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To use a travel allowance for per diem expenses (meals and incidentals, M&IE) on an employee travel report, follow these steps:
Access Travel Allowance: In an open expense report, on the summary screen navigate to the right of the Report Details menu and select Travel Allowance > Manage Travel Allowance.
Manage Itinerary:
If the trip was booked via Concur or the designated Travel Management Company (TMC), select Create New Itinerary and click Import Itinerary to find and load your trip details.
If booked externally, manually fill out the New Itinerary Stop fields for each overnight location visited during the trip and click Save. Use Add Stop as needed until all overnight destinations are captured, then select Next.
Adjust Allowances: A row will display for each day of the trip where details can be customized:
Personal Days: Check the box under Exclude Day on the left to designate an entire day as personal time.
First/Last Days: Meal rates automatically reduce to 75% for the first and last days of travel.
Provided Meals: If a meal was provided to you for free (e.g., at a conference), check the corresponding box under Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner. The system will automatically deduct that meal's value from your final allowance.
Finalize and Generate Expenses: Select Create Expenses or Finish when done. Concur will automatically add corresponding meal and incidental per diem lines to your report.
Handle Special Card Charges: If you used a campus-issued travel card to purchase meals, you must edit those specific transactions on your report, update their classification to Meals Charged on Campus Issued Card, and click Save Expense. The system will auto-deduct that spent amount from your overall per diem allowance.
Based on CSU policy, the daily allowance limits depend on the type of expense and traveler:
Lodging Allowance: For domestic travel within the United States (and certain non-foreign areas), the nightly lodging rate based on actual expenses may not exceed $333 per night, excluding taxes. For international travel, the allowance is based on the location-specific federal per diem rate.
Meals & Incidental Expenses (M&IE) Allowance for Employees: Reimbursement is based on location-specific federal per diem rates. On the first and last day of travel, employees are eligible for 75% of the total per diem rate. No M&IE reimbursement is allowed for trips under 24 hours unless the travel includes an overnight stay.
M&IE Allowance for Non-Employees: Non-employee travelers (such as prospective employees, independent contractors, consultants, students, and volunteers) are reimbursed for actual meal and incidental expenses up to $92 per day.
To remove or adjust travel allowance expenses on a travel expense report in Concur:
Delete Allowance Expense Lines Directly:
Open the expense report.
Select the checkbox next to the travel allowance/per diem line item(s) you wish to remove.
Click Delete.
Other options allow you to modify travel allowance details rather than removing them altogether:
Exclude Specific Days or Provided Meals:
In the open expense report, navigate to Travel Allowance > Manage Travel Allowance.
Go to the Adjustments / Expenses & Adjustments section.
Select the Exclude Day checkbox for any personal days to remove the allowance for those days entirely.
Select the checkboxes under Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner for any meals provided during travel to automatically deduct them from the daily allowance.
Click Finish or Create Expenses to update the report.
Alternative Adjustment (Reductions):
Since per diem amounts cannot be directly edited, if you need to manually lower a report total, add a negative expense entry using Expense Type: Reduction.
In Concur, travel allowance/per diem is initiated during the expense report setup. To avoid claiming per diem expenses:
When Creating the Expense Report:
When prompted to create an itinerary or set up a travel allowance during report creation, choose Cancel or opt out of generating per diem expenses.
You'll see a Travel Allowance area near the bottom left of the expense report creation window. By default, Yes, I require Travel Allowance is selected. Toggle it off by selecting No, I do not require Travel Allowance. Then proceed with the expense report.
If the Travel Allowance/Itinerary Is Already Added:
Open your expense report and navigate to Travel Allowance > Manage Travel Allowance.
In the Adjustments / Expenses & Adjustments tab, select the Exclude Day checkbox for all listed days.
Click Finish or Create Expenses. This zeroes out the per diem reimbursement amounts for the trip.
If Allowance Lines Were Generated:
Select the check box next to any unwanted Per Diem Meals or Per Diem Incidentals expense line items on your report.
Click Delete to remove them.