Comment 1: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee suggested adding to Section 6.A.VIII that “Third-party booking agents should never be used.”
Response 1: This was added. While already listed in the lodging section, adding to the non-compliance section is a logical addition.
Comment 2: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee asked if “Supplier Invoice Request” (in Section 5) is replacing the PIR process in ShopUW+ and noted the word “in” should be replaced with “and.”
Response 2: Yes, Supplier Invoice Request will replace PIR’s. The change from “in” to “and” was made.
Comment 3: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee suggested adding to the definition of “Reimbursement” (in section 5) that reimbursements are not taxable unless they are they are submitted after 90 days.
Response 3: No change made. Reimbursements are not taxable if submitted BEFORE 90 days. This is already covered in section 6 A.II, Accountable Plan Requirements, and does not need to be listed again in the definition.
Comment 4: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee suggested that “Spend Authorization” (in Section 5) replaces TMEAs for campuses that used them.
Response 4: No change made. TMEAs were only prevalent for UW-Milwaukee. Many campuses and divisions have used different types of pre-authorizations and listing these out is not practical and would likely cause confusion, as the usage was more procedural than policy.
Comment 5: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee suggested in Section 6.A.I, Business Purpose, that the following sentence be removed: “Business Purpose is defined as one that supports or advances the goals, objective, and mission of the University.” They also suggested in the first sentence to capitalize “Business Process.”
Response 5: The suggestion of capitalizing “Business Purpose” was implemented, but the suggestion to remove the Business Purpose definition was not. Not having an adequate business purpose listed is a common reason for returning Expense Reports. Defining what a Business Purpose should include and address is an important part of documentation requirements.
Comment 6: Commenters from UW-Milwaukee suggested in Section 6.A.VII, Receipt Requirements, to add “Itemized” to the front of the subsection title.
Response 6: No change made. The suggestion was not implemented as itemized receipts are not always provided by vendors/suppliers.
Comment 7: Commenters from UW-Madison recommended moving Sections 6.A.6, 7, and 8 to under Section 6.B, Travel, instead of Section 6.A, Expense Reimbursement.
Response 7: No change made. The suggestion to move the “Sales Tax Exemption, Receipt Requirements and Non-Compliance” was left as is since this applies to more than just travel.
Comment 8: Commenters from UW-Madison recommended in Section 6.B.i.2, Travel, adding “if circumstances leading to trip changes were not outside of the employee’s control” to the end of the second sentence.
Response 8: A similar verbiage of “if circumstances leading to the trip changes are within the employee’s control” was added.
Comment 9: Commenters from UW-Madison asked if we need to specify “1 checked bag” under baggage fees in Section 6.B.II.7.
Response 9: No change made. The decision was made to not define the number and types of bags that could be checked in the policy. The number of bags and reasonableness should be left to the Driver Worktag Managers to approve. As always, Expense Partners also have the right to question any expenses that do not seem reasonable.
Comment 10: Commenters from UW-Madison asked if in Section 6.B.IV.2 if anything is included in addition to meals.
Response 10: Added bullet points to clarify that the incidental rate includes: fees and tips given to hospitality staff, transportation between places of lodging or business to obtain meals, phone calls and laundry.
Comment 11: Commenters from UW-Madison asked if under Section 6.B.V.d if the “vendor refueling” option is payable/reimbursable.
Response 11: No change made. Yes, it is reimbursable and allowable under the draft policy language.
