Mileage Reimbursement

As a part of statewide legislation concerning the use of personal resources for state business, UT employees and independent contractors are permitted to make claims for mileage reimbursement relative to using their personal vehicles for official university business. This reimbursement is funded and audited by the state.  Education Services reimburses mileage for coordinators and field supervisors who supervise PDS students in the field who are seeking teacher certification.  Effective January 1, 2024, the standard mileage rate for travel is 67 cents per mile.

Due Dates

Mileage reimbursement documents are due as follows:

January through May mileage reimbursement documents are due May 6, 2024, or prior to 60 days from the last day of travel, whichever is sooner. 

The IRS requires that mileage reimbursement submissions are received no later than 60 days from the last day of travel. If submitting after 60 days, an explanation as to why it is being submitted late is required on the reimbursement form and is subject to approval.

 If you have school visits beyond the due date, you must contact the Education Services Office (field.mileage@austin.utexas.edu )to receive an extension for submitting your mileage reimbursement.

Required End-of-Semester Documents

End-of-Semester documents must be received before mileage reimbursement requests will be processed.  For information on the end-of-semester requirements, please visit our End-of-Semester Requirements page.   

Mileage Reimbursement Forms, Instructions, and Important Policy Information

A completed odometer log form or map mileage form and mapping tool mileage documentation must be submitted by the appropriate deadline in order to receive reimbursement. Once Education Services receives the reimbursement request, the mileage is verified and the individual notified of any corrections needed.

Submit your mileage reimbursement request using either of these two options:

1. Map Mileage Reimbursement Form  -  (download a Sample Map Mileage Reimbursement Form and *New Map Mileage Reimbursement Form Checklist ). 

With the Map Mileage Reimbursement Form option, mileage for each route is calculated using a mapping tool: (MapQuest , Google Maps)

You submit both a completed Map Mileage Reimbursement Form and a Map Mileage Word Document showing your mileage screenshots from the mapping tool.  Here’s how it works.

 Step 1. Locate your routes using a mapping tool ( Google Maps , MapQuest ).  Select the shortest route and then take a screenshot showing the starting point, destination, and mileage and copy this screenshot into a Word document (download a *NEW  Map Mileage Word Document Examples  and Maps Screenshot Instructions). 

The Map Mileage Word document must contain your name, EID # and the name of the mapping tool used. 

Step 2. Complete the Map Mileage Reimbursement Form by entering the date, origin, destination, and calculated mileage for each leg of your route. You may enter up to five destinations for each row for the same date.Be sure to complete all contact information fields and indicate which mapping tool used.

OR   

2. Odometer Log Reimbursement Form  -  (download a Sample Odometer Log Reimbursement Form and *New Odometer Log Form Checklist )

The Odometer Log Reimbursement Form is used to record actual odometer readings. On the worksheet, enter the date, starting point description, ending point description, and actual odometer reading for each leg of your route and list in the order in which you visited each campus.

It is recommended to keep a printed copy of the worksheet in your car for tracking purposes.

Submission Instructions

Before submitting your mileage, please review the important mileage reimbursement policies below and review the new checklists to ensure you have completed the mileage reimbursement form correctly.

Map Mileage Reimbursement Form Checklist *New

Odometer Log Form Checklist *New

Documents should be e-mailed to field.mileage@austin.utexas.edu. 

All questions regarding mileage reimbursement forms, policies, and payments should be directed to field.mileage@austin.utexas.edu .

Mileage Reimbursement Policies

****Travel approval must be completed before visiting any school campuses.  Each semester the field supervisor will receive a Request for Travel Authorization (RTA) email showing the travel approval status.****

What may be claimed

1.    Mileage reimbursement may be claimed:

• • For supervisory and conferential visits to schools with PDS students and cooperating teachers during regular instruction days
  • To establish or confirm new field placements by coordinators
    
    

2.  Daily mileage involving trips taken solely for the purpose of teaching courses in the field will not be reimbursed.

Things to keep in mind when planning your visits and completing the form

1. The number of visits to be reimbursed should be commensurate with a field supervisor's field supervision load for that semester. 
   
   For the first semester when students are in the field for 1.5 days per week, the 20 hour-per-week field supervisor (appointed to a cohort to facilitate 22-25 students) typically visits one-third to one-half of the students each week; the number of trips claimed for reimbursement should reflect this, and each cohort should claim a total number of trips based on a 20-hour course load for one field supervisor or 10 hours each for two field supervisors.
   
   For the second semester, when students are in the field for 2 days per week, the field supervisor allocation goes up to 30 hours a week, the number of trips should reflect this decrease in load.
   
   
2. The state expects regularly “clustering" visits, avoiding daily visits to the same campus, as well as repeated visits to a campus in the same day, in order to minimize travel.  Schedule visits to a particular school(s) on a specific day(s) knowing that there will be some flexibility for exceptions.
   
   
3. Inter