Per Diem Required for Meal Reimbursement

The Finance department would like to remind travelers about how meal reimbursement works at the University.

Per diem is a daily travel meal and incidental allowance and includes taxes and tips. To be eligible for per diem, employees must be in travel status on approved business travel that includes an overnight stay. Per IRS Publication 463 Chapter 1 – Traveling Away from Home, per diem is not provided for same day travel (defined as no overnight stay). The cost of actual meals purchased while in travel status is not reimbursable and receipts for such meals should not be submitted with the expense report.

Please be aware that because the University reimburses per diem, individual meals are unallowable on a PCard. Please be sure that hotels are not charging your University PCard for meals while staying at their establishment.

Concur automatically calculates the per diem reimbursement amount based on number of travel days, the time that travel status starts, and the time that travel status ends. However, travelers need to ensure the adjustments are made for any meals that are provided by another source (such as those provided to the traveler attending a conference) when on travel status by clearly marking those meals in Concur that are not eligible for reimbursement.

For more information on Per Diem or to see quick reference guides on creating an itinerary to claim per diem, visit our website at https://www.ohio.edu/finance/travel/paying-travel#per_diem.

Questions? Please contact financecustomercare@ohio.edu