Travel expenses as of 2019
Travel expenses as of 2019
In order to fulfill the business tasks, the employees may be required to travel outside the city where the employer has its head office.
During the business trip, the employees generate expenses (based on the travel advance received before leaving or made from his/her own money), whose booking must respect some specific accounting-financial rules.
Internal trips (inside Romania)
A. Transport expenses:
The employees sent by the company to business partners located in cities at least 5 km away from the locality where he/she runs the activity, have the right to have paid back by the employer the transport expenses, on the basis of justifying documents (kilometer log and travel order), as follows:
- by plane, for economic class ticket;
- by train, for second class ticket for distances less 300 km, and for first ticket for distances exceeding 300 km; sleep wagon trips are allowed only for distances exceeding 300 km and only by night;
- by own car – only for the value of 7.5 liters of fuel for 100 km, traveled on the shortest distance possible to the business partner.
B. Accomodation expenses:
The employees sent by the company to business partners located in cities at least 50 km away from the locality where he/she run the activity, and who cannot get back to home after finishing the working day, have the right to have paid back by the employer the accomodation expenses, on the basis of justifying documents (hotel invoice and travel order) for 3 stars hotels accomodation. If the hotel has more than 3 stars, the accomodation is booked and reimbursed only 50%.
C. Dailly allowance:
The employees sent by the company to business partners located in cities at least 5 km away from the locality where he/she runs the activity can receive a maximum tax deductible dailly allowance of 42.50 RON/day, 50 RON/day starting 01.01.2019. The company can pay a bigger dailly allowance, but the difference is considered salary advantage and must be added to the payroll of the month when it was paid.
The duration of the trip is calculated:
- for the plane trips – according the the take off and landing time;
- for the train trips – according to the hours of departure and arrival from the train tickets;
- for the car trips – according to the hour of leaving and getiing back in the city.
The rules are:
- for each 24 hours spent in a trip having a duration of at least 12 hours, the employee receives a full dailly allowance;
- for the last day of the trip, a full dailly allowance can be paid only if it exceeds 12 hours;
- if the business partner offers the lunch or dinner, the dailly allowance should be paid only 50%;
- if the company pays dailly allowance to the employee, he/she is not allowed anymore to ask for meal invoices reimbursement.
External trips (outside Romania)
In order to fulfill the business tasks, the employees may be required to travel outside Romania, on temporary basis. The trip must be done on the basis of an invitation letter received from a foreign business partner. In case this is not available, the company must be able to proof the necessity of this trip with other documents: fair exhibitions, etc.
A. Transport expenses:
The employees sent to travel abroad have the right to travel:
- by plane, at economic class; having the prior approval of management, business class can be used if there are not available economic class tickets and the trip cannot be delayed;
- by train, at second class for distances less 300 km, and at first class for distances exceeding 300 km; sleep wagon trips are allowed only for distances exceeding 300 km;
- by own car – only the value of 7.5 liters of fuel for 100 km traveled on the shortest distance will be reimbursed, and only if the total fuel expense is less than the plane ticket for the equivalent distance.
B. Accomodation expenses:
The maximum amount stipulated by the Romanian Law for accomodation during foreign trips is 150 EUR/day (for EU countries).
C. Dailly allowance:
The dailly allowance for external trips is not compulsory to be granted according to the Law, but it is usually granted by all companies. Is to be used for meal, transportation inside the city and small pocket expenses.
For UE countries, the maximum tax deductible level is 87.50 EUR/day. The company can give a bigger dailly allowance, but the difference is considered salary advantage and must be added to the payroll of the month when it was paid.
The duration of the trip is calculated:
- for the plane trips – according the the take off and landing time;
- for the train and car trips – the moment of passing over the border.
The rules are:
- for each 24 hours spent in a trip having a duration of at least 12 hours, the employee receives a full dailly allowance;
- for the last day of the trip, a full dailly allowance can be paid only if it exceeds 12 hours. For a last day having less than 12 hours, it can be paid only half of the dailly allowance;
- if the business partner goffers the lunch or dinner, the dailly allowance should be paid only 50%;
- if the company pays dailly allowance to the employee, he/she is not allowed anymore to ask for meal invoices reimbursement.
Rules to be followed regarding the travel expenses paperwork
The travel expenses reports must respect following rules for a proper bookkeeping:
- the travel expenses report must have attached the travel order, duly signed and stamped by the manager of the employer and by the representative of the business partner, having clearly inscripted on it the date and hour of departure and arrival;
- the kilometer log is compulsory for car trips;
- the travel advances must be justified (e.g. the travel expenses reports must be delivered to the employer) within maximum 3 working days after coming back from the trip;
- in case of payments made in hard currencies, the expenses are recognized in bookkeeping at the ex-rate of the payment date or at the ex-rate of the day of delivering of travel expense report. The ex-rate to be used is the one posted on the official site of the Romanian National Bank (www.bnro.ro) , for the previous day. For example, for a transaction made on 29th of November the employee must use the ex-rate shown for 28th of November.