1.00 Travel Expense Disbursement

1.01 General Policy
The basic policy guiding travel expense reimbursement is that the individual traveler should neither gain nor lose personal funds as a result of travel assignments and that these assignments be planned so that their cost will not exceed budgetary limitations. Thus each traveler is to be fully reimbursed for all necessary and reasonable expenses incurred in connection with travel on Institute business, but should make efforts to keep all expenses at a reasonable minimum.

This policy is intended to apply to all official travel for the Institute by its employees, students and, where appropriate, official business visitors. Travel expenses incurred by a consultant hired by MIT should be reimbursed under the consultant's purchase order but should adhere to the Institute's Travel Policy.

The more specific policies outlined in this booklet are based on minimum administrative and contractual requirements. MIT's travel policies are designed to provide flexibility within these requirements and to rely on the good will and discretion of the traveler and supervisor in the stewardship of Institute funds.

Relocation Guidelines
Relocation guidelines are no longer part of the Travel Policy. For further information on relocation, please contact the Relocation Specialist at (617) 253-4249.

Reimbursement
Travelers whose expenses for normal travel are reported to and reimbursed by the Institute are not required to report the amounts of reimbursement as income for income tax purposes. However, changes in the law have modified the federal tax rules and created exceptions. These exceptions are covered in Appendix I of the MIT Travel Policy.

In addition, although it is intended that travel expenses be reimbursed uniformly throughout the Institute, this does not preclude adapting specific, more restrictive policies and procedures to the needs of an individual department or laboratory to the extent consistent with this general statement

1.02 Group Travel
The Institute strongly discourages travel by groups of more than three faculty or staff members on the same aircraft or on extended automobile trips, for which catastrophic injuries to the group could seriously impair the operation of an Institute activity. This restriction should be enforced by the supervisors according to the circumstances of the travel and the level of responsibility of the travelers. For those in key positions, it is expected that this restriction will be rigidly self-imposed.

Departments planning trips with student groups are discouraged, whenever feasible, from booking travel arrangements for more than twenty students on in the same flight vehicle/aircraft.