Travel and Expense Claims

Please take the time to review and familiarize yourself with the University of Waterloo's Policy 31 - University Expenses as well as the Guidelines for Expenses that can be found under the section "Other Related Links" on the Finance Resources webpage.

** AIRFARE**

Please note the changes made to Policy 31 University Expenses specifically related to economy airfare – the most direct base level fare at the lowest logical fare/rate is the standard for air travel, for example the most direct base level economy would be Coach/Standard/Flex. The lowest logical fare/rate is the rate that includes travel-appropriate features such as:

Advanced seat selection
Trip cancellation insurance
Refundable/changeable ticket status if there is a question about whether the trip will occur or the dates of travel (a small fee may apply)
One checked bag (if a second bag is required please provide the reason)

Please note, that purchasing the Air Canada flight class Comfort for reasons of requiring a refundable ticket must be justified by the traveler. Justification must include an explanation of why there is a high risk the travel may be cancelled and if so, why a future flight credit would not be usable by the traveler. If that cannot be reasonably justified, Flex level airfare is considered the lowest logical fare. Please note, UW strongly encourages the purchase of flight cancellation insurance to protect against unforeseen cancellations such as illness. Travel lockdowns are unlikely under the current climate, therefore indicating covid disruptions for the reason of requiring a refundable ticket is no longer a suitable justification.

Anything booked beyond the above level would need to be justified as to why a higher level of flight class is the only feasible option.

If you plan on extending your trip for personal days:

please ensure that you get a quote for a price comparison at the time of booking your flights showing the cost of flights the days you should be travelling for the conference or field work dates and then upload the price comparison with the actual receipts of the flights booked. Normally, you are allowed only one day before and one day after the conference or filed work dates to be claimed. Price comparisons cannot be done when you return from the conference or field work dates so make sure this is done at the time you book your flight.

Please note that travel advances (cash advances) and claims must be settled upon returning, failure to do so may result in delayed payments.

For expenses incurred ahead of time, Claimants have the option of a cash advance to prevent the Claimant from being out of pocket for an excessive period of time.

For workshops or conferences paid for in advance, the claim for reimbursement cannot be submitted until after the Claimant has attended the event.

Several trips cannot be combined on one claim, they must be submitted individually.

**MEAL EXPENSES**

Meal expenses may not be covered, you need approval from your supervisor if they are covering meal expenses and the amount. i.e. some professors only cover the travel days to and from not during the trip.

Finance is requesting that we please use the per diems for meals whenever possible on expense claims.

Per diems are strongly encouraged for administrative ease as receipts are not required to be submitted or retained for per diem meal claims.

If you need to claim meal receipts rather than using the per diem calculator, and if the meal receipts are not itemized, please add comments to the expense line with a list of food purchased and you must declare no alcohol was purchased.

Per diems cannot be claimed for other attendees, only for yourself. Meals with attendees require itemized meal receipts.

Access to Concur, Concur Training Resources, and Guidelines for Expenses

Concur can be accessed via the Concur Online Expenses log in on the Finance Resources webpage. Users access their Concur accounts using their WatIAM credentials.

Username: WatIAM@uwaterloo.ca [WatIAM is truncated to 8-characters]

Password: your WatIAM password

Two-factor authentication (2FA) is required to sign in to Concur. Visit the 2FA website to learn more about this service.

If you are not yet set up as a user in Concur, please email Susie Castela at scastela@uwaterloo.ca. Provide your WatIAM user ID, your student ID number, and your Supervisor's name. You will receive a confirmation email once you have been added to Concur.

When you log into Concur, you can access the Concur User Manual by clicking on the "Help" link on the upper right hand side. Then click "training" and "Concur User Manual".

Please take the time to review and familiarize yourself with the University of Waterloo's Policy 31 - University Expenses as well as the Guidelines for Expenses that can be found under the section "Other Related Links" on the Finance Resources webpage.

Travel Advances

Please note that only one travel advance is issued per event/trip, please do not request additional advances for the same event/trip.

A traveler is not expected to use personal funds to incur excessive out-of-pocket expenses. The University will pay an approved travel advance for a reasonable amount where the expected travel expense is for university business, in whole or in part. The university will not pay a travel advance where the travel does not relate to university business or where the entire travel expense will be recovered from a third party.

The University will not pay an advance where the amount is equal to or less than the equivalent of $250 Canadian. Expenses may be claimed on a reimbursement basis only.

Requests for travel advances must provide sufficient processing time (Finance must receive an approved travel advance at least ten business days prior to the departure date) and be settled promptly.

The money payable for a travel advance may be directed to the Claimant and/or in the case of airfare only, directly to the university’s contracted service provider.

Graduate students submitting requests for travel advance use the online claim submission system called Concur. Cash advances are approved by your Supervisor please ensure you list them as cash advance approver.

In Concur, travel advances are referred to as cash advances.

