Reimbursements

Purpose

To reimburse the claimant for expenditure incurred where this expenditure was required to perform and/or undertake an approved activity in the course of ANU business.

Are there alternatives to reimbursements?

Yes.  Reimbursements are the least preferred method of paying for a good or service or managing costs incurred by staff, or other individuals, such as expenses while travelling.

Please consider:

• Whether the employee should have an ANU Visa Purchase Card;
• Whether a per diem travel allowance could be utilised;
• Whether the good or service could have been procured from a supplier that bulk bills ANU. Refer to ANU preferred supplier contracts;
• Have vendors 'invoice' ANU direct for the good or the service that has been received by ANU.

What is the reimbursement process?

For all individuals with a university ID (UID) and a current (active) employee, student or VaHA relationship with the ANU, all claims must be submitted using Finance Self Service.

Once logged in, the claimant will be required to submit details of the expenses for which reimbursement is being sought.  The claimant is required to provide supporting documentation for all expenditure claims, and is required to provide the general ledger code (GLC) and account code for the expenditure to be coded in the general ledger.  Advice on this can be sought from the local area finance team.

For staff, the approver will typically default to be the staff member's supervisor.  For students and VaHAs, the claimant will need to select the appropriate financial delegate from a list - this should typically be their supervisor in the local area for which the expenditure has been incurred.

Upon submission, the claim will be forwarded to Financial Shared Services (FSS) to ensure that the supporting documentation is appropriate and the selected financial delegate is appropriate.

Upon acceptance by FSS, the claim will be sent to the appropriate financial delegate for review and approval.  Once approved, the claim will be processed by Accounts Payable and included in the next appropriate payment run, after which the claimant will receive funds in their nominated bank account.  The payment will be made into the default bank account in HORUS for staff, and into the bank account in ISIS for students.

For those individuals who require reimbursement and who DO NOT have a UID, and a current (active) employee, student or VaHA relationship with the ANU,such as non-VaHA visiting academics, please complete the Guest reimbursement request form  and follow the approval steps contained on the form.

Who is responsible for what?

The claimant is responsible for:

• ensuring the expenditure has been incurred by themselves to perform an approved activity in the course of ANU business;
• ensuring appropriate supporting documentation is attached;
  • Tax invoices or receipts must be provided
  • If the claim is for travel-related expenditure, the relevant approved Travel Approval form must also be attached
  • If the claim is for FBT-related expenditure, the FBT Form must also be attached
• ensuring the expenditure has not previously been claimed.  Previous claims submitted through Finance Self Service can be viewed in the Claims History/Status page; and
• ensuring the appropriate GLC and account code for the expenditure is used; and
• ensuring the default bank account details in the relevant system (HORUS/ISIS,etc.) are current.

For higher value claims and a sample of all other claims, FSS is responsible for:

• checking supporting documentation is appropriate;
• checking GST has been claimed correctly;
• checking account code used is reasonable for expenditure submitted; and
• ensuring line description contains useful information.

The financial delegate is responsible for:

• ensuring expenditure being reimbursed is in relation to ANU business;
• reviewing supporting documentation to ensure it is appropriate;
• ensuring the appropriate GLC and account code for the expenditure is used; and
• approving the reimbursement claim for payment.

Financial delegates are expected to liaise with the claimant to address any concerns they may have with claims prior to approving them.

Financial delegates, prior to approving a claim, are themselves able to:

• request and attach additional documents to the claim.
• update GLCs and account codes.
• update line descriptions.

Should an expense reimbursement claim be sent to an incorrect financial delegate, the delegate is able to 'pushback' the claim and FSS will liaise with the local area to determine the correct delegate to redirect the claim approval.

Should all reimbursements be paid or paid in full?

No.  Not necessarily.  It is important that the financial delegate consider whether:

• The good or service or expense was actually required by the University;
• The price of the good/ service or expense was more because the employee purchased it direct, rather than through ANU and received any discounts available to ANU;
• The level of documentary evidence used to support the claim is not what ANU would normally expect; and
• The University's GST entitlement may have been compromised.

What supporting documentation must be provided?

Original documentation must be provided where available.  This is preferably a tax invoice, showing the required information to enable input tax credits to be claimed for GST purposes, and could also be a receipt.

If the claim is for travel-related expenditure, the relevant approved Travel Approval form must also be attached.  If the claim is for FBT-related expenditure, the FBT Form must also be attached.

If original documentation is not available to support the reimbursement the individual must:

• Provide evidence to support the 'price' of the good/item that has been procured; and
• Complete a Statutory Declaration outlining full detail of the purchase, its purpose, cost etc.

Foreign Currency Reimbursement Documentation

If the reimbursement includes an amount converted from a foreign currency, it is the responsibility of the claimant to provide evidence of the exchange rate (For example: credit card statement, cash exchange receipt, screenshot of conversion rate etc.).

Approval

Preferably the recipient has received some prior notification (from a financial delegate) that approval of the reimbursement will be granted (e.g. travel journey and budget has been approved).

Final approval for individuals with UIDs follows the submission of the reimbursement request through the Finance Self Service.

For those without a UID, final approval is upon submission of the reimbursement request form and must be approved within ES Financials by a financial delegate and be supported by appropriate documentation (see above).

Per the Expenditure Approvals policy , financial delegates cannot approve any expenditure incurred by themselves or their supervisor or more senior employees.

Processing payments of reimbursement claims

Once claims are approved by the financial delegate, all reimbursement payments will be made using the University’s accounts payable processes.

For staff, payments will be made to the default bank account details in HORUS used for an employee's salary.

For students, payments will be made to the default bank account included in Student Administration System (maintained by the student in ISIS) and a remittance will be forwarded to them.

For VaHAs, payments will be made to the bank account details entered in Finance Self Service when the reimbursement claim is submitted.

For payments made to individuals without a UID, bank account details are required to be provided on the reimbursement form.

Are reimbursements taxed?

It is unlikely that a reimbursement will be taxed in the hands of the employee.  But there is a possibility that Fringe Benefits Tax may apply, depending on the value and nature of the reimbursement, e.g. reimbursement of travel expenditure for accompanying persons on a journey or other non-work-related travel.  These should be charged to 'other fringe benefits' - account code 5584.