Invoice and Receipt Submission

School of Human Ecology's No Exceptions Policy:

For all units within the School of Human Ecology, exception requests to UT policies will no longer automatically be generated by the business services team. Exception requests will only be generated on rare occasions where there exist no possible way to comply with UT policies. Below are guidelines that reflect the most common exception requests generated in the last fiscal year and align with the no-exceptions policy.

1. No reimbursements for office supplies purchased using personal funds will be allowed.  Office supplies must be purchased through Today's Business Solutions (TBS) UT Market or by using the procard at Office Max in conjuction with the UT System Store Purchasing Card.
2. No reimbursements for furniture or equipment using personal funds will be allowed. Equipment and furniture must be ordered though the proper purchasing channels, completing and submitting a SoHE Purchase Request Form being the preferred method.
3. No reimbursement from purchases that are over 60 days from the transactions date or travel receipts that are over 60 days from return date on an approved RTA will be allowed.
   
4. No reimbursements for purchases made using gift cards, credits, or reward points will be allowed.
5. No sales tax will be reimbursed on purchases. Sales tax will only be reimbursed for business meals paid from personal funds when dining occurred at the restaurant.  Also, the university is not exempt from the mixed beverage sales tax and those can be reimbursed.  

Invoice and Receipt Submission

When working directly with the Business Services Team to submit travel reimbursement receipts, vendor invoices, reimbursement receipts, and entertainment receipts for payment processing you will use the online request system, https://utdirect.utexas.edu/apps/services/requests/ and follow the instructions in the online request systems guidelines. If a submitted request form is incomplete, it will be reassigned to the department administrator or requestor to correct.

Department and program faculty are always welcome to work directly with their department or program administrators to submit travel reimbursement receipts, vendor invoices, reimbursement receipts, and entertainment receipts to the Business Services Team for payment processing. If you are working directly with your department or program administrators to submit these documents you can submit physical or electronic copies of your itemized paid receipts or invoices to them for processing. 

Before submitting an invoice or receipt, please ensure it is itemized. An itemized invoice will describe each expense and fee that is being billed and display the vendor's "remit payment to" information. An itemized paid receipt will show a description of every charge making up the total and will also show either the method of payment or a zero balance due. If you do not have or lost your itemized paid receipt, you should reach out to the vendor to ask for a reprint of the itemized paid receipt or work with your department or program administrators to create a signed missing receipt memo. The missing receipt memo should itemize every charge making up the total, outline the method of payment, and be accompanied by a bank/credit card statement when an expense was paid with a credit or debit card.

When submitting physical receipts to your department or program administrators, please follow the procedures below:

• Tape receipts to an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper

• Receipts with information on two sides should not be taped, rather scan and print the receipt as two pages

• Foreign receipts should note the type of currency used at the time of payment and the exchange rates being used which can be provided from your credit card or bank statement or using the Oanda Currency Converter

• Tape should be on each of the four corners without covering any of the printed text to prevent the text from fading due to the adhesive and the sheet for being damaged by the scanner.

• When taping multiple receipts to a sheet of paper, please group similar expense type receipts and organize by date. You will need to ensure you leave enough blank space on the sheet to be stamped, dated, and signed

When submitting physical invoices for goods or services you have received to your department or program administrators, please follow the procedures below to ensure prompt payment:

1. On a blank space of the invoice, being careful to not overlap text data on the invoice, stamp or write 'GOODS RECEIVED' and indicate date or date range you received the goods/services listed on the invoice.

2. Below the 'GOODS RECEIVED' data you will need to sign the invoice, either with a handwritten signature or an electronic signature via DocuSign. This is your confirmation that the bill can be paid as the goods/services have been received. As signature are potentially difficult to read, please also print your name below your signature. Please do not make any other notes on the invoice. If you feel that special instructions are needed please write them on a separate sheet of paper and not on the actual invoice.

3. Attach any packing slips, approved OOEFs, or any other related documentation to the invoice.

4. Send the invoice to your department's or program's administrator for review.

5. Your department's or program's administrator will look over the documents, verify the accuracy of the request, and will submit the complete paperwork to the Business Services Team via the online request system for payment processing.

Goods/Services Received and Invoice Received Stamps

All invoices and receipts, with the exception of travel reimbursement receipts, require a invoice received stamp and a good/services stamp. These stamps must not overlap any text on the receipt or invoice. These stamps can be found with your department or program administrators, or in the below the forms section of the Business Services introduction page. For department or program administrators, stamps are also made available view a UTbox shared folder and via their DocuSign shared templates section.

The invoice received stamp determines the net 30 prompt payment deadline date. Payments, with the exception of employee reimbursements, completed after the net 30 deadline date may automatically assess a late fee added by the university's Office of Accounting. The department administrator or employee should add this stamp including their name and title upon initially receiving the invoice or receipt.

The goods/services stamp confirms the date(s) the goods and/or services were received. The department administrator or employee should enter the date or the range of dates the goods or services were received in this stamp. If the dates are linked to an annual membership, the full year’s date range for which the membership runs should be listed. If it’s a monthly expense, the monthly billing cycle for the period being paid or reimbursed should be listed.

The goods/services stamp requires a hand-written signature or DocuSign electronic signature. If the department administrator received the goods and services, they will add and sign this stamp with their name and title. If the department administrator did not receive the goods and services, then the employee who received the goods/services should sign this stamp with their name and title. A department administrator may sign the Goods/Services stamp on behalf of another employee provided the department administrator includes the email from the employee who received the goods/services where they have stated in the email the date of the goods/services were received as part of the supporting documentation.

Supporting Documentation

In addition to travel reimbursement receipts, vendor invoices, reimbursement receipts, and entertainment receipts you should include any relevant transaction documentation you have that relates to the expense. This includes but is not limited to:

• Request for Travel Authorization (RTA) approval notices
• Faculty Travel Grant (FTG) approval notice
• Restricted Regions Travel approval letter
• Any Travel Management Services approval
• Employee/Independent Contractor Classification Checklist (EICCC)
• Approved Official Occasional Expense Form (OOEF)
• Approved Contract, BEO, or Purchase Order
• Email confirming goods/services data provided the signer did not received the goods/services

Any supporting documentation not in English should include a translated document for reference. If any submissions or message require clarification the Business Services Team will contact the department administrator or requestor by email or reassigning a request back to them. After a week, if no progress has been made, the Business Services Team will follow up with the department administrator or requestor one final time copying their manager on the message. If no response is received after this follow up, there will be no additional follow up from the Business Services Team. If you have any questions regarding supporting documentation, goods/services and invoice stamps, or invoice/receipt submissions please send an email to he-business_services@utlists.utexas.edu.