Reimbursements

Submitting a Reimbursement Request

1. EXPENSE WORKSHEET

   • ​The expense worksheet must be submitted alongside individual pdfs of each receipt.

   • Per E3B policy, a receipt must be provided for reimbursement

   • Line items on the expense worksheet must be in order of transaction date as displayed on the receipt and the expense number should correspond to the filename for each corresponding receipt (e.g. Expense No. 1 corresponds to exp1.pdf).

     • Please see the example reimbursement request above

2. RECEIPTS

   • You must retain all of your receipts to be reimbursed, even if the amount is under $50. 

   • The best practice when traveling, or in the field, is to take a photo of the receipt immediately

     • Screenshots without purchase or service details are not sufficient (i.e. if the receipt just lists the total amount you paid without breaking out individual line items, it will not work for reimbursement)

     • If your name or payment method/credit card info is not visible on the receipt you will also need bank statement information.

   • Receipts must be saved as individual PDFs that do not exceed 5MB. Please do not send images, jpegs, HEIC files etc. We are unable to reformat receipts for you.

   • Any expenses with a lost receipt or with insufficient information will not be eligible for reimbursement.

3. BUSINESS PURPOSE:

   • The business purpose on the expense sheet must be detailed. It should include the following information:It must be detailed i.e.: Flight from NYC to Toronto to present PhD dissertation research at the Canadian Ecological Society Conference 8/1-8/3.

     • What was purchased

     • What reason - including location of travel/charge

     • How is it related to Columbia? 

     • QUESTIONS: what about vendor, and the example does not have relation to Columbia? What about information about people? Does this line need to be repeated every time? What about the date? Do we need a when? 

     • Some examples:

       • Flight from NYC to Toronto for Columbia PhD student to present dissertation research at the Canadian Ecological Society Conference, in Toronto, Canada,  8/1-8/3

   • Foreign language receipts

     • Foreign language receipts require a brief description/translation in the expense worksheet, the original email request, or on the PDF receipt document itself

   • Field assistants:​

     • Please reach out to the office if you plan to work with field assistants

     • You will need to provide a detailed explanation what services were provided:

       • i.e. "Field Technician to assist with collecting survey data for Dissertation Research"

   • Meals and Alcohol

     • Itemized receipts are required for meals - this means each separate item of food and its cost must be listed

     • There is an institutional threshold for how much is allowed to be reimbursed for a meal. The thresholds are:

       • Breakfast: $25

       • Lunch: $35

       • Dinner: $75

     • QUESITION - what do we do if the meal cost exceeds the threshold? 

     • Alcohol is a "segregated expense" and not allowed on external grant-funded travel

     • On CU unrestricted funded travel (E3B funding) it is allowed, but the amount paid for alcohol vs. other food must be clear on the reciept

4. GROUND TRAVEL

   • When purchasing tickets for ground travel such as the subway, train, or car rentals this is treated as any other purchase, and all the guidelines above regarding receipts applies

     • If you are renting a car, tolls and gas receipts are also submitted as regular purchases​

   • When using your own vehicle, you can request a mileage-based reimbursement instead of using the receipts for gas. This will take into account wear-and-tear on the car, and you will be reimbursed a fixed amount as determined federally​

     • For this type of reimbursement, include a screenshot of a Google maps directions between your starting and ending location, and fill out the business purpose with a detailed explanation of the travel and include the mileage (if it is round-trip, specify that and remember to double the mileage!)​

     • Leave the final amount blank, the office will fill it out for you

5. CONFERENCE TRAVEL

   • For conference travel, please provide a screenshot or image of a poster for the conference that includes the conference name, location, and dates.

   • If you are applying the $$$ annual travel fund to this expense report, you must also provide proof that you are a presenter at the conference, e.g. a conference schedule with your name and presentation title or similar documentation.

     • Reimbursement for charges that exceed this amount will need to be arranged with your advisor, or other funding sources

6. LODGING

   • Your receipt for lodging must include dates and an itemized list of expenses. It must specify the cost per day of the lodging and any additional expenses

     • If you do not receive an itemized receipt for lodging automatically, you can often request it

   • Using AirBnb is strongly discouraged by Columbia University Accounts Payable

     • For this reason, you may not reimburse airbnbs unless you have an incredibly strong argument

     • It would be best to avoid AirBnbs altogether as reimbursement cannot be guaranteed.

7. FLIGHTS

   • Your flight receipt must include dates of travel, origin, destination, flight time, cost of ticket, and any other expenses itemized individually (e.g. bag charges)

   • For conference travel, flight dates must not exceed more than 1 day on both sides of the official conference dates

     • If you elect to extend your travel dates, or travel to or from a different destination than NYC, then you must provide documentation of flight comparisons to be reimbursed for your flight. This is some form of documentation of the cost of a coach/economy class round-trip flight on the conference days from NYC to the conference destination, in addition to your actual flight receipt.

     • This can be a fellow conference-goer's receipt (who just travelled from NYC to the conference and back), a screenshot of the checkout page for that flight, or a screenshot from a site like google flights or Expedia with all the necessary information visible

     • You will be reimbursed for the cheaper flight

     • Note that the best way to do this is usually to get this information on the same day you book your actual flight, and save the screenshot along with your receipts