Travel Advances

a. Obtaining an Advance

An advance of $100 minimum may be submitted for up to 80% of the estimated out-of-pocket expenses for travel over 24 hours and will be issued no earlier than 15 days before the scheduled trip or event.  Advances will not issued once travel or the event has commenced. Expenses incurred after the start of travel must be claimed through submission of a Travel Expense Report for reimbursement. The traveler completes a  Travel Pre-Approval  in Emburse that includes an itemized list of anticipated expenses. The approving authority reviews it for approval. New travel advances will not be issued to an individual who has an outstanding travel advance more than 60 days old unless a compelling reason is submitted justifying the programmatic need for an additional travel advance. The advance must be refunded immediately when a trip is canceled or postponed. The traveler is personally responsible for clearing the advance.

CAUTION: To avoid personal tax liability, the advance must be cleared within 60 days after the trip.

Travel advances are normally issued to an individual requester, except in instances where the composition of the travel party requires a campus custodian to administer travel funds for several individuals. When submitting a travel reimbursement claim to clear a single advance involving multiple travelers, a travel roster is required in addition to the normal documentation requirements. The travel roster must include the name of each traveler and the signature of the traveler acknowledging funds expensed on their behalf. A travel roster may be found on SDSURF’s website at AP Forms. Electronic approval through Adobe Sign is allowable.

b. Clearing an Advance

When the travel is complete, the traveler may find that the entire advance was not spent, more was spent than the amount advanced, or the amount spent equaled the amount advanced. The advance must be substantiated in one of the following ways:

• If the entire advance was not spent and the traveler is returning the unspent funds in cash or personal check, a cash receipt must be entered in MyRF under Document Processing prior to delivering the cash to the SDSURF cashier. Cash should not be delivered to anyone other than the SDSURF cashier. To clear the advance, the traveler must submit a travel claim expense report in Emburse along with a copy of the MyRF cash receipt and supporting documentation. After the cash receipt status is complete in MyRF and sufficient documentation has been received, Accounts Payable will clear the advance..
• If more was spent than the amount advanced or the amount spent equaled the amount advanced, complete a travel claim expense report in Emburse. Attach the receipts that support how the advance was spent. The grant specialist will review and approve and clear the advance. If more was spent than the amount advanced, a refund check will be issued to the traveler. 
• If an advance remains uncleared for more than 60 days from the date of payment, SDSU Research Foundation will issue an email notification to the traveler regarding the delinquent travel or miscellaneous advance, and a copy of the notification will be forwarded to the appropriate Dean, Department Head, or Director. In addition, if the traveler fails to substantiate expenses within 60 days and does not return any unused funds within 120 days, SDSU Research Foundation is required under IRS regulations to treat the unsubstantiated or unrecovered amount as taxable income to the traveler. This treatment also applies to unsubstantiated Pcard charges, which may be classified as advances and included in taxable income. Once reported as taxable income, the amount cannot be reversed.