Travel expenses are expenditures that a worker makes while traveling on company business. Company business can involve conferences, exhibitions, business meetings, client and customer meetings, job fairs, training sessions, and sales calls, for instance.

Travel Expenses can include lodging, personal car mileage reimbursement, flights, ground transportation, tips to bellhops, meals, tips to waiters, room service, and other incidental expenses an employee might experience while on the road.

Expenditures that an agency will reimburse are discovered in the company’s business travel policy. Become familiar with your company’s policy because travel expenses, as varied as dry cleaning and gym membership, can be covered for workers on extended trips in addition to the expected travel costs, housing, and meals.

Travel Expenses for Workers on Long-Term Assignments

When using long-term housing facilities for traveling employees, several interviewers also supply opportunities for the employee’s family to visit when the employee is traveling extensively on business for their employer. When an employee is assigned to another company location on a temporary basis, employers will sometimes pay for the family of the employee to visit at prescribed time intervals.

Employers seek to give options of value for employees who are away from home and family for extended periods of time. You need to take advantage of any travel privileges that your employer offers to build employee morale and dedication.

Client entertainment at conferences, on sales calls, and on-site visits is another reimbursable expense, but know your company’s policies so you don’t exceed the limits that are placed on entertainment costs.

Know also your company’s policy on the awarding of airline miles credit. It varies. Some companies permit workers to accrue airline travel miles that they then can use for personal family travel. Others accrue a bank of travel miles that they use to cover additional employee business travel. Again, knowing your company’s policies is crucial.

How Do Interviewers Pay for Employee Travel Expenses?

Generally, agencies pay employee travel expenses in these 3 ways.

Company Credit Cards

Credit cards are issued to workers who must travel frequently for business. Employees might charge most of the expenses they incur on a business trip to the company credit card. For reimbursement of incidentals like tips and fast food, employees will require filling out an expense report when they return from their trip.

Charge cards are convenient for workers as they don’t have to come up with the cash to pay for business expenses prior to reimbursement. Become knowledgeable about your company’s policies, though; you may still require turning in receipts and other supporting documentation even when you charge these expenses to a credit card.

Cash

Agencies without employee company credit cards require employees to fill out an expense reimbursement report for each expenditure while the employee is on the road. They generally require receipts and some level of justification for each expense.

Just rarely would an organization inquire employees to pay for the big-ticket items such as airfare and seek reimbursement later. A company purchase order or company credit card will pay for large expenses up front. But employees are often required to pay cash out-of-pocket for day-to-day travel expenses which are later reimbursed.

Per diem

A per diem is a daily allowance of a specific amount of money that an employee is given to cover all expenses. The employee is responsible for making sound travel expense choices within the parameters of the amount of money that he or she is allotted daily.

Some companies pay straightly for transportation and housing but give traveling employees a per diem for all other expenses including meals and ground transportation. Employees have been known to underspend on expenses to keep the extra cash from the per diem. Companies generally allow this.

Info About Employer Travel Expense Policies Is the Employee’s Liability

Workers who travel for business are advised to stay up-to-date on company travel policies and costs covered for reimbursement. Travel Expenses that fall outside of the policies are generally not reimbursed or covered.

Receipts are needed by most companies except for those that pay a per diem. Your company also likely has a form that they expect employees to use for turning in travel expenses.

To stay on top of reimbursable expenses, workers are often given a deadline by which they need to file an expense report and turn in applicable receipts. The finance department will have guidelines that help it stay current.

If you have queries about what constitutes suitable travel expenses in your organization, check with your manager and Human Resources. You do not want to spend the money and receive a surprise later.