as fuel and parking, to rent the car.

3. The hotel where the employee is staying is not within walking distance to the conference and the hotel does not offer shuttle service to the conference.

Airfare: Reimbursement of flight changes The additional cost of changing a flight will be reimbursed by ESU #3 when the change is due to a business requirement approved by the supervisor. For example, your supervisor requires you to leave a conference early for business reasons. The change fee assessed for the early return flight will be reimbursed. The additional cost of changing a flight because of personal reasons of the employee will not be reimbursed. Employees or individuals with a direct business related purpose to ESU #3 are not allowed to personally collect reward points for airfare paid for the individual by ESU #3 either through reimbursement or direct vendor payment. Cell phone ~ airtime / texting: Business related cell phone charges may be reimbursed to the employee at a rate of 10¢ per minute when:

1. The employee exceeds their monthly personal calling plan minutes. The business cell phone minutes will be reimbursed to the employee up to the number of minutes the employee exceeded their monthly calling plan.

2. The minutes requested for reimbursement must be submitted on an employee expense report form. The business calls should be highlighted or noted on the cell phone invoice that is attached to the reimbursement request. The main/summary cell phone invoice page must be submitted with the request along with the detailed invoice pages noting the date, time, and phone number of the business related calls.

Texting costs will not be reimbursed to the employee unless an audit trail or detail of the phone number that the text was “to” or “from” is provided. If the detail is provided, business text messages will be reimbursed at 15¢ per text when the texting fees exceed the employee’s monthly texting plan allowance.

Direct Deposit of Expense Reimbursement (Employees only) Direct Deposit of employee expense reports is required as of January 1, 2012. An employee requesting reimbursement that has not completed the direct deposit form will not receive their reimbursement payment until the form has been completed. Procedures for employee expense reimbursement: Direct Deposit Account Setup:

1. ESU #3 will use the main employee payroll account information for the direct deposit. 2. The employee will complete an Expense Reimbursement Direct Deposit authorization form. 3. Employee is responsible to notify account payable of bank account changes. ESU #3 cannot reimburse

the employee until the funds are returned by the bank in the event of a closed account.

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Expense Report Submission:

1. Employee submits Employee Mileage Report and Claim form to Director for approval. 2. Once approved, department forwards approved form to accounts payable. 3. Accounts payable will process the reimbursement request according to the following timelines:

a. Normal monthly expense reports submitted for payment by the deadline will be processed with the monthly board check run.

b. Large conference travel reimbursements submitted for payment by the weekly deadline will be processed in the immediate pay (IP) check run which usually occurs on the last working day of the week.

Payment of Reimbursement: Email notification will be sent when the payment is processed as a voucher. This notifies the employee that the payment has been processed. Funds will be deposited in the account according to the following schedule: Board Check Run

1. Payments processed in the board check run will be submitted to the bank the morning after the board approves the bills in the monthly board meeting.

2. Employees can expect the funds to be deposited in their account the 2nd business day following submission to the bank. (Holidays are and weekends are not counted.) Typically, the board meets on the 3rd Tuesday of the month and the file would be submitted to the bank on the 3rd Wednesday of the month. For example, if ESU #3 submits the file on Wednesday morning, the employee will see the funds in their account on Friday morning.

3. Employees will receive email notification of the upcoming deposit approximately one week prior to the board meeting. It is important to know that the funds are not deposited within two days of receipt of the email.

Immediate Pay (IP) Check Run 1. Payments processed in the IP check run will be submitted to the bank the day of the check run. 2. Employees can expect the funds to be deposited in their account the 2nd business day following

submission. (Holidays are and weekends are not counted.) Typically, the IP checks are run on Friday and the file would be submitted to the bank on the same day. For example, if ESU #3 submits the file on Friday, the employee will see the funds in their account on Tuesday morning.

Thanks for your help as we want to get reimbursements to you as soon as possible and if all the paperwork is done correctly, it greatly speeds up the process of getting money back to you. Good example of itemized meal receipt:

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Example of proper receipt itemizing charges:

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Sample of hotel receipt that does not have the itemized meal receipt attached. Itemized meal receipts are required for reimbursement.

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Sample of receipts that are not allowable or have errors.

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Sample Screen print from the GSA website http://www.gsa.gov/portal/category/21287

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Home > Policy & Regulations > Travel, Transportation, & Relocation > Travel Management > Per Diem >

Per Diem Rates Rates are set by fiscal year, effective October 1. Find current rates in the continental United States ("CONUS Rates") by searching below with city and state (or ZIP code), or by clicking on the map. Find previous rates by selecting year in the pulldown and clicking on the map.

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3.71 Reimbursement of Expenses

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Conferences, Meetings

ESU #3 will pay or reimburse employees, and board members, for expenses in connection with attendance at conferences, meetings and all other functions described in Section 13-2203 RRS Nebr. 1943. The expenses eligible for payment or reimbursement will be those described in Section 13-2203 and the limitations set forth therein shall apply as well. It is the intent of this policy that payment or reimbursement shall be made to the full extent permitted in Section 13-2203. Meal and lodging expenses exceeding the applicable federal rate shall require board approval except for state-wide meetings scheduled in Kearney, Nebraska, when lodging is not available at the federal government rate. 13-2203(1)(a)(iii). Provided, however, for conferences where designated hotels are identified by the conference sponsor for accommodation of attendees, board approval will be automatically provided to any ESU #3 board member or employee at the single occupancy rate offered by any such designated hotel whether or not the applicable federal rate is exceeded.

Provided, however, for conferences daily meal allowances, when established, may be averaged over the number of days of the conference or convention. The IRS rate per diem, per trip allowance, may be exceeded by the board members, or employee, as long as the total allowance for all days is not exceeded.

All expenses under this section for employees shall be subject to prior authorization by the employee’s department director or the administrator of ESU #3. All expenses under this section for board members shall be subject to prior authorization by the Board. Employees and board members shall complete and sign the Employee Mileage Report and Claim Form in order to receive payment or reimbursement of expenses.

Employee Mileage Reimbursement: Employees who are assigned to work locations away from the ESU building will be reimbursed for automobile mileage at the maximum rate set by the Internal Revenue Service only - for travel by the employee from the ESU building to any work location; and - for travel by the employee from one work location to another work location. The employee’s supervisor shall determine whether or not the employee assigned to work locations away from the ESU building, will be required to report to the ESU building at the beginning or end of the workday. No mileage reimbursement shall be made for travel to and from an employee’s residence and the ESU building, or to and from the employee’s residence and any permanent or scheduled work location away from the ESU building. All employee mileage reimbursements must have the approval of the employee’s department director, and must be supported by an Expense Payment or Reimbursement Claim Form. Awards Expenses for items of value awarded by ESU #3 for service or achievement shall not exceed $150 per award, per recipient.

Policy Date of Adoption: 7/16/2002 Date of Revision: 7/21/2014 Date of last review: 6/18/2013