Leisure and business travel - adding leisure travel to a business trip
Definition of “Leisure Travel”: that which has been previously approved by management as personal annual leave or other appropriate leave covering the period in question relating to any one particular journey.
Staff intending to link leisure travel with their approved RMIT business travel should consider the following:
- Leave applications must be submitted through ESS for the duration of the leisure travel and authorised prior to departure.
- Leave dates should be separately specified on the travel authority form.
- All leisure travel costs are to be borne by the staff member personally and not by RMIT.
- The staff member must advise CT Connections when making the combined leisure/business travel bookings, that a split invoice is required – ie: separate costs for both leisure and business segments of the journey.
- RMIT travel insurance also covers staff for leisure travel so long as the leisure travel does not exceed 50% of the total duration of the trip. Where the leisure part of the travel exceeds this guideline, staff are required to purchase their own separate travel insurance for the total of the leisure component of the travel. This can be purchased through the travel agent. The approved business part of the travel will still continue to be covered under the RMIT Travel insurance policy. Where the business and leisure components of the trip are not easily definable or separable, e.g. where business and leisure occurs intermittently, please contact the Senior Advisor, Risk Management and Insurance, Internal Audit and Risk Management for further advice.
- Full details of RMIT’s business travel insurance are available on the travel website with subsequent queries directed to the Senior Advisor, Risk Management and Insurance, Internal Audit and Risk Management.
- Where staff leisure travel forms a greater percentage than business travel on any single journey, it is reasonable to expect proportional payment by the staff member for the return journey. If the staff member has paid for the journey in full, discussions should be held with appropriate management for RMIT to recompense an agreed portion of the return airfare (through normal staff reimbursement channels) proportional to the business part of the journey. This is subject to management’s decision and should not be assumed otherwise.
- It is normal practice for the return airfare for approved business travel to be paid by RMIT. However, there are always exceptions to this rule and each individual case where concern or uncertainty arises should be discussed with the appropriate HOD, PVC or VC.
- Where staff personally pay for RMIT approved business travel, complete records should be retained in order to substantiate potential taxation benefits. Business travel diary (PDF 81.7 KB, 1p)
- Corporate cards must only be used for business expenses and not personal expenses.
- FBT - “Expenses reimbursed for extended travel both domestic (travel for more than five nights) and overseas must be supported by a travel diary. The diary must contain sufficient information to give a guide to the extent that the trip was for business purposes (MT2038). A travel diary is not required for more than five nights if the travel was undertaken exclusively in gaining or producing the employee’s salary.”NIA 2002/03 Tax Rates & Tables, Thompson, CPD