Do you regularly send your employees on business trips and notice that they have problems with accounting for business travel expenses? Or do you have trouble keeping track of all the paperwork from employees who are constantly on the road?
To make this task easier, you can use modern expense management systems. Find out what can help you account for business travel expenses.
What are business travel expenses?
Any employee can be sent to a different place of work than their assigned location. It doesn't matter if they are employed under a mandate contract, a contract for specific work, or a fixed-term or open-ended contract. Such a person may claim reimbursement of expenses incurred for, among other things, lodging, travel, meals, public transportation, and even the purchase of a ticket to, for example, a conference. The travel expense report should also include the per diem paid.
Business travel settlement - template
Do you want to create a travel expense report? The employee must create a special document containing the following information:
Personal data of the person sent to another workplace and his/her position,
The purpose of the trip with the place of departure and destination,
The number of hours/days spent on the assignment,
The exact date and time of return,
The means of transportation,
The per diem rate to be paid,
Expenses for transportation, lodging, travel and meals.
In addition, invoices or receipts for expenses incurred must be attached to this document. If it is not possible to obtain them, the employee may provide a written explanation of the expenses. He or she should also explain why there is no receipt/invoice.
But there is a way to avoid problems in proving the expense. All you have to do is use a modern system for managing business spend, such as Sparados.
Travel expense management with Sparados — discover a modern solution that will make your company's management easier!
With the Sparados system, you can create a virtual prepaid employee card in 20 seconds to pay for all the expenses incurred during a business trip. Thanks to this:
You can efficiently issue and send the card to the employee even at the last minute - the whole procedure is done remotely and without unnecessary formalities. This significantly reduces the time spent waiting for money.
You can easily set an amount or limit on the card before the trip. This gives you full control over the costs incurred and the purpose of the expenditure.The traveler does not have to carry cash or use their own money. All funds are collected in one place and you can see the payment history at any time. This allows you to check that money is being spent on the right things.
You can top up an employee's account if they run out of money unexpectedly. All you need to do is send a request through the system to change the amount or time limits. The administrator of the company's panel can approve such a request in a matter of seconds, so it's perfect for 'black eye' situations. However, the request can also be denied if the employee is found to have mismanaged the money.
The amount of the travel advance paid on the card can be limited. This way, if someone is sent to work elsewhere, they won't spend more than they should. You can also set an additional time limit on the use of the card, e.g. for the duration of the employee's business trip.
The card itself can be "permanently" assigned to an employee and reloaded as needed before each trip. However, it is also possible to create a one-off card with a strictly defined amount and/or time limit for its use. In this case, it works similarly to a gift card. Once the amount has been used or the time has expired, the card expires and is no longer visible to the employee.
It is worth mentioning here that everything can be described in the Sparados application, so that an accountant can easily find in the system, for example, the invoices of a specific delegation. This makes it much easier for the employee to account for the expenses incurred during the trip. You can also attach a scan/photo of the delegation itself to all travel invoices in the application.
This way you don't have to send it by post. Using this system means that the employee does not have to collect invoices. They don't have to worry about losing something and not being reimbursed.
Using the Sparados card is very safe. Thanks to the associated application, the means of payment is virtual. If an employee loses his phone, the administrator can quickly block the card from being used by undesirable people. The money stays safe!
Accounting of a foreign business trip
A foreign business trip begins when the employee crosses the border, his plane takes off or his ship leaves a Polish port. From that moment on, the employee is entitled to an allowance in the amount specified in Regulation 2022 of the Minister of Labour and Social Policy. It should be noted that the amount of the allowance depends on the country to which the selected person is traveling. The allowance must be included in the invoice for the business trip. The voucher may also include expenses for:
Accommodation - the employee will only be reimbursed in full on the basis of a receipt/invoice. If the employee does not provide proof of payment for a hotel stay, he/she will receive a maximum of 25% of the total amount. It should be noted that the rate varies according to the country to which the delegate is traveling.
Transport - the employee is entitled to a travel allowance (the amount varies depending on where the delegate is traveling to or staying overnight) and the use of public transport. It is important to note that if a delegate incurs only one-way travel expenses, they are entitled to a flat rate of 50% of the daily allowance.
It should be remembered that an employee who receives free full-day meals or who is included in the cost of his stay (e.g. in the price of a ship/ferry ticket) is entitled to only 25% of the daily subsistence allowance. On the other hand, if the person is entitled to a meal allowance, he/she will not receive the above benefit.
Expenses for foreign trips abroad should be settled in the currency of the advance received, convertible or Polish.
How to account for a business trip by private car?
Are you wondering how to account for a business trip by the employee's private car? The rates for each kilometer driven (so-called mileage) depend, among other things, on the type of car and its engine capacity. For cars:
passenger cars with an engine of up to 900 cc - the rate is PLN 0.89 per kilometer;
for cars with an engine of more than 900 cc, the rate is PLN 1.15 per kilometer.
In order to be reimbursed, the employee must keep a record of the vehicle's mileage.
Accounting for business trips - deadlines
The employer has 14 days to settle the costs of a business trip. However, it can be done more quickly thanks to the Sparados card. When you use it, all the information about the expenses incurred is in one place and is immediately sent to the accounting department - this allows you to reduce the time you have to wait for the travel expenses to be settled.
Accounting for a business trip can seem like a time-consuming task. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be so. If you want to make it easier, contact us and we will suggest the best solution for you.