Enter the amount of the cash advance that will be required and the currency. The University will only disburse Canadian or US funds. (Do not include any amounts to be paid directly to Frederick Travel for airfare.)
Provide information about your trip purpose. Note: this filed only contains 48 characters so longer trip purposes should be attached using the Additional Documentation expense type in the body of the claim.

NOTE** the University will not reimburse expense claims received by Finance four months or more after the travel end date (or virtual event end date) unless senior approval is obtained, i.e. the Faculty Dean

Graduate students submitting travel or expense claims must use the online claim submission system called Concur.

You will need to confirm with your supervisor (professor) the work order and activity number to use for the expenses, this will need to be listed in the header portion of the claim.

You will need to upload your trip purpose sheet, all your receipts, agenda, etc. to Concur and make sure you enter in the date listed on the receipt. You are not able to combine multiple receipts to one expense line – they need to be entered in separately. Add all the necessary information such as trip purpose, conference agendas (links are not accepted), continue to add comments if you need clarify an expense i.e. purchased ziploc bags for soil samples, gas was purchased for a rental car, equipment was used for…. etc. If you are claiming meal receipts and they are not itemized please add comments to the expense line with a list of food purchased and you must declare no alcohol was purchased.

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTATION

Upload the Trip Purpose form into Concur (as additional documentation with $0 value).

trip-purpose-form.pdf

The purpose should state the circumstance for the trip and provide the reason(s) why the trip was necessary for the research funded by the grant. Example: To attend the research conference on xxxx (the circumstance) which is relevant to my supervisor's grant funded research on xxxx because …. (the reason).

Example: Attended a conference which discussed molecular biology which is related to my supervisor's grant because I am hoping to apply the transcriptomics theory presented to my lab experiments.

Example: Fieldwork in the Red River watershed; collected water samples to be used in my NSERC “Name” research where I am analyzing the impact of local mining projects on sediment quantity.

Upload the conference/meeting agenda as additional documentation. If the agenda is too big to upload just scan in the top sheet showing the start and end date along with your section showing you as presenter. Links to conference/meeting agendas are not accepted.
If applicable, upload your research abstract (version submitted to conference; must show you as first or second author).

EXPENSE DOCUMENTATION

Original receipts need to be scanned/uploaded on Concur but do not need to be submitted to Finance. However, the original receipts should be retained for the duration of your program for audit purposes.

Receipts must be detailed (showing itemized list of purchases) and must include proof of payment:

$0 balance on receipt; or
Payment information on receipt; or
“Paid” noted on receipt; or
Credit/debit card statement (confidential information removed); or
PayPal details; or
Wire transfer details<
In extenuating circumstances when an itemized receipt is not available showing what was purchased, please add details to the comments box in the expense tab and list what was purchased.

FOREIGN CURRENCY

Foreign currency will be converted to Canadian dollars for you once you enter in the foreign currency amount and the date. If you paid by credit card and want to be paid out exactly what was paid, you can overwrite the “= Amount in CAD” and make it equal to your payment. Concur will update the conversion rate to equal your credit card rate. Upload your credit card statement for proof of currency conversion.

AIRFARE RECEIPTS

If you plan on extending your trip for personal days please ensure that you get a quote for a price comparison at the time of booking your flights showing the cost of flights the days you should be travelling for the conference or field work dates and then upload the price comparison with the actual receipts of the flights booked. Normally, you are allowed only one day before and one day after the conference or field work dates to be claimed. Price comparisons cannot be done when you return from the conference or field work so make sure this is done at the time you book your flight. The price compare must be uploaded with the airfare receipt and the lower amount should be entered as your airfare expense.
Scanned copies of airfare receipts must show your name and dates of travel.

GAS EXPENSE

To ensure the eligibility of the fuel purchased and to ensure the completeness of the documentation, please specify which vehicle or what equipment this fuel was purchased for (i.e. UWaterloo owned vehicle or rental). Gas for personal vehicles is not eligible.

MILEAGE/KILOMETER EXPENSE

For personal vehicles is $0.59/km up to a maximum of a 500 km radius one way. The system will calculate distance travelled in KMs for you once you enter your starting point and your destination.

MEAL EXPENSES

Per diems are strongly encouraged for administrative ease as receipts are not required to be submitted or retained for per diem meal claims.

Per diems cannot be claimed for other attendees, only for yourself. Meals with attendees require itemized meal receipts.

