Overseas business travel policy

contributors: Yao Jiayuan
last updating date: 2021-05-22

The policy is going to be updated from 1 August 2019. This policy was first established in April 2010 and updated in May 2015. We are also taking this opportunity to improve claims and streamline administrative process and reduce high compliance cost due to complex computation of subsistence allowance. The link to the revised policy is Business Travel

Overseas Travel Claims

From 1 August 2019, we will be removing the options to select method of claims for all overseas trips for business purposes. All travels made on or after 1 August 2019 will be a combination of allowance and reimbursement basis.

The allowance (“Overseas daily allowance”) is a per diem allowance based on Inland Revenue Authority of Singapore (IRAS) rates and includes meals, local transport and incidental expenses (refer to Annex A for a list of countries and applicable rates).

Expenses that do not fall under the allowance and will be reimbursed as incurred include:

Overseas accommodation (subject to a cap per Annex B)
Overseas airport transfer
Travelling expenses between cities for business purpose
Entertainment expenses for business purpose

Overseas Daily Allowance (currently known as Subsistence Allowance)

The current allowance computation is complex and dependent on the length of time at place of duty. We have simplified allowance claimable as follows:

EFFECTIVE from 1 AUG 2019

Total Duration at Place of Duty	Percentage of Overseas Daily Allowance Rate
Up to 14 days	100%
More than 14 days but up to 31 days	75%

Additional key policy items

Travel Class entitlement for Non-Resident Professionals
Principal Investigators’ responsibility
Meal claims for travellers in transit

For any queries or clarifications on the policies, please email to DC-FA@ntu.edu.sg.

FAQ about REVISED overseas business travel policy

Visit FAQ.

A note about SPMS

With immediate effect, all Business Travel applications charging to research grants (M4XXXXXXX.110.XXXXXX) will need to include HoD or HoD delegate or Supervisor as recommender. This is to ensure that there is no oversight over divisional teaching duties and staff commitments. More details can be found in the table enclosed below. Kindly ensure that there is sufficient time allocated for the HoD/HoD Delegate/Supervisor to endorse and ACR to approve.

As for HoDs, Business Travel applications can be submitted directly to ACR for approval.

Requester	Expenditure	Recommender	Approver (In accordance to DOA)
Faculty Member	Up to S$50,000	HoD or HoD delegate if HoD is away. Current Recommender: MAS-Chan Song Heng/Ku Cheng Yeaw	Associate Chair, Research. Current Approver: Sum Tze Chien
Research Staff	Up to S$6,000		Supervisor (PI or Co-PI of the awarded grant)
Research Staff	Between S$6,000 to $50,000	Supervisor (PI or Co-PI of the awarded grant)	Associate Chair, Research. Current Approver: Sum Tze Chien

Reminders:

Business travel application and approval must be obtained prior to departure. If for some reasons, requestor is not able to apply or obtain approval via BTS in time, he/she needs to seek approval via email before departure. Staff that fails to do so might risk not able to get reimbursed. The Office of Finance has arranged for travel insurance coverage under the University’s Group Travel Insurance Policy. Staff will not be covered by travel insurance if his/her travel application request is not approved prior to departure.
A revised overseas business travel policy shall take effect on 1-Aug-19. Key changes can be found in the above content. Please do adhere to the guidelines.