Terms apply to sabbatical reimbursements because the IRS presumes these provide a personal, not an institutional, benefit. As a result, documentation for certain travel expenses, including long-term lodging, meals, or daily transportation expenses, must substantiate whether sabbatical or academic leaves are business-related or personal.
Before Cornell can reimburse sabbatical expenses, the dean’s office and the department chair must approve in advance the fully justified expenses in a sabbatical plan.
The following information is required when creating your expense report:
Business Purpose
You must provide a business purpose and supporting documentation to validate the need for travel, group, business, or hosted meals and entertainment. Describe the business purpose in terms that an internal or external reviewer can easily understand. See the Meals section for more details on requirements for meals.
Cornell Ithaca-based and Cornell Tech campuses reimburse meals using the per diem rate for the location where you stay the night. Domestic per diem rates include $5 per day for incidentals. You are expected to pay for your meals while traveling using your personal resources rather than your university-provided card so that the expense doesn’t appear on the T&M Card, and you will not have to repay the university if the meal cost exceeds the per diem rate.
Cornell will pay or reimburse ordinary, reasonable, and necessary business-related travel expenses incurred in furtherance of the university's missions.
When approved by the unit, Cornell can reimburse the travel costs of non-employee, non-student individuals (e.g., job applicants, visitors, guest speakers, visiting scientists) under certain circumstances. When possible and appropriate, units should consider using virtual options for meetings during the early stages of candidate interviews and webinars for guest speakers.
For non-employee, non-student reimbursements, except for meal reimbursements, travel for non-employees should conform to all of the same rules required for employees.
Students who travel may be subject to additional departmental, unit, funding source, college policies and procedures, and limits on reimbursement amounts. Processing requirements vary based on the type of student travel. The travel rules for students should conform to all the same rules required for employees except where explicitly stated differently.