When claiming per diems, users must indicate how they derived the number of days/meals claimed by uploading a per diem calculator. Use a separate per diem calculator for each geographical area you travel in. See chart below.
Per diem calculators (convert the excel sheet to a PDF in order to upload into Concur as a receipt):
- standard University of Waterloo rates based on geographical areas in chart below:
  
  per_diem_calculator.xlsx
- non-standard rate as specified by your supervisor/professor:
  
  per_diem_calculator_for_non_standard_rate.xlsx
Each per diem is allocated to individual meals as follows:
- for breakfast
- for lunch
- for dinner
Partial per diems can be used where a full per diem is not eligible; for example:
- When breakfast was provided by a hotel
- When lunch was provided by a conference
- When a dinner banquet was provided by a conference
- When someone traveled only part of the day:
  - E.g., evening flight to go to conference (breakfast and lunch are ineligible)
  - E.g., arriving home in morning after a conference (dinner is ineligible)
- When someone does not eat a meal that was provided to them, they must claim the actual cost of the meal they purchased (supported by a receipt):
  - E.g., when someone does not eat the conference meals because of a dietary restriction
- Meals cannot be excluded from a hotel bill and replaced with a higher per diem

The information in the chart below:

States the maximums per day in Canadian dollars by geographical areas. The maximums includes taxes and gratuities. It should be noted that the rates (for both per diems and receipted meals) are not intended to render Claimants expense-free. It is assumed that the Claimant would have incurred some personal meal cost whether they were travelling on University business or not.
Provides the amounts for specific meals as a guideline only, except where a traveller is only eligible for certain meals (i.e. a day trip extending over the lunch hour).
Provides the rates for meals that are eaten. Meals must be purchased in order to be able to submit a claim for reimbursement.

Canadian dollar amount for permitted per diems

**Canadian dollar amount for permitted per diems**
Meal	Within Canada	Outside Canada
Breakfast (.25)	20.00	25.00
Lunch (.25)	20.00	25.00
Dinner (.50)	40.00	50.00
Maximum per day (1)	80.00	100.00

Actual receipted business meals

For business meals including two or more individuals where all attendees are considered internal to the University, Claimants may only claim actual receipted business meal expenses. Actual meals must be supported by itemized meal receipts and are eligible up to the maximum per diem rates on a per-person basis.

Due to the significant differences in meal costs around the world, meals outside of North America may be reimbursed using actual receipts if the Claimant is travelling in a country where the per diem rate is not reasonable or sufficient. When the per diem is not appropriate, actual meal expenses supported by itemized meal receipts will be reimbursed up to the established meal rates below:

**Maximums for receipted business meals outside of North America**
Meal	Outside of North America
Breakfast	$35
Lunch	$35
Dinner	$70
Maximum	$140

Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award (GSRDA)

Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award (GSPA GSRDA)

Through a commitment of financial support from the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund (GSEF) and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA), awards are available to encourage full-time or part-time graduate students to present their own research (oral, poster, paper) at an academic conference and engage in academic dialogue within their field of study and research.

Recipients will receive an award valued at $250 for virtual conferences or $500 for in-person conferences.

Applications will be approved on a first-come, first-serve basis each term, depending on available budget. Applications will be accepted each term until funds are depleted.

Graduate students must be registered full time or part time in a research-based program in the term of the conference. Graduate students who are completing a Master’s Research Paper are considered to be in a research-based program and are eligible.

Regardless of the value of award issued, students are limited to receiving the award once per fiscal year (May-April).

More information and details regarding the application process can be found on the GSPA Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award application webpage.

Faculty of Environment Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award (ENV GSRDA)

This award is to support students attending an in-person conference. Funding is not available for virtual conferences through the Faculty of Environment. This award combines both faculty and departmentalcontributions.

Recipients will receive an award valued at $150 (for in-person conferences only).

Students apply for the ENV GSRDA via the online faculty form:

env-conference-funding-application-fillable.pdf

Forms will be processed, approved, and paid out within 2 weeks or at the beginning of the term in which the conference takes place (whichever is sooner).

Note: students interested in applying for the GSPA GSRDA must apply separately using the GSPA GSRDA application form.

Once you complete the ENV GSRDA form, please obtain the signature of your supervisor, and then submit the form to your Graduate Program Administrator for further processing.

If your supervisor is also contributing to any out-of-pocket conferences related expenses for amounts that are above any awarded ENV GSRDA and GSPA GSRDA awards, these expenses will need to be submitted through Concur for reimbursement following UW policies which the following documentation will need to be submitted in Concur.

Receipts, showing proof of payment for expenses only incurred for your supervisor’s committed funds
the GSPA GSRDA approval form, if applicable (add as additional documentation with $0 value)
the ENV GSRDA approval form, if applicable (add as additional documentation with $0 value)
Conference Agenda (must show start and end dates) if the agenda is too large, please take a screenshot of the first page and your section
Trip Purpose explaining how the event relates to your Supervisor’s grant and your research
Copy of Abstract, if applicable

Expenses that are being covered by the GSPA GSRDA and ENV GSRDA awards do not need to be uploaded in the Concur claim. The receipts uploaded in the Concur claim should represent only those expenses that are being covered by Supervisor committed funds.

Your supervisor will need to provide you with the work order and activity number to enter in Concur when creating the claim.