Going on a business trip? Don't leave home without your charge card. Beginning today, military and civilian federal travelers are required to start putting most expenses on government-issued travel cards.
Under the 1998 Travel and Transportation Reform Act, federal employees must use the travel charge card, which is issued to employees through their agencies, for everything but the following expenses:
- Laundry and dry cleaning
- Parking
- Local transportation
- Taxis
- Tips
- Phone calls (when a government calling card is available)
- Meals and expenses in places the travel charge card is not accepted
New appointees and employees who have applications pending for travel charge cards are not required to use the cards for expenses.
Sue McIver, director of the General Administration's Services Acquisition Center, said the new policy is unlikely to have an impact on employees' personal credit histories.
"An employee's credit rating shouldn't be affected," McIver said. "There's no reporting to credit bureaus unless the account has moved to cancellation. There's a whole sequence of events that move from delinquency to suspension to cancellation, and it is not reported unless it reaches the final stage."
Some employees are also concerned that they won't be reimbursed for travel expenses in a timely fashion. To address that issue, the law requires that agencies reimburse employees for travel expenses within 30 days of receiving a travel voucher.
If an agency fails to promptly issue a reimbursement, the agency must pay the employee a late fee, based on the Prompt Payment Act interest rate. The rate is available through the Treasury Department's Financial Management Service. (See www.fms.treas.gov/prompt.)
The Defense Department's new travel card rules will be included in Volume 9, "Travel Policy and Procedures," of the DoD Financial Management Regulation (DoD 7000.14-R).
For answers to common questions about the new travel law, click here.