Reimburse Mileage

Mileage is a reimbursement paid to travelers for driving a personal vehicle on IU business.

A few notes about mileage:

• Mileage reimbursement covers costs associated with using your personal vehicle for IU business. Visit the Traveling by Personal Car page on the Travel website to learn more about what the reimbursement covers.
• Most mileage reimbursements are paid at a rate set by the IRS. If mileage is funded by a grant account, the mileage rate differs. In either case, the rate is programmed into Chrome River and automatically applied.
• The mileage reimbursement rate is reduced after the first 500 miles. The mileage calculator in Chrome River calculates reimbursements using this information.

This page demonstrates creating an expense report and adding the mielage expense in Chrome River.

Click a trip type below to learn how to request that type of mileage reimbursement.

• In-State: mileage where most or all of the destinations are inside the state of Indiana
• Domestic: where most or all of the destinations are outside of Indiana.
• Accumulated mileage: mileage logged over a period of time capturing frequent or repeated trips. Can be submitted on In-State or Domestic trip expense reports.

In-State

To get started, find the expenses ribbon on the Chrome River dashboard. Click +Create.

In-State trips do not require Trip Authorization, so you will need to manually fill out the summary page of the expense report. The summary page contains header level information that applies to the whole report.  

Select the Ground Transportation expense tile, followed by Mileage in the expense drawer.

The mileage expense opens on the right.

A map opens in the right-hand window. Enter your starting point and your destination(s) into the Google maps mileage calculator by typing the names of the destinations into the open fields. Continue clicking Add Destination until all destinations have been captured. Remember to click Return to Start to capture your drive home.

Click Save Trip in the upper right corner when finished adding destinations.

The Google maps information calculated for your trip is auto-populated into the fields of the expense. Note that any miles driven beyond the first 500 miles are reimbursed at a reduced rate. The Spent amount is the dollar amount you will be reimbursed for your mileage. This information is not editable.

Finally, enter the IU account/sub-account funding the trip into the Allocation field. If you aren’t sure which account number to use, contact your Fiscal Officer. If needed, add multiple allocations with the Add Allocation field.

Click Save to add the mileage reimbursement to the expense report.

After saving, your mileage expense appears as a single expense line containing all destinations in the left-hand window. The green check mark indicates the expense is complete. Add any other reimbursements to the report. Once your expense report is complete, click Submit.

Domestic

To get started, find the expenses ribbon on the Chrome River dashboard. Click +Create.

A new expense report opens on the right. Import your approved Trip Authorization (TA) report by clicking the IMPORT TRIP AUTHORIZATION button. The drop-down menu that appears contains your approved TA reports. Select the TA relevant to this specific trip.

The selected TA opens to display on the right. Check over the details to be sure this is the correct TA and click Import.

The header-level information from the TA is imported onto the expense report. Two additional fields need to be completed.

Indicate whether this trip exists for COVID-19 related business and fill out the Business Purpose field. Click here for guidance on completing this section.

Click Save in the upper right corner when finished.

The expenses from the TA are imported onto the expense report. Click the Mileage expense to open it on the right-hand side. Select Edit on the mileage expense.

The mileage expense opens on the right. Scroll down and click Calculate Mileage.

A map opens in the right-hand window. Enter your starting point and your destination(s) into the Google maps mileage calculator by typing the names of the destinations into the open fields. Continue clicking Add Destination until all destinations have been captured. Remember to click Return to Start to capture your drive home.

Click Save Trip in the upper right corner when finished adding destinations.

The Google maps information calculated for your trip is auto-populated into the fields of the expense. Note that any miles driven beyond the first 500 miles are reimbursed at a reduced rate. The Spent amount is the dollar amount you will be reimbursed for your mileage. This information is not editable.

If you need to change the funding account, the Allocation field is editable. When finished, click Save in the upper right corner.

After saving, your mileage expense appears as a single expense line containing all destinations in the left-hand window. The green check mark indicates the expense is complete.

Review the expenses on your expense report. Be sure all the expense lines are relevant and ready to be reimbursed, and delete any unused expenses (unused parking, taxis, miscellaneous expenses) that were imported from the TA. Once your expense report is complete, click Submit.

Accumulated Mileage

The accumulated mileage process allows a user to submit multiple mileage trips (such as weekly campus-to-campus visits) as a single reimbursement. This process is usually used by staff who must frequently travel between locations as part of their job & choose to use their personal vehicle to do so.

This page demonstrates how to submit an Accumulated Mileage report for In-State travel.

To begin, find the expenses ribbon on the Chrome River dashboard. Click +Create. To learn how to complete the summary page of the expense report, see the In-State section of this page.

Click on the empty field in the City / State / Zip area. Search for Accumulated Mileage and select this option. Click Save in the upper right corner.

Select the Ground Transportation tile in the expense mosaic. A drawer opens containing ground transportation related expense tiles. Select Accumulated Mileage.

Using your Accumulated Mileage Travel Record, enter the first travel date in the From date field, and the last travel date in the To date field. Enter a description of the locations you traveled to in the Description field. Add up the mileage you logged on your travel record and enter this amount in the Total Miles Driven field.

If your grant or department requires any deductions, enter them in dollars in the Deduction field. The Spent amount, the amount you will be paid, is automatically reduced. This is an uncommon practice. By default, the Deduction field is zero.

Enter the IU account/sub-account funding the trip into the Allocation field.

Finally, attach your Accumulated Mileage Travel Report to the expense. Scroll to the bottom of the mileage expense and click Add Attachments. Locate the file in your Gallery or on your device and upload it.

If you forget to attach your Travel Record, Chrome River will display an error message asking for a receipt to be attached. To clear this error, upload the Travel Record.

Click Save to return to the expense report.

A green checkmark means your expense is ready to be submitted. If you have additional expenses to submit associated with these trips, such as parking, add them by clicking the white plus button. Click Submit to submit the report.