Out-of-Pocket Expenses for employees:

All employee reimbursements are now processed through Concur. Please visit the Concur website to initiate reimbursement request. For additional resources, please see below:

CONCUR preparer job aid.pdf

CONCUR Additional Jobaid for BCMP users.pdf

Out-of-Pocket Expenses for non-employees (processed as Payment Requests in B2P for visitors, external fellows, students and HHMI employees):

  1. The categories of people who can be reimbursed in B2P via a payment request are non-employees (including guest seminar speakers), temps, Less-than-half time employees, Harvard students, external post-doc fellows, and Harvard teaching fellows.
  2. Have the Non-employee vendor complete the Non-Employee Reimbursement Form.
  3. Make sure your Non-employee vendor appears in the Supplier Portal. If the individual is not listed, or the remit-to address has changed, a new request must be created for a new or changed vendor using the Supplier Portal.
  4. Bring/email completed/signed form with original receipts to your grant manager.

Please feel free to call, email or stop by the office, C1-214 or 213a.

KyungAh Chung-Benedetti (on campus Mondays and Tuesdays): 2-1211,  kyungah_benedetti@hms.harvard.edu
Elmira Dhroso: 2-1210 (on campus Tuesdays),  Elmira_Dhroso@hms.harvard.edu
Melanie Hill: 2-3080, Melanie_Hill@hms.harvard.edu
Jason Hall: 2-1785 (on campus Mondays), Jason_Hall@hms.harvard.edu
Alessandro Millor (on campus Mondays and Tuesdays): 2-0007, Alessandro_Millor@hms.harvard.edu
Stacey Kelliher Tully: 2-4974, Stacey_Tully@hms.harvard.edu
Lola Yao: 2-2408 (on campus Thursdays), Chunyan_yao@hms.harvard.edu

Travel and entertainment expense reimbursement policies and procedures

Travel requirements have been modified as of April 13, 2022. See the Harvard Travel and Reimbursement Guidance for documentation requirements, submission and approval processes, and FAQs.

Only work-lab related travel and entertainment will be reimbursed, i.e. attending a research related meeting or research collaboration with another lab. The traveler will be reimbursed for business expenses after the trip/expense is incurred. This includes all prior arrangements made including airfare, hotel reservations, meeting reservations, etc.

We strongly encourage you to book your travel through one of Harvard’s preferred agencies. By using one of these agencies you will be able to take advantage of University discounts and benefits negotiated with preferred travel partners. Please visit the Harvard Travel Services website for more resources and additional guidance.

All Harvard faculty, staff, students and researchers traveling internationally must be registered with International SOS in order to submit a reimbursement request:

  • If you book tickets through a Harvard preferred agency, you do not need to provide proof of registration as bookings through Harvard preferred agencies (Egencia, Travel Collaborative, BCD Travel or Milne Travel) are automatically registered with International SOS.
    • Please note that effective 2/18/2023, BCD Travel will no longer be a preferred travel agency for Harvard.
  • If you book tickets through non-preferred agencies or directly with the airline, you must include proof of registration in the form of either:
    • Confirmation email from the International SOS Itinerary & Travel Brief Registration, or
    • Screenshot of your registered trip in the International SOS MyTrips system.

If your trip has already occurred without a registration with International SOS, you must complete and submit a Missing International Travel Registration Form, attached at the header level in Concur or as the first document after the Non-employee reimbursement form.

When to submit your reimbursement - as soon as your trip is completed!

BCMP requires that all expenses must be submitted for reimbursement within 60 days of trip end-date. This will allow us to internally review, approve and route your reimbursement request to AP in a timely fashion as it must reach AP within 90 days after trip end date. Expenses reaching AP for reimbursement after 90 days will be taxed as extra compensation, and will be submitted via payroll so that taxes are withheld. After 182 days, your expense will not be reimbursed. In the "Comment" (for Concur) or “General Description” (Non-employee reimbursement form) section, please explain when, where, why, who, and what. Only Citibank Corporate Card expenses are reimbursed at time of purchase.

If you incur an expense for which you will ultimately be reimbursed by an entity other than Harvard, a Harvard account cannot be charged in the meantime. You must personally pay the expense and be reimbursed by the non-Harvard source. Harvard accounts are not to be used as a holding place for expenses.

For mileage reimbursement rate, please visit IRS website for the most up-to-date standard mileage rate.

Sponsored Travel Cost Guidelines at a Glance (please refer to http://osp.finance.harvard.edu/travel-policy)

  1. You must choose the lowest fare available in coach class.
  2. If using federal funds, US Flag Carriers must be chosen for travel within the US and when departing from the US and where available while abroad regardless the cost and convenience.
  3. Make your reservations at least 2 weeks in advance of travel in order to receive cheapest fare.
  4. Train travel on Amtrak is an option when economical. Please visit https://travel.harvard.edu/traveling-rail.
  5. Meals are not reimbursed for One-day trips.
  6. No alcohol on sponsored funds.

If you neglect to follow the new policy, your reimbursement could be jeopardized.

There are minor exceptions to these regulations. The complete Sponsor Travel Policy is at OSP Policies.

Citibank Corporate card payments

All corporate card payments are now processed through Concur. 

Seminar/Department Related Expenses

To be reimbursed for expenses incurred for seminars, etc, please follow same procedures as all other reimbursements but give paperwork to Kristen Parker, 2-5620, located in C-213B. Vendor setup and payment process for foreign nationals is now done through Oracle and Sprintax Calculus. For more information on Sprintax Calculus, Harvard University's online tax compliance system for foreign nationals, please visit Sprintax Calculus | International Payee Tax Compliance (harvard.edu).

Foreign Travel Guidance for International Researchers

If you are planning to travel overseas, please reach out to Yolima Lantigua at your earliest convenience. Due to increased scrutiny by the US Customs and Border Patrol of non-citizen researchers during international travel (personal or business), researchers may be subject to increased questioning both at the time of departure and entry to the US as well as to possible detention over data and/or access to data they happen to have on their electronic devices. In order to avoid these potential issues, HMS has developed the following guidance: