Mileage Reimbursement

I am a stake clerk. One of the ward clerks asked me how to go about reimbursing for mileage. The member didn't provide a receipt or anything...just total mileage driven for an activity.

I've hunted and hunted but can't find anything official on this. The bottom line seems to be that if the bishop approves the reimbursement (written up on a reimbursement form but without receipts), that is all that is needed.

My response to the clerk was that the church isn't the IRS, and in my experience, members will submit receipts for gas used, but don't expect 55 cents per mile driven. But I can't find anything to back this up other than my experience.

Does anyone know if there is any further "official" guidance on this?

Todd

I believe the IRS rate for charitable driving if 0.14 per mile, which is about what I pay for gas on a per mile basis. At least this is the rate shown on the IRS website.

Standard policy should apply, you should have a receipt for your expense, and either way the Bishopric should be signing off on it.

Truthfully, if we're going down this road I'd rather pay on a per mile basis then per receipt because I have no way of knowing that the whole amount of the receipt was used for the activity. I have only even known one family who submitted for gas expenses, and they turned on a receipt. Is this a common occurrence elsewhere?

toddnielson wrote: Does anyone know if there is any further "official" guidance on this?

The only guidance I know of is on page 159 in the CHI Book 1 (2006), which says something like "Leaders are not to provide long distance travel at their own expense." That is a broad policy statement that doesn't answer your question specifically, but it does state that leaders are to be reimbursed.

Obviously a receipt is the standard documentation for reimbursed expenses. Although a tank of gas may not correspond exactly to the distance driven, at least it does provide good documentation.

Alan_Brown wrote:Obviously a receipt is the standard documentation for reimbursed expenses.

In this case, I wonder if the best way is to create a receipt based on the distance and events involved.

RussellHltn wrote:In this case, I wonder if the best way is to create a receipt based on the distance and events involved.

That's possible, but the auditing instructions give a strong preference for actual receipts issued by the vendor (a gas station, in this case). What you suggest fits in the situation described in the audit instructions for what to do when a receipt is not available -- you create a document for the expense and have the member and appropriate leader sign the form.

Alan_Brown wrote:That's possible, but the auditing instructions give a strong preference for actual receipts issued by the vendor (a gas station, in this case).

In normal conditions, that's understandable. But unless the member tops off his tank before and after and submits the latter receipt, you're left doing some accounting gymnastics as to how much should be paid.

I think mileage and trips at some standardized reimbursement rate is easier for a leader to confirm.

RussellHltn wrote:In normal conditions, that's understandable. But unless the member tops off his tank before and after and submits the latter receipt, you're left doing some accounting gymnastics as to how much should be paid.

Members are pretty much on the "honor system" with almost any receipt they turn in. Did they use all the Twinkies they bought for the pack meeting, or did they take some home afterward? Were all those expenses on the receipt for the ward, or were a few for personal use? I think the same goes for fuel expenses. Was the rig topped off before and after the trip? What about the fuel purchased for the water skiing boat? Without the honor system, the whole thing would become a nightmare to manage. Mileage charges are no different in my book.

Mikerowaved wrote:Members are pretty much on the "honor system" with almost any receipt they turn in.

Well said. We should be the most honest people on the face of the earth. It is a main profession of our faith. Take the receipt and be done with it. If they are cheating, the Lord will know and they will eventually receive their just due.

Mikerowaved wrote:Members are pretty much on the "honor system" with almost any receipt they turn in. Did they use all the Twinkies they bought for the pack meeting, or did they take some home afterward? Were all those expenses on the receipt for the ward, or were a few for personal use? I think the same goes for fuel expenses. Was the rig topped off before and after the trip? What about the fuel purchased for the water skiing boat? Without the honor system, the whole thing would become a nightmare to manage. Mileage charges are no different in my book.

I totally agree. If I do a breakfast for Father and Sons and I have a considerable amount of food left over, I will do one of two things: 1) Ask the bishop if he knows of any in the ward who could use it, or 2) Submit my receipts, but only ask for reimbursement on the part I used for the breakfast and make a note of that. Yes, it's an estimate, but I can estimate fairly closely.

Mikerowaved wrote:Members are pretty much on the "honor system" with almost any receipt they turn in. Did they use all the Twinkies they bought for the pack meeting, or did they take some home afterward?

Yes, that's true. However, if I was the bishop having to put my signatures to the receipts, I'd feel better about mileage since I'd have a better feel if it was reasonable or not. With a gas receipt, I'd have to do a rough estimate of mileage and MPG to know if it's reasonable. Going back to your Twinkie example, I think someone would be asking questions if someone bought 6 boxes of the stuff for a single evening for a troop of 12.

Ultimately, I think the answer is going to be whatever the bishop is comfortable with. Trust but verify.

There has been good information provided on how to determine the amount to use for the expense reimbursement for the use of a member's personal vehicle in their callings. Going back to the original issue posed by toddnielson -

toddnielson wrote:I am a stake clerk. One of the ward clerks asked me how to go about reimbursing for mileage. The member didn't provide a receipt or anything...just total mileage driven for an activity.

I've hunted and hunted but can't find anything official on this. The bottom line seems to be that if the bishop approves the reimbursement (written up on a reimbursement form but without receipts), that is all that is needed.

- there is guidance regarding documentation required to be submitted with a reimbursement request. The following is an extract from the audit checklist for wards and branches, item 26. (Bold added for emphasis)

Every expenditure ... should have original receipts, invoices, or similar notices of amounts due or already paid. A check request document alone is not adequate. If an original receipt or invoice is lost, the substitute documentation should include a written explanation of the payment purpose, a statement or description of the goods or services acquired, the period the payment applies to ... and so on.

This information is also available in the on-line training,Handling Church Expenses.

For this situation the member submitting the request must either provide a receipt for the expense associated with using their personal vehicle or substitute documentation. As the instruction quoted above indicates it can be as simple as a a hand written note with all the necessary information provided. Part of that information is provided in this situation on the reimbursement request. How the member determines the cost can be any number of methods. The most common have already been discussed previously in this thread.

The question sometimes arrises when a member uses a mileage rate in their determination of the cost as to what is acceptable, or rather what would be excessive. A good measure is the mileage rate the Church uses in reimbursing bishops, branch presidents, stake and district presidents, and stake clerks for authorized mileage in performance of their duties submitted on the Travel and Long-Distance Telephone Reimbursement Request form. This rate varies from area to area as well as the date of the travel. You can find out what the current rate is by contacting your FM Group. The last time (earlier this year) I filed the form the rate was 45.5 cents per mile in my area.

jdlessley wrote:A good measure is the mileage rate the Church uses in reimbursing bishops, branch presidents, stake and district presidents, and stake clerks for authorized mileage in performance of their duties submitted on the Travel and Long-Distance Telephone Reimbursement Request form. This rate varies from area to area as well as the date of the travel. You can find out what the current rate is by contacting your FM Group. The last time (earlier this year) I filed the form the rate was 45.5 cents per mile in my area.

Is this reimbursement form only valid for the leadership positions you describe? It certainly would have been good for my wife who was in the stake pri pres'y and had to travel to the far end of our large stake for a ward conference.

Greggo wrote:Is this reimbursement form only valid for the leadership positions you describe? It certainly would have been good for my wife who was in the stake pri pres'y and had to travel to the far end of our large stake for a ward conference.

I am not certain whether it is or isn't. What I provided was not from the form but rather from the on-line calalog. I do remember reading something very similar to that on the form. Additionally I do remember that there was a limit on the number of reimbursement requests that could be submitted from the stake in a year. Eight sounds familiar but I don't recall whether it was per person/calling or for the entire stake. The reimbursement does not come out of the stake budget but is reimbursed from Church HQ.

Greggo wrote:Is this reimbursement form only valid for the leadership positions you describe? It certainly would have been good for my wife who was in the stake pri pres'y and had to travel to the far end of our large stake for a ward conference.

jdlessley wrote:I am not certain whether it is or isn't. . . . I do remember that there was a limit on the number of reimbursement requests that could be submitted from the stake in a year. . . . The reimbursement does not come out of the stake budget but is reimbursed from Church HQ.

The Church will reimburse a stake for certain mileage for a few specific leaders up to a limit, and it is very limited. Many stake presidents and bishops do not request reimbursement, although some do. This happens most often in cases where leaders are expected to travel long distances to stake leadership meetings. The Church reimbursement policy is very restricted.

A stake president or a bishop will sometimes authorize budget funds to reimburse a member who incurs unusual expenses in a calling that would not be expected of most members.

As one personal example, when our ward took youth on temple trips, it was not cost effective to charter public transportation, but the expense for gas was still significant. When a member needed to be reimbursed, we did, especially when it meant that the leader had to choose between being able to attend and help with the youth or being able to eat dinner that evening. Any such reimbursement came out of the budget funds and was budgeted and planned for accordingly.

Some leaders never requested assistance, and donated their talents, including time and gas, to the cause. Other leaders were not in a position to do so. The bishop made sure they were still able to serve faithfully on official assignments, and quietly assisted where needed.