Meal Reimbursement

How do I get reimbursed for meals?

Trying the local cuisine is probably one of the most exciting parts of traveling. Of course, you're there on official FSU business, but that doesn't mean you can't dine out! Meals are reimbursed at specific, set-in-stone rates.

Breakfast: $6 (as long as your travel begins before 6am and extends past 8am)

Lunch: $11 (as long as your travel begins before 12pm and extends past 2pm)

Dinner: $19 (as long as your travel begins before 6pm and extends past 8pm)

Since meals are reimbursed at pre-established rates, you will not need to worry about submitting receipts for meals after you return. If you spend more on a meal than you can be reimbursed for, we cannot reimburse you for the extra money. Please note that you must be traveling overnight in order to be reimbursed for meals.

There are circumstances where you cannot be reimbursed for a meal. If the hotel you are staying in provides a complimentary breakfast, you are not eligible for a breakfast reimbursement because that meal has already been paid for in your hotel bill. Also, if you are attending a conference or similar event, and meals are provided in the registration fee, you cannot be reimbursed for those meals. Receptions, on the other hand, do not count as a meal.

To know which meals you are eligible for, you must submit a travel itinerary within your Expense Report in Concur with departure date and time, arrival date and time to destination, and return date and time.  The last day of travel will be reimbursed as Travel Per Diem instead of Daily Meal rates and the amount is determined by your return time (each quarter of the day is $20).  If you are using Foundation funds for the travel, they do not follow this policy and will only reimburse Daily Meal rates.

What about foreign travel?

Calculating how you will be reimbursed for your meals while in a foreign country depends heavily on what country you are visiting and when.  To get cost estimates for foreign meals, you will create a travel itinerary in your expense report showing your departure location, date and time, arrival day & time at your destination, and your return date and time to the US.

Since foreign meals are also reimbursed at set rates, you don't have to submit your receipts for any meals. As with domestic travel, however, please note that we cannot reimburse anything extra for meals that you paid more for.