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RTAs/VE5s are required in order for faculty and staff to be reimbursed for travel expenses. They also ensure faculty accountability for missed classes and academic responsibilities. RTAs/VE5s should be processed before travel begins. Once travel is complete and receipts have been turned in, use a Travel Payment Voucher (VP5) in order to reimburse the traveler.
This document encumbers funds.
College Travel Reimbursement Policy
How it Works
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Please note: Changes to UT Travel Policy can be found here
- Create and Review the RTA: Log on to *DEFINE to create the RTA/VE5 and use the following guidelines. These can also be used by Department Chairs for reviewing documents for approval:
- Date:
- If the first date of travel has already passed, you need to include a note in the notes section indicating why the RTA is being processed late.
- Chairs will be the final approvers for all faculty travel during first/last week of classes and finals periods. The Dean's Office will remain the final approver for all chair/director travel during first/last week of classes and finals periods. Requests for Dean's Office approval should be sent to Dean Richard Flores and copy Hannah McKenna and Michelle Q. Hughes.
- Required Information: Chairs/directors must submit the following information to Dean Flores for approval: Travel dates, Missed classes, Name of faculty member who will oversee missed classes, Final exam date(s) and how final exams will be administered, Plan for on-time grade submission, Method of contact for student queries, Name of faculty member who will coordinate chair/director duties in their absence.
- If the date of travel is over 60 days late, a request needs to be submitted to Dean Richard Flores for approval. A justification for the lateness needs to be included. Please also copy Michelle Q. Hughes and Hannah McKenna.
- Destination: Click here for special guidelines for Foreign Travel on State Funds. Foreign travel = any country except US, Mexico, Canada, and US possessions. State accounts = all 20-accounts and some 14-accounts. (Use “CA3” command in *DEFINE to see travel rule 01.)
- Purpose/Benefit of Travel: Under Section 2, you need to provide an explanation for the purpose of travel and the benefit of travel. You add this information by using the moreable. Check to ensure adequate information is provided. Moreable should include title of conference or paper, if applicable, plus names of other attendees in department.
- Disposition of Duties: If the traveler is a faculty member and is missing classes, you need to provide the name of another faculty member who will be responsible for the missed classes. If the traveler is a chair or director, you need to provide the name of a faculty member who will oversee administrative duties in their absence. Some of the smaller programs or centers may say that the traveler “will handle duties via e-mail and cell phone.” This is at the discretion of the Dean’s Office.
- Traveler Type: When you are bringing in prospective hires and paying for their travel, be sure to label these folks as “P” for “prospective employee” (and not “N” for “non-employee”). An incorrect code may delay payment.
- Routing: Department chairs have responsibility for approving RTAs/VE5s for faculty and staff travel. Route RTAs/VE5s to the Dean's Office for review only if: the traveler is faculty and the travel occurs the first week of classes or during dead week and finals; the traveler is the department chair or director; and/or the travel is being paid for with an endowment account (in the last two cases the document will route to the Dean’s Office automatically).
- Amending the RTA/VE5: If you need to change anything at all on the RTA/VE5 once it has been approved (date, destination, etc.), you must fill out an RTA Amendment/VE6.
Links
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Note: PDF files require
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Contact
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Please direct comments on the Procedures Guide to cola_comments@utlists.utexas.edu.
Tips or FAQs
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- You will need the RTA/VE5 document ID in order to book travel via the UT travel agency.
- When entering the amount for travel, it is appropriate to enter $1 in order not to encumber unnecessary funds.
- If you are reimbursing the traveler for additional expenses, and they are not a UT employee, then you should use a RTA/VE5.
- Special situations require the paper APS as an authorization for travel expenses.
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Spousal/family members’ travel. Travel reimbursements (or directly billed travel, such as centrally billed airfare, car rentals, and hotel or apartment charges) are authorized as a fee payment to the individual conducting business with the university or interviewing with the university, not to the spouse or other family member accompanying the university visitor. Spousal and other family members’ travel is fully taxable, and an IRS form 1099 MISC will be issued to the university visitor if the total of all spousal/family members’ travel exceeds $600 during one calendar year. University employee spousal travel is prohibited, except as authorized by the UT System Business Procedures Memorandum 65-07-02. Please see www.utsystem.edu/BPM/65.htm for more detail on this policy.
- All Requests for Travel Restriction Exceptions must go to Hannah McKenna.
Last Modified: 20 October 2014
