Departmental Guidelines for Travel & Entertainment Expenses/Reimbursements

LAST UPDATED: October 9, 2025

This page is to update department members on expenses related to entertainment/business group meals and conference/research/professional development travel, and clarify and implement the campus-wide business policy guidance that was distributed in UCLA’s May 13 memo (Travel & Entertainment Guidelines). Please note: the policy itself has not changed—however, campus has directed all departments to enforce the policy more strictly moving forward.

USEFUL LINKS

ENTERTAINMENT/BUSINESS GROUP MEALS

All entertainment and business group meal expenses must follow UC Policy BUS-79, which sets the guidelines for allowable expenses, documentation, and approvals.

Entertainment, events, and business group meal expenses follow different policy requirements.

If you are planning an event or group meal, please contact the Chief Administrative Officer beforehand and as early as possible, so we can ensure the event is compliant with policy. Some events may require Travel Accounting approval.

Until further notice, all entertainment meals and events must first be reviewed and approved by the Chief Administrative Officer prior to proceeding with any planning or advertisement of the event.

Note: Events already approved by the L&S Committee do not need additional approval by the CAO.

UPDATES FOR FACULTY TRAVEL

Faculty are NO LONGER required to email department leadership before incurring travel expenses, if the travel is essential for scholarship (activities that support University’s academic and research mission), to conduct necessary research, and/or to attend a conference for scholarship.

If you are unsure if your travel qualifies, then please email the Chief Administrative Officer. However, as long as you have a justification that falls within the policy, you can move forward without pre-approval.

DOCUMENTS REQUIRED FOR TRAVEL REIMBURSEMENT

  1. Travel Reimbursement Form:
    Please complete the reimbursement form and attach the following:

a. All receipts, even if claiming per diem (see “Foreign Travel” section for details)
b. All required flight documentation

Send the form and documentation to both the Operations Manager and Department Coordinator.

  1. Business Travel Agenda:

Traveler must outline their daily research activities. Per UC G-28 Travel Regulation Policy (page 40), in order to adequately determine the business purpose of the trip, campus procedures must require documentation that justifies each day on travel status. Please submit a Research Travel Agenda* outlining the following information for each day:

For a template of the Research Travel Agenda, please visit HERE.

For all meetings with colleagues, please include:

a. Dates
b. Times
c. Locations
d. General topics discussed
e. Attendees
f. Organizational affiliations

For all research days, please provide:

a. A description of the type of research conducted (e.g., archival, library, fieldwork interview)

For all conferences, symposiums, and performances, please provide:

a. Program brochures: Please feel free to provide us with a direct link to the program on the agenda. We can then save it as a PDF and attach it to the agenda.

UCLA Travel Accounting requires clear documentation of the who, what, where, when, and why for each day of the trip.

*Please provide as much information as possible to justify the travel. Per G-28 policy (page 40), “When the meeting is confidential in nature, travelers should provide as much information as possible to justify the business purpose.” Labeling meetings as “confidential” alone does not meet the requirements of the research agenda. If you have questions in this regard, please reach out to the Operations Manager.

  1. Documentation for Expenses:

Please submit all required information and receipts no later than 30 days after your travel is completed. 

While receipts are not always required to be attached to your reimbursement report in the Concur system, per the UCLA Travel & Entertainment Expense Guidelines, lodging and meal expenses incurred are limited to actual expenses. In order to accurately enter your expenses into the Concur system, and in case of an external audit, please provide your receipts or a daily breakdown of your expenses during the travel.

Receipts are always required for the following expense types, regardless of dollar amount:

a. Airfare
b. Domestic Lodging and Meals
c. Conference Registration Fees
d. Car Rentals
e. Ground Transportation

Receipt Requirements: Receipts should be itemized and show payment method (e.g., “VISA XXXX1234”)

For foreign travel:

a. If you are unable to provide all receipts, you must submit at minimum:

            •  A daily breakdown of expenses incurred during travel
            • Receipts for any single expense of $75 or more
            • Lodging receipts
            • Airfare receipts

b. Please provide a detailed travel itinerary of your flight/train trip, even if you are not claiming reimbursement for airfare. This is because the Concur system requires us to input itinerary details for foreign per diem claims. You can send your flight or train itineraries that show:

            • Dates of travel
            • Departure and arrival times and cities
  1. Airfare: Reimbursement is limited to economy class only. 

a. Economy Plus, Premium Economy, or anything above Basic or Regular Economy is NOT allowed.

– If you have a medical exception to fly in higher classes, please reach out to the Operations Manager to begin the approval process.

b. A university mandated Carbon Mitigation Fee ($25 for international flights; $9 for domestic flights) will be charged for all flight expenses covered by the university (reimbursed or direct billed). Please ensure you have enough budget to cover this additional expense.
c. Required Docs for Airfare Claims:

– A complete flight itinerary that shows:
1. Traveler’s full name
2. Travel dates, times, airport

– Itemized receipt with proof of payment
– If using an e-ticket, a copy of the email confirmation showing payment will suffice.

  1. Lodging

a. Domestic: Up to $333/night (link)
b. Required Docs for Domestic Lodging Claims:

– Final folios or receipts received upon checkout
– Itemized that show proof of payment
– Meals included in Lodging receipts are reimbursable if compliant with policy (See Meals below)

c. Foreign: See MAXIMUM LODGING rates here: https://allowances.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp 

6. Meals

a. Domestic: Up to $92/day
b. Foreign: See M&IE rates here: https://allowances.state.gov/web920/per_diem.asp 
c. Limit tips to 20%

  1. Ground Transportation

a. Taxis, Uber, Lyft, ride shares, public transportation, trains (economy class only)
b. Limit tips to 20%

8. Car Rental

a. Economy and up to intermediate size rentals are allowed.
b. Add-ons and additional insurance coverage are not reimbursable. Booking with the UC Travel Center gives access to UC contracts which includes insurance.
c. Fuel for Car Rentals is reimbursable.
d. Required Docs for Car Rental Claims:

– Itemized receipts with proof of payment
– Obtain receipt at Checkout (reservation alone not sufficient)
– Receipts also require for Fuel expense claims

    1. Mileage

a. Reimbursed at 70 cents/mile (link).
b. Fuel purchases for personal vehicles are NOT reimbursable.
c. Required Docs for Mileage Claims:

– Dates of travel
– Addresses for Origin and Destination locations. The Concur system automatically calculates the mileage allowance.

d. Note: Mileage reimbursement cannot exceed airfare estimate for the same itinerary.

10. Conference Registration Fees

a. Required Docs:

– Itemized receipts with proof of payment
– Documentation that lists your name as attendee
– Meals included in Conference Registration receipts are reimbursable if compliant with policy (See Meals section)

  1. Restrictions: Traveler will not be reimbursed for non-cash certificates used for the purchase of transportation tickets (e.g., frequent flyer miles).