Non-Travel Reimbursements

General Reimbursements

Any out-of-pocket expenses associated with activities within the Cambridge/Boston area, or inside of a 50-mile radius of your home base for those working remotely, are considered general reimbursements. Examples can include: 

• Taxi expenses from meetings or conferences in your area

• Purchasing lunch/coffee during an interview or buddy meeting 

Please check with Sarah Orzalli in advance to see if your purchase qualifies for reimbursement. NOTE: For financial best practices, we can only approve reimbursements submitted within a one month window from the purchase being made. 

Instructions for General Reimbursement Process 

1. Log into Atlas (https://atlas.mit.edu) 

2. Go to the “Home” tab

3. In the “Menu” on the left hand side, you may see “Request a Reimbursement for Me.” If you do, select this tab. 

4. If you don’t see “Request a Reimbursement for Me,” click on “Full Menu”

   • Scroll down to the “purchasing” section and select the category titled, “Request a Reimbursement for Me” within the “My Reimbursements” sub-section

   • If you’d like to add “Request a Reimbursement for Me” to your Atlas Menu, click “Edit” next to “Menu” and add that function to your menu. 

5. Once you’re in the Request a Reimbursement (RFP) page, you should see your name as the “Payee,” and MIT in the “charge to” field. 

6. Please name the RFP based on what you’re being reimbursed for (e.g. Uber to EdTech Meeting) 

7. Fill in the “Date of Service,” with the date that the transaction occurred 

8. Fill in the amount (USD)

9. Fill in the explanation. 

   • Please include the reason for the expense, if it was related to any initiatives/projects, and any attendees (both MIT employees and non-MIT employees). 

10. Leave the “G/L account” and “Cost Object” blank, these will be filled in by the reimbursement approver

11. If you have a second charge to be reimbursed for, please click “Add Line” and follow steps 6-9 again

12. Once you’ve added all of the expenses, please disregard “Note to Central Office” and click “Save and Continue” 

13. A text box will pop up that says “Attach receipt to RFP.” Please attach all itemized receipts for all expenses that you’ve included.  

    • On PDF attachments, please add a text box and provide a brief explanation of the cost, i.e., "Buddy Coffee for Kevin Wentworth and Haley Packard"

    • For photos of receipts, please include a note in frame with a brief explanation, or a second attachment with a note explaining the cost

14. Once you’ve attached your receipts for each charge, click “Send To” and type in Torey Hart for the “Recipient’s Name” then click “Search.” 'Torey O'Brien Hart' will pop up, please select. 

15. Click “Send”

Notes and Reminders

• You must include an itemized receipt for all reimbursement requests. 

  • MIT does not accept bank statements in lieu of receipts. If you lose a receipt, please contact the business in order to see if they can send you an electronic copy of the receipt. If they are unable to do so, please follow up with Torey Hart.  She will provide further guidance. 

• If the expense is for a meal, please list all of the attendees, the reason for the meeting, and attach an itemized receipt. You will not be reimbursed for any alcohol purchases.

• MIT does not typically reimburse for sales tax. When making a purchase, please let the vendor know that you are making a purchase on behalf of a tax-exempt organization and make an attempt to have the tax waived. MIT's tax exempt documents can be found here.