Effective May 1, 2018 the Guidelines for Reimbursements to Individuals For University Business (AP-01) has been revised. Thanks to feedback received from the McMaster community earlier this year and input from the AP01 Working Group after their review of the Council of Ontario Financial Officers travel expense survey, the Per Diem Allowance for Meals will be increased. The per diem change will move McMaster to the first quartile for per diems in Ontario and matches the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) rates. Individuals who use the Per Diem do not need to submit individual receipts for each meal. An excerpt from the revised guidelines is included below.

Reasonable Cost: A per diem meal allowance may be claimed in lieu of actual costs $85.35/day ($19.10/breakfast, $18.90/lunch, $47.35/dinner) in Canadian dollars for travel in Canada, or, U.S. dollars for travel outside Canada.

Required Support: Not required to support the per diem meal allowance.

Note:  Only meal costs incurred while on University business or during travel for University business may be claimed.

The per diem allowance will not apply where meals are included as part of another reimbursable item (for example: conference, transportation).  The per diem claim should be reduced accordingly.

The meal allowance includes gratuities and taxes. The per diem meal allowance can be used when receipts for meals are missing.

Please be aware of these changes if you process expenses for your department or have upcoming travel for University Business.

In future, Financial Affairs will include a per diem review, along with per kilometre reimbursement rates, each January when updated CRA reimbursement rates become available.

The full policy and guidelines are available at https://www.mcmaster.ca/bms/policy/accounts_payable/ap01-rem_univ_bus.pdf.

To read about other recent changes to the AP01 Policy, click here.