Division of Financial Services
Travel
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. If you spend more than what the per diem covers, you are responsible for that cost. As long as your meal expenses for the day stay within the daily per diem allowance, you should not incur additional personal expenses.
Colleges, units, or departments might reduce per diems for faculty and staff members, students, or athletes. In such cases, before your trip, the unit must inform you of the reduction. Nothing in Cornell’s policy precludes you from voluntarily reducing the total amount of your per diem reimbursement.
Concur automatically calculates per diem rates when you submit your travel expenses and select your travel allowances for each day of travel. See Mileage and Per Diem.
How-To Guide: Claiming Per Diem for Meal Reimbursement (video, 7 min.)
How-To Guide: Completing Your Expense Report in Concur (video, 36:33 min)
Resource: Alcohol Tax and Tip Calculator (XLSX)
Federal regulations for non-taxable reimbursement of travel require that the per diem reimbursement for the day of departure and day of return is limited to a maximum of 75% of the daily rate, based on the location where you stopped for sleep, or for the day of return, the last location stopped for sleep.
Cornell will not reimburse you for meals provided at the business event you attend (e.g., conferences, meetings, etc.). In Concur, you can adjust your per diem allowances for the meals provided at the event.
If you are unable to partake of a provided meal for religious or medical reasons and must purchase a separate meal, claim per diem for those meals and provide an explanation of the situation when you submit your expenses. Medical reasons require specific documentation. See university policies 6.13.8, Religious Accommodation, and 6.13, Disability Accommodation Process for Faculty and Staff.
Per diem costs are federally allowable on most sponsored awards. However, awards from New York State use a different allocation on federal per diem amounts, excluding reimbursement for lunch. See Travel Funded by Certain New York State Sponsored Awards.
If your local or single-day travel is less than twelve hours, receipts are required for expenses incurred. For single-day travel exceeding 12 hours, 75% of the daily per diem allowance can be provided for meal expenses. You cannot use sponsored funds to pay for meals during single-day or local travel.
Travel meals and incidental expenses incurred during long-term travel will be reimbursed using per diem for the location as follows:
See also, Sabbatical and Similar Leaves.
If you are traveling with a group of Cornell employees or students, the senior-most employee traveling must pay for all meals the group takes together. The traveler who paid for the group meal must submit an itemized receipt for reimbursement, along with the business purpose and a list of attendees. No other attendees at the travel group meal can claim per diem for that meal.
If the group members dine separately or if you split the check in a group, each traveler is responsible for reporting their own meals on their own expense reports using per diem allowances.
A business meal is one with two or more people where a substantive bona fide business discussion takes place. A business meal can also take place when not in travel status. For instance, when you are meeting with employees or students from your home campus or another Cornell campus. Typically, a hosted meal includes one or more non-Cornell attendees.
Reasonable meals and entertainment expenses will be reimbursed when you are having a business or hosted meal with a group of two or more people that includes guests, whether they are part of the Cornell community or not. The senior-most employee should pay for the meal and seek reimbursement.
For these types of meals, you must submit an itemized receipt that identifies alcohol, the business purpose, and all guests’ names, affiliations, and your business relationship. See Required Documentation.
When in travel status, this expense generally should not exceed 100%, including tax and tip, of the daily per diem rate per person for that location. For example, suppose you host a business meal for five people, including you, in New York, NY, where the total daily per diem rate is $79 per person. In that case, your total reimbursement cannot exceed $395. That does not mean you can’t spend more than that; you just won’t be reimbursed for the overage. Any deviation from this rule requires approval from the dean, vice provost, vice president, provost, or president or a direct designee. This per diem rule only applies to meals in travel status, not local business meals. Cornell does not use per diem for local meals. For information about local business meals, see University Policy, Business Expenses.
Do not pay directly for meals being provided at a private event (for a group in a restaurant or other facility only for Cornell and its guests and not open to the public).
Private events require a purchase order for catering and event space rental. If you have questions, contact Procurement Services.
For non-employee, non-student reimbursements, departments can use the per diem or receipt method for meals at their discretion. Receipts are required. See Non-Employee Travel.
