Financial Services Travel Training June 24, 2014

Introduction This training is designed to provide instructions about how to prepare for out-of-town/overnight travel and local travel around the county and the State required for your position with Cobb County School District. We will walk through the forms needed and how to complete the forms with proper documentation and approvals.

Forms Required to Travel Out-of-Town / Overnight Go to the Financial Services website from the CCSD Support Page to print your travel forms: (Click on General Information>Form Bank>Travel FS-125 Authorization for Out-of-Town/Overnight Travel FS-118 Request for check/reimbursement of county funds/for registration or non-employees FS-119 Vendor paid payroll request for check for travel expense prepayment FS-119A Employee paid payroll request for check for travel expense prepayment FS-137 Certificate of exemption for the State of Georgia local hotel/motel excise tax ST-5 State of Georgia sales and use tax certificate of exemption FS-118B Travel advance for a specific trip from county funds FS-100 Employee expense statement for out-of-town/overnight travel FS-412 Travel expense checklist for FS-100 All forms should be typed and signed in ink other than black.

Steps and Tips to Plan your Trip FS-125 Request to take the trip from your supervisor/principal. The original FS-125 must be forwarded to the Payroll Dept. after all approvals have been obtained. A copy of the conference/meeting agenda portion with meeting times and meal times must be attached along with registration information A copy of the FS-125 must be attached to all other requests sent to Payroll or Accounts Payable while preparing for the trip and while filing for the travel reimbursement for the trip after returning to your headquarters. Obtain a price for the registration from the conference/workshop brochure. Contact the hotel to obtain a room rate unless arranged by the conference personnel. Go on line or contact the airline company to obtain an estimated cost for the flight. You may use the Nippon Travel Co. for your airline ticket. You will need to consider the price increasing, if you don’t book with them on the first call you make to them. If you use Nippon, the bill is paid through Payroll. Check on Per Diem rates for meals and regulations related to meals.

First Step for Out-of-Town / Overnight Travel

Steps and Tips to Plan your Trip FS-118 This is an Accounts Payable form. Use it to request payment for the Registration for the conference, workshop, seminar & to pay contract employees. FS-119 Use this form to Pre-pay a vendor any expenses we allow to be prepaid. That is only hotel or airline expenses. You may use the FS-119 to prepay for the hotel costs directly to the hotel. CCSD will cut a check to the hotel for this expense. You may prepay for airline tickets and the hotel costs with your personal money and be reimbursed for these expenses prior to the trip. To be reimbursed, prior to the trip, you must submit an FS-119A, Payroll Request for Check-Travel Expense Prepayment and a paid receipt in the employee’s name. Otherwise, you will be reimbursed when your FS-100 is finalized. State and local government employees traveling within the state on official business are exempt from paying the county or municipal excise tax on lodging using FS-137. In addition, as a government entity, may not be subject to Georgia sales tax using the ST-5 form. If a group of employees are traveling together and plan to share rooms, you must attach a list of which employees will be sharing the expense of each room. This allows Payroll to identify and post the cost to each employee. The reason for this request is because CCSD is required to submit accurate travel expenditures per employee to the State Department of Education on an annual basis. Do not save forms as they are updated with new mileage amounts etc.

FS-118 Request for Check / Reimbursement of County Funds

FS-119 Vendor Paid Payroll Request for Check for Travel Expense Prepayment

FS-119A Employee Paid Payroll Request for Check for Travel Expense Prepayment

FS-137

ST-5

Steps and Tips to Plan your Trip FS-118B Travel Advance for a Specific Trip. Employees may request these either in $250 or $500 increments only. Employees are allowed to hold one outstanding travel advance per trip at a time. This is an advance from CCSD to the employee and is expected to be repaid 30 days after the trip has been completed. Travel advances are limited and available only to an employee whose current annual salary is $50, or less. Remember you have to either use the full amount of the travel advance for the travel expenses or repay the balance due to CCSD 30 days after the trip is complete. Do not change the charge code preprinted on the form.

FS-118B Travel Advance for a Specific Trip From County Funds

Steps and Tips to Plan your Trip FS-100 Employee Expense Statement for Out-of-Town/Overnight Travel. Within 30 days of returning from your trip, you must complete this form and have it properly approved and documented per the Travel Regulations. If you are traveling with a group of employees, it’s important the paperwork is submitted as a package for all the employees who were on the trip. Submit to the proper departments for authorized signatures. If it is to be submitted to multiple departments, each department will know to which department it should be routed. FS-412 Travel Expense Checklist for the FS-100. Use this form to complete the FS-100. It will assist you in confirming you have all necessary documents and approvals and reduce the possibility of delaying your reimbursement.

FS-100 Employee Expense Statement for Out-of-Town / Overnight Travel

FS-412 Travel Expense Checklist for FS-100

Local Travel Form FS-156 Employee Expense Statement for Local Travel Reimbursement Use this form on a daily basis in conjunction with the District Mileage Wizard on the Financial Services web site. The Mileage Wizard will calculate reimbursement for mileage traveled between District schools/facilities. The FS-156 is also used for mileage incurred within the 50 mile radius map located on page 3.4 of the Travel Regulations that are not CCSD schools/facilities. County policy requires that travelers submit expenses substantiating the amount, date, use and business purpose of expenses, within 30 calendar days after completion of the trip or event. Expenses submitted more than 60 calendar days after completion of the trip or event, if reimbursed should be included in the traveler’s IRS Form W-2 as taxable income per IRS regulations.

FS-156 Employee Expense Statement Local Travel Reimbursement

Employee Expense Statement for Local Mileage FS-156 Form FS-156 is used to claim mileage reimbursement for official local travel. This form must be completed and signed by the employee at the end of a specific trip or at the end of the month. The FS-156 must be submitted to the employee's department head for review and approval. If the form is correct and in good order, it is then submitted to the appropriate Assistant Superintendent/Chief Officer (or their designee) for review and approval before it is submitted to Payroll for reimbursement. Assistant Superintendents/Chief Officers (or their designee) approve all FS-156 forms when reimbursement is made from central office/county funds. Principals approve all FS-156's when reimbursement is made from student activity funds and local school allotment funds. It is then submitted to the local school bookkeeper for reimbursement. Principal’s FS-156 forms will be reviewed by the Internal Audit Department. Forms not properly completed and/or approved will be returned to the approving supervisor, thereby, delaying reimbursement to the employee.

Staff Contacts for Travel Regulations & Forms We want you to always contact us for any questions about the Travel Regulations. Main Contact: Gitty Landrum, Payroll / Travel Representative Paige Smith, Payroll Accountant Lisa Carter Leach, Assistant Director of Disbursements Laura Bauer, Director of Disbursements