At times an employee may be required to use their personal vehicle for business purposes. Reimbursement for the operating expenses of the car will be calculated by multiplying the number of miles traveled by the currently approved Standard Mileage Rate published by the IRS. Commuting costs (travel between home and the work site) will not be reimbursed. Reimbursements will be made for local travel only. If travel is non-local (outside of Houston metro), a rental car should be used.
POLICY
All employees who use their vehicle for business purposes must have current and adequate automobile/liability insurance coverage.
Mileage will be reimbursed for the round-trip distance between the employee’s work site and the location of the business function being attended. If employees depart from or return to their home instead of their work site, only the miles in excess of their normal daily commute can be reimbursed.
Mileage amounts must be verifiable through the use of commercially available websites (ex. Google Maps) using the “shortest route” option.
Other expenses such as parking will be reimbursed at the actual costs.
Employees must document their travel on Expensify or by attaching a Google Maps route to a check request form.
All mileage must be preapproved by the employee’s direct supervisor.
COVID-19 Implication:
Under IRS guidelines, employees are responsible for getting to and from work each workday. Employees will not be reimbursed for mileage concerning their normal commutes, regardless of their remote work location in relation to their official office space. When an employee travels from their home to an off-site destination, only the difference between the mileage to the off-site destination and the mileage of the employee’s normal commute will be considered for reimbursement. In other words, employees must deduct the mileage of their normal commute when they claim mileage for travel from their homes to business destinations.
Procedure
To be reimbursed for mileage, an employee must submit their request no later than 7 days after the last day of the month in which the mileage occurred.
Expensify Users:
Use the “Create from Map” tool on Expensify. To find this, go to the Expenses tab. Click the “New Expense” drop down. Select “Create from Map.” Expensify will calculate your miles and create a map image based on the starting and ending address you enter. You can create multiple stops on your route or create multiple routes. Each route you create will be saved as an individual expense. Include your reimbursable mileage expenses in a report along with your weekly credit card expenses.
Include accurate and detailed descriptions of all the routes you are claiming for reimbursement.
You must manually subtract the miles of your normal daily commute if it applies to your claim. Once you have calculated the claimable number of miles, enter that amount into the “miles” line item that was previously calculated by the Create from Map tool. You may leave a note in your expense that you deducted the miles of your regular commute.
Submit your report by end of day Tuesday to be paid within the week.
Non-Expensify Users:
Fill out and attach a screenshot or .pdf of your Google Maps Route to a check request form. In your form, calculate the amount by multiplying the total number of claimable miles by the current Standard Mileage Rate approved by the IRS. The rate for 2022 is $0.585.
Deduct the miles of your normal daily commute if it applies to your claim. Subtract those miles from the reimbursement you are claiming in your form and leave a note that you have done so.
Submit the check request form by end of day Tuesday to be paid within the week.
Examples
An employee travels from the main office to a meeting at George R. Brown Convention Center. The employee then stops for lunch on the way to another meeting at Minute Maid Park. Finally, the employee returns to the main office. The entire mileage for this trip can be reimbursed.
An employee travels from home to a conference and back home again. The total trip (RT) was 65 miles. The employee’s normal commute (RT) is 10 miles. In this case, 55 miles can be reimbursed.
An employee travels from the main office to attend meetings at several locations and then returns home. The normal commute is 5 miles one way. Mileage reimbursement would be 25 miles which is calculated as follows:
Trip 1 – main office to location A - 10 miles reimbursed
Trip 2 – location A to location B - 15 miles reimbursed
Trip 3 – location B to home - 12 miles not reimbursed
An employee’s normal commute is 20 miles from their home to their office location. However, as a result of COVID-19, the employee is working from home. The employee needs to travel to an off-site location and the total trip (RT) is 30 miles. Only 10 miles can be claimed for reimbursement (30 miles less 20 miles).
Allowable Mileage Expenses
Examples of allowable business purposes include:
Meetings
Conferences/Presentations
Work-related errands (post office, office supply store, etc)
Classes and workshops if job related and approved by a manager
Unallowable Mileage Expenses
Examples of unallowable business purposes include:
Commuting between home and the work site
Elective continuing education
Updated on 3/29/2022 to include clarifications related to COVID-19 and flexible work schedules.
