PeopleMuster

Expense and reimbursement policy template

Expense policies are mostly a list of limits. Say what the limits are, say who approves what, and the rest is paperwork.

For a team where people spend their own money on work and want it back. The limits are the whole document, so fill them in before you publish it.

EXPENSE AND REIMBURSEMENT POLICY — [Company name]
Effective [date] · Owner: [Finance lead]

1. THE PRINCIPLE
The company pays for costs you take on to do your job. Not for costs you
would have had anyway.

2. WHAT IS COVERED

  Category          Limit                      Approver
  Local travel      Actual fare or [rate/km]   [Manager]
  Intercity travel  [Economy class]            [Department head]
  Hotel             [amount] per night         [Department head]
  Meals on travel   [amount] per day           [Manager]
  Client meals      [amount] per head          [Department head]
  Books, courses    [amount] per year          [Manager]
  Home internet     [amount] per month         [Pre-approved]
  Software, tools   Any                        [IT, before you buy]

3. WHAT IS NOT COVERED
Commuting to your usual workplace. Fines and penalties. Alcohol beyond
[a client dinner]. Personal items. Anything for a family member. Upgrades
you chose yourself.

4. BEFORE YOU SPEND
Anything above [amount], any travel, and any recurring cost needs written
approval first. Approval after the fact is not guaranteed, and a refused
claim on money already spent is a bad afternoon for everyone.

5. RECEIPTS
Original receipt or a clear photograph, showing the vendor, the date and the
amount. A card statement line is not a receipt. No receipt, no claim, above
[amount].

6. HOW TO CLAIM
Submit within [30] days of spending, in [your process or spreadsheet], one
line per receipt, with the project or cost centre named. Claims older than
[60] days need [finance lead] sign-off.

7. WHEN YOU GET PAID BACK
Approved claims are paid with [the next payroll run / within 10 working
days]. Rejections say why and can be resubmitted with what was missing.

8. FOREIGN CURRENCY
Converted at [the rate on your card statement]. Attach the statement line
alongside the receipt.

9. GETTING IT WRONG
An honest mistake gets corrected. A claim for something that never happened
is a conduct matter.

Approved by [name, title], [date].

Before you send it

  • Fill every limit in the table. A blank limit means finance decides case by case, which is slower for them and unfair to whoever asks first.
  • Put the pre-approval threshold somewhere people will actually stop. Too low and you approve stationery. Too high and you find out afterwards.
  • Whether a reimbursement is taxable, and what records you must keep, depends on where you are. Ask your accountant before you set the home internet and per-day meal lines.
  • Name the tool claims go through in clause 6. A policy that says submit to finance without saying where invites receipts by email, chat and hand.
  • A benefit record in PeopleMuster carries a type, deduction or reimbursement, and a flag for whether it goes into the payroll export. Use the same names in this policy so the two never disagree.

Questions people ask about this letter

Should the policy set a per-day meal limit?

A daily limit is easier to run than signing off each meal. It also ends the argument about whether one dinner was fair. Set it by city if your team travels widely.

How long should staff have to submit a claim?

Thirty days keeps the books close to real time without being harsh. Say what happens to a late claim rather than leaving people to guess whether it is worth asking.

Is a card statement enough without a receipt?

It shows the amount but not what was bought, which is usually the part that matters. Most teams set a small threshold below which a statement line is accepted, and require the receipt above it.

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