HTI Public Square Expense Guidelines

The HTI expense guidelines were designed to help you document all your expenses in accordance with Internal Revenue Service regulations. These guidelines are provided to keep costs within reasonable limits and to follow consistent reimbursement procedures.

Please familiarize yourself with the HTI expense guidelines, so that you are not unpleasantly surprised when you are not reimbursed for an expense.

HTI’s procedure for submission of expenses

  • All reimbursement requests must be submitted within 15 days from the last dated expense to receive your reimbursement within two weeks after submission. Reimbursements not submitted within this timeframe can take much longer to process, and expenses submitted after two months will not be reimbursed.
  • Requests for HTI related expense reimbursements must be submitted on a  HTI T-5 Reimbursement Form, and sent to the Assistant Director, Angela Schoepf, via U.S. mail. If you are unable to download or print this form, please contact the HTI office for a faxed copy.
  • Original itemized receipts must be attached to your reimbursement form. No expenses will be reimbursed unless they are properly documented.
  • Include in your Reimbursement Form, the purpose for your expense, names and titles of participants, business affiliation, and the date and title of event. Expenses for spouses and/or children are not covered.
  • Make photocopies of the T-5 Reimbursement Form and all receipts you mailed to HTI, just in case they are lost in transit.
  • Mailing address noted on the form must be your home address, not that of your school/institution.
  • Expenses incurred in foreign currency must be submitted with the rate of exchange in effect at the time of the transaction, not those in effect when you complete your reimbursement form. You are responsible for converting foreign currency to United States currency. Conversion rates can be found at oanda.com/convert/classic.

HTI’s policy for lodging, meal, and transportation expenses are outlined below:

Meals

HTI will reimburse for meal expenses at the airport ONLY if your arrival or departure times are significantly delayed. The amounts allowed are $8 for breakfast, $12 for lunch, and $25 for dinner, and as mentioned above, HTI will not reimburse for coffee or water unless they are part of a meal, snacks unless they are in lieu of a meal, or alcohol. The original receipts you submit are to contain a breakdown of the meal (not just credit card vouchers), and the tips cannot exceed 15% of the total bill.

Transportation

Please note that for HTI sponsored events, our commitment is to reimburse your for transportation costs to/from the event, with your point of origin being the closest airport from your place of residence. If you will be traveling to an HTI event arriving from someplace other than your local airport, or if you will be traveling to another destination after the HTI sponsored event, HTI will cover the cost of transportation from/to your place of residence, and you will be required to cover the difference. If, however, the cost of transportation expenses for departing from or traveling to a city other than your local airport is less, HTI will reimburse you for the lesser amount.

When traveling by car, please ascertain that the reimbursement to be collected for mileage will be less than that of air travel. If, for some reason, you find that you still prefer to travel by car, please note that we can reimburse you only for the amount that would be paid for traveling by air. In order for you to determine this, and for us to establish the amount we will reimburse, please search the Internet for flight reservations for the corresponding dates, and attach a copy of the lowest rate/itinerary found. The cost of traffic violations, parking tickets, towing charges or associated court costs will not be reimbursed.

When expenses for car mileage are submitted, these must be accompanied by a Google Maps search. Travel by private automobile will be reimbursed at the IRS per-mile rate (currently @ $0.58 U.S. per mile). This per-mile rate includes the overall cost of operating an automobile for local travel or transportation away from home, including such items as gasoline, oil, maintenance, repairs, etc.

The total expense reported for transportation by a personal vehicle may not exceed the equivalent allowable economy airfare travel.

Tolls are fully reimbursable, and receipts are required. EZ Pass tolls should be documented by submitting a copy of the monthly statement (generally available on the internet) with a T-5 form.

Car rental is not reimbursable. 

Rail travel will be reimbursed at the cost of standard coach/economy accommodations. reimbursement will generally be limited to the lesser of the cost of the rail ticket or the cost of a fully discounted airfare to the same destination, although exceptions can be made in the event that rail travel saves considerable time and/or other ground transportation costs.

Air Travel

For trips of significant distance, air travel should be utilized whenever possible via the most direct and/or economic route available to the major airport nearest the final business destination. All reservations should be secured at least one month prior to the trip, via our travel agent, Graycar Travel. Please contact Sue Flaherty at 609-587-0306 or 1800-755-5514, providing her with your preferred travel dates/times. She will forward to us an itinerary that we will authorize, usually within 24 hours of receiving the itinerary, for purchase with our credit card. Fares over $500 will receive special attention, and may require more time to authorize.

Surface Transportation

All participants should use local transportation (NJ Transit) when traveling from Newark International Airport to Princeton, NJ.  HTI will not cover ground transportation to/from participant’s residence and airport.

When traveling by train between New York City and Princeton, please buy tickets for NJ Transit instead of Amtrak, as the latter is approximately $60 more expensive, and make sure that you get a printed receipt.

The use of Uber/Lyft is only permitted if train arrival from airport to Princeton is after 10PM. Please note that the maximum amount for cab tipping is 10% of the fare total.