Travel and expense claims

Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) is pleased to announce the launch of the Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award (GSRDA).

Through a commitment of financial support from the Graduate Studies Endowment Fund (GSEF) and Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs (GSPA) this award is aimed at encouraging 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. To be eligible to apply, students must be presenting their research.

GSRDA applications are accepted for conferences each fiscal year which runs from May to April.  Awards are available on a first-come, first-serve basis, with the annual budget split across three terms - more budget will normally be allocated to the Spring term. Applications will be accepted each term until funds are depleted, at which time, an update will be made to the Competition Status section of the website.

Students are advised to seek additional financial support from their supervisor, and/or faculty to assist with defraying the costs associated with conference, travel and accommodation expenses, as appropriate.

Awards are now two-tiered, set-value based on conference type: $250 for virtual conferences, $500 for in-person conferences and are limited to receiving the award once per fiscal year (May - April). Funds will now be paid as an award and coded to student’s Quest account according to Graduate Awards Payments regulations; Awards are paid directly from GSPA-managed account and are disbursed prior to the conference*.
 

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 expense or travel 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 scan and upload your trip purpose sheet, all your receipts, agenda, etc. to the claim individually 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 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.
• Upload Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award form and/or Faculty of Environment Graduate Student Research Dissemination Award form (if applicable), expenses covered by these awards do not need to be uploaded in the Concur claim but the receipts submitted, should represent only expenses, not covered by the awards. 
• 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

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. The lowest logical fare/rate is the rate that includes travel-appropriate features such as:

• Advanced seat selection
• Trip cancellations 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)

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 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

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.

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 (you will need to 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
• 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 include 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 traveler 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.

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: