Travel Rate Changes Effective September 1, 2005

The State of Texas has announced the following travel reimbursement rate increases for all travel occurring on or after September 1, 2005:

• Mileage reimbursement rates will increase from 35.0 cents per mile to 40.5 cents per mile.
• Meal reimbursement rates for overnight travel within Texas will increase from $30 per day to $36 per day.
• Lodging reimbursement rates for overnight travel within Texas will increase from $80 per day to $85 per day.
• Meal and lodging limits for all locations outside Texas will remain the same as the federal per diem rates.

The University of Texas at Austin will make the following travel reimbursement rate increases for travel paid with local funds occurring on or after September 1, 2005:

• Mileage reimbursement rates will increase from 35.0 cents per mile to 40.5 cents per mile.
• Meal reimbursement rates for overnight travel will increase from $35 per day to $41 per day without receipts. Meals in excess of $41 per day will require receipts and a business reason for the excess, and the local combined daily meal and lodging limits must not be exceeded.
• Local combined daily meal and lodging limits of $180 for travel within Texas, $250 for travel within the continental US and $350 for all other locations will remain the same.

These new rates for fiscal year 2005 - 2006 will be reflected in all VP5 travel payment vouchers created on or after September 1, 2005. Travel reimbursements for travel dates prior to September 1 will be made at the rates in effect prior to September 1. These lower rates will require the document creator to manually reduce the mileage reimbursement calculated under the new rates. If the mileage is for travel dates prior to September 1 the document creator must manually replace the calculated amount with the lower amount.

Meal and lodging reimbursements for travel prior to September 1 will be audited by the Office of Accounting and returned for corrections if the requested reimbursement amounts exceed the rates in effect at the time the travel occurred.

These changes can be found in the 2006/2007 General Appropriations Act, Article 9, Section 5 at the following URL:
http://www.lbb.state.tx.us/Bill_79/6_Conference/79-6_Art09_0505.pdf *

Please direct all questions to oa.mboling@austin.utexas.edu or oa.croberts@austin.utexas.edu or you can call Marcia Boling at 471-7821 or Cynthia Roberts at 475-7144.

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