Individual travel meals:
• Individual meals or food/beverage expenses are only allowable on university business travel.
o Individual meals are not allowable on travel to locations within 50 miles of campus.
• When travelling, please note that the expectation is that your individual meals expenses do not exceed daily per diem rates for that location.
o Please refer to the GSA rates for M&IE breakdown.
o “As a guideline, if using actual meal expenses, those expenses should not be greater than the applicable per diem allowance.”
o If you exceed the daily per diem rate on individual travel meals by a substantial amount, the portion that exceeds this rate may be allocated as a “personal expense.”
• Per Diem reimbursement:
o If you prefer not to submit individual receipts for meals during business travel, you may opt for a “per diem” reimbursement instead. These rates are based on location, and the current GSA rates.
You may either opt for Per Diem reimbursement or submit individual receipts, but not both.
The exception to this policy is that if you elect per diem reimbursement, you may submit receipts for group business meals. These group meals will be deducted from your per diem reimbursement.
o Meals provided by conferences, workshops, or covered by any other source should be deducted from your per diem reimbursement request. We trust that you will let us know about any outside meals, if you are requesting per diem reimbursement. If you elect a meal plan at a conference, you may only expense individual meals that are not covered by that plan.
o Note that the first and last days of travel have a deduced rate of per diem reimbursement.
Business/group meals & food purchases:
This spend category includes all meals in which you pay for one or more person’s meal or beverage (group meal); meals in which you pay for your own tab on a group meal; all catering expenses; and all food, beverage or snacks provided for any business meeting or event, either on campus, or during business travel.
For such expenses, the maximum for each attendee is $125, including all tips and fees.
• “The University allows payment for reasonable and necessary meal expenses incurred during a business meeting involving external parties if the purpose of the meeting is to discuss University business, and it is necessary or beneficial to the University to provide a meal while the meeting is being held.”
o 3302.1 Business meals
• When you purchase food, beverages, catering, or host a business meal, please provide the name of each attendee, and their professional or academic affiliation to the event.
o “A detailed list of attendees will be required for meals up to and including 10 people.” For example, along with the name of the guest, please indicate:
If the guest is a student, please indicate their academic affiliation, such as “Yale student” or the university that the guest is affiliated with.
If the guest is an academic, please indicate their university affiliation, only. Their academic rank and title are not necessary.
If your guest’s affiliation is professional, then please indicate their professional organization, and/or job title. This may include non-professional, non-academic affiliates who are part of your research. Here are some examples:
• Name, Director (Name of Program)
• Name, title (New Haven Public Schools)
• Name, filmmaker
• Name, Author
• Name, labor organizer, (Name of organization)
• Name, elder (tribe or group name)
• Name, Interviewee (research project name)
• For parties of 11 attendees or more, please provide a detailed group name and description, which includes the business purpose.
o “For a group of more than 10 people, a description of the group will suffice.”
o Please know that all guests must have a legitimate business affiliation to your business purpose, including Yale community members. For this reason, spouses and partners of affiliates may not be covered, in most situations.
• Note that there are restrictions on meals and entertainment expenses for certain account types, such as grants, gifts and awards. Please reach out to the business office if you have questions about the use of such funds before making purchases.