Reimbursements & Vendor Payments

Travel and Business Expense Reimbursements

All full-time faculty and staff are required to use the University Travel Card when using University funds to make travel arrangements and when incurring travel and business related expenses. The University Travel Card is a corporate liability Visa Card and is integrated with the University’s online travel and expense management system, Concur, streamlining the expense reporting process. It eliminates the need for cash advances and reduces the financial burden on the traveler. Concur can be accessed under your Employee Self-Service Tab in BUworks.

All Travel Card transactions must be assigned to an Expense Report in Concur within 30 days of the transaction date. For all business travel, an expense report must be submitted within 30 days of the trip end date. All faculty and staff reimbursements (including reimbursements for BU employees who do not have travel cards) must be submitted through their personal Concur profile. Reimbursements for non-BU employees must be submitted using a Law Guest Account.

Do not discard original receipts after uploading them for transactions in Concur. Please print out a summary sheet of the expense report, attach all original receipts, and keep for your records.

International Reimbursements

International reimbursements cannot be processed through Concur. Please contact the Law Finance Office for instructions. Be advised that you will need the following additional information to process an international reimbursement for a Guest: 

  • Copy of Passport with Picture
  • Copy of I-94 or ESTA
  • Copy of Immigration Stamp on entering the US

If you have any questions regarding the University Travel Policy please contact the Law Finance Office. You can also refer to BU Travel Services for the complete travel policy.

Vendor and Invoice Payments

Most vendor and invoice payments are made using a Purchase Order (PO). To have a Purchase Order number issued, please complete a Shopping Cart, which can be found on the Procurement Tab in BUworks. Shopping carts should always be submitted BEFORE any vendor has started your order, whether it is a Service or a Supply. Shopping carts should not be completed after you have already received the good or services.

There are three categories of Shopping Carts:

  • The Terrier Market Place can be used for all supplies orders through W.B. Mason and Gift Card Purchases. Please be aware that all computer equipment must be purchased through LAW IS&T. For more information please refer here.
  • Free Description Order is the most common type of Shopping Cart and is used for all registered and non-registered vendor payments. Please remember that if the vendor is registered you will need to add the supplier to the shopping cart. If it is a new vendor, please make sure you communicate it in the internal note, with vendor contact information. For more information please refer here.
  • Limit Purchase Orders are for items or services with a variable total cost. Most times the Limit Purchase Order is going to be used to pay for events or vendor payments with deposits or monthly scheduled payments. For more information please refer here.

If you have any questions regarding Shopping Carts, please contact the Law Finance Office or refer to the guide provided by Sourcing & Procurement.

Purchasing Card (P-Card)

The P-Card can be used for business-related expenses such as local supplies under $1,000, professional subscriptions and membership dues, and onsite catering (all contracts must come through the Law Finance Office and cannot be signed by the department without prior approval). As BU is tax exempt, no sales tax should be charged on expenses made using the P-Card. Please make sure that all tax exempt forms are presented to the vendor before making a purchase using the P-Card. For more details please refer to the P-Card policy.

Disbursement Form

Disbursement forms are only used to pay taxi vouchers, awards/honorariums, professional subscriptions, and membership dues that do not accept PO or University issued credit cards (Travel or P-Card). The disbursement form can be found here.

To pay an invoice, a completed W-9 form must be provided for all United States vendors or W8-BEN-E form for all foreign corporations.

To process payment for awards and honoraria we require the payee’s home address and Social Security number (on a W-9 Form) and an announcement of the event or memo explaining the award must be attached. Please send to the Law Finance Office for processing.

For awards and honoraria for non-US citizens, please supply the following:

  • Disbursement Request Form
  • Copy of Passport Picture
  • Copy of Immigration Stamp when entered the US
  • Copy of I-94 Card
  • If person’s visa immigration status is B-1/B-2 or Visa Waiver, they must sign the B Honoraria Eligibility Certification
  • If the international visitor has a Social Security Number (SSN) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) and would like to apply for tax exemption on their honorarium payment, they have to complete the Foreign National Information Form. If they are found to have a tax treaty that exempts them from taxes, they must sign the provided 8233 form and statement in order to receive the exemption.
  • If the individual does not have a SSN or ITIN, or if there is no tax treaty with their country, they will be taxed at 30% withholding of federal taxes and at 5.3% withholding of state taxes. Unfortunately, there are no exceptions to this rule. If you know that the individual receiving the payment will have to pay taxes and you would like them to receive a specific amount, please gross up the payment amount.

Data Security

For access or permit issues in SAP or UIS, please contact Michael Garon.