Meals

For Travel within the Fifty United States and the District of Columbia

For overnight travel within the fifty United States and the District of Columbia, the meal expense allowance is not to exceed $50 per full travel day for three meals, including tips. Tips should not exceed 20%.  Receipts for meals costing more than $10 are required. If fewer than three meals per day are subject to allowance, amounts (including tips) should not exceed the maximum reimbursement for the total of the eligible meals that day:

            Breakfast          $10

            Lunch               $15

            Dinner              $25

For example, if a traveler is at a conference where full breakfast is provided as a part of the conference fee, then the eligible amount for meals for lunch and dinner would total $40 (including tips). 

Travelers going to high cost areas may receive additional meal reimbursement consistent with the U.S. General Services Administration per diem rates current with the dates of travel. Travelers should use the following site to check for rates by county/city under the M&IE rates: http://www.gsa.gov.   From the U.S. General Services Administration site, click on “per diem” rates and select the state. The meal and tip rate will be available by city and county. If traveling to a high cost area, but staying in a suburb, the traveler should check the web site by county to see if it qualifies for high cost reimbursement.  Reimbursement for high cost areas must be approved as an override of policy by the approving supervisor.   

Meal expenses may be claimed by traveling employees for restaurants outside a thirty-mile radius of Kirksville.  For example, an employee returning from business travel who stops to eat in Columbia, Missouri at 6 pm could be reimbursed for that meal.  However, an employee returning to Kirksville at 6 pm could not stop at a restaurant in Kirksville and claim the meal as a reimbursable travel expense.

Meals Provided by Others

Meals included in conference registrations, covered by other university payments, or paid by others are not eligible for reimbursement to the traveler.  If a meal is provided by conference registration, but the traveler chooses to eat elsewhere, the added meal expense is not reimbursable.