Kansas Department of Administration, Office of General Services

Accounts and Reports

INFORMATIONAL CIRCULAR NO. 02-A-009

DATE:	February 1, 2002
SUBJECT:	Announcement of Subsistence Rates; Reimbursement of a Meal without Overnight Travel
EFFECTIVE DATE:	February 15, 2002
A & R CONTACT:	Randy Kennedy	(785) 296-2125	(Randy.kennedy@da.state.ks.us)
	Leroy Charbonneau	(785) 296-2255	(leroy.charbonneau@da.state.ks.us)
	Shirley Gilchrist	(785) 296-2882	(shirley.gilchrist@da.state.ks.us)
	Mark Handshy	(785) 296-7021	(mark.handshy@da.state.ks.us)
APPROVAL:
SUMMARY:	Rates for subsistence (meals and lodging) reimbursement are no longer included in Kansas Administrative Regulations. A new provision allows the option to pay for one meal in certain situations even though the employee does not travel overnight.

K.A.R. 1-16-18 has been amended effective February 15, 2002, to implement laws passed in the 2001 Legislative Session (L. 2001, ch. 109). Subsistence (meals and lodging) rates are no longer required to be published through Kansas Administrative Regulations. This provides the Secretary of Administration greater flexibility in setting and implementing the rates in a timely manner. Users of the rates will continue to receive notification through Informational Circulars of the Division of Accounts and Reports and on our website. Current rates and limitations also are available in the Employee Travel Expense Reimbursement Handbook and the travel tri-fold document.

An additional provision of this regulation allows for a new option to reimburse a traveling employee for a meal. One meal may be reimbursed in limited situations to an employee conducting official state business, but not traveling overnight. Previously, a meal could not be reimbursed when an employee leaves and returns on the same day. K.A.R. 1-16-18(c)(3) allows meal reimbursement for the following single-day travel situations in which an employee is likely to pay out-of-pocket expenses:

when an employee is required to travel on official state business, and the employee's workday, including travel time, is extended three hours or more beyond the employee's regularly scheduled work day; or
when an employee is required to attend a conference or a meeting as an official guest or participant, and a meal is served during the required attendance time.

The following additional conditions apply to the meal reimbursement:

The reimbursement for one meal per day is optional, at the discretion of the agency head or designee.
In either of the qualifying travel situations, the point where the official business is conducted must be more than 30 miles from the employee's official station.
No reimbursement is allowed when a meal is provided at no cost to the employee.
Only one meal per qualifying trip may be reimbursed.
The reimbursement must be paid at the rates set for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. The current rates are:

Area	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
In-State/Border City	$6.50	$7.50	$14.00
In-State High-cost	$7.00	$8.00	$14.00
Out-of-state	$7.00	$8.00	$14.00
Out-of-state High-cost	$7.00	$8.00	$15.00
Out-of-state Special Designated High-cost Area	$9.00	$10.00	$19.00
International	$10.00	$11.00	$21.00

(Please note that these meal rates are the same as those used to determine meal reductions.)

This is a meal allowance type of reimbursement. Actual receipts are not required. There is no provision to reimburse an employee if the actual cost of a meal exceeds the per-meal reimbursement rate.
The reimbursement of meals by the quarterly allowance method is not allowed unless overnight travel is necessary.

When travel qualifies for reimbursement of a meal, and the reimbursement is approved by the agency head or designee, Form DA-121, Travel Expense Detail, or Form DA-125, Travel Payment Voucher, must include the following information: date, departure time, arrival time, destination, meal (the amount of the meal requested), and the purpose of travel. The meal requested for reimbursement (e.g., lunch) should be shown in the "Description of Expense or Purpose of Travel" column, as well as the employee's scheduled work hours for the day (e.g., 8 a.m. - 5 p.m.).

Please remember that these same-day travel provisions apply only to travel on or after February 15, 2002. The Employee Travel Expense Reimbursement Handbook (Appendix B) and the travel tri-fold have been updated to reflect this reimbursement provision. These documents may be found at http://www.da.ks.gov/ar/employee/travel/.

DB:JR