Visitor resources

Non-employee expense reimbursement guidelines

• All expenses must have a valid business purpose that supports the department's activities and mission. Please confirm with your advisor or staff partner before incurring and submitting your expense to verify that the department will reimburse it.
• Keep all receipts for expenses incurred on behalf of the department or for activities approved by the department (e.g., registrations, travel, meals, supplies, etc.). If claiming mileage, please include a Google map indicating the starting and ending addresses.
• All receipts for debit/credit card transactions must be submitted in their entirety. Proper itemized receipt must include company name, date of purchase, description of purchased goods, amount per item, total amount, last four digits of the credit card number. If you lose an itemized receipt and only have the summary receipt, please indicate what was purchased to enable a Missing Receipt Form to be completed by CMU staff and signed by you.
• Requests must be submitted within 30-60 days of purchase. Receipts over 90 days require additional forms that you will be asked to complete: W-9 (IRS) for US citizens; FNIF and W-8BEN (IRS) for foreign nationals). Please include the forms and your receipts if your purchase is over 90 days.
• Non-employee US citizens will not have tax withheld from any reimbursements over the 90-day requirement, but reporting to the IRS is required if the reimbursement amount is $600 or more. Non-employee foreign nationals/nonresident aliens will most likely have up to 30% tax withheld from reimbursements over the 90-day requirement, and IRS reporting is required on Form 1042-S. For more information on this topic, visit: https://www.cmu.edu/finance/controller/faq/bte/non-employee.html.

Reimbursement process

• Step 1: Submit an initial request to cheme-expenses@andrew.cmu.edu. Attach all receipts, and the reimbursement request form, providing information on Who, When, Where, What, Why questions and selecting Advisor/Staff Partner name from the drop-down list. Once this initial request is received, it will be reviewed and approved by your Advisor/Staff Partner and prepared for processing. If there are any questions, additional information is required, or expense is denied, you will be contacted by your Preparer/Advisor/Staff Partner.
• Step 2: CMU utilizes a secure online expense payment process. Once your initial request is approved, you will receive an email from cmu-forms-transform@andrew.cmu.edu indicating that you must take action on the report.
  • The email will provide a link to launch your online CMU Non-Employee Expense Report that Preparer started on your behalf. Reimbursements will not be paid until the online form has been completed.
• You must fill out all relevant fields in the grey section of your Non-Employee Expense Report, beginning with “Payee’s Legal Name”. You will be asked to provide your banking information. It will allow CMU to issue electronic payments to your bank instead of sending you a physical check. Please make sure to answer both FCPA questions. Once all information is entered, click “Payee Submit for Processing” to submit your form. This action will send the report back to your Preparer to complete and submit for payment. Do not attach your receipts here – you already submitted them for initial review.
  
  • Note: The form will time-out after 20 minutes of inactivity. To re-open the form, click the link in the original email.
• If you provided your banking information on the form, you will receive an email payment confirmation once funds have been remitted to your bank account.
• Frequently asked questions can be found here. Any additional questions should be directed to Lauren Lesko.

Travel arrangements

Please consult with your staff partner or faculty advisor on appropriate dates for your trip. To request travel booking for the agreed upon dates, complete the travel request form. Your information will not be stored, shared, or used for purposes other than booking travel on your behalf. You will receive your preliminary and final itinerary confirmations directly from Concur Travel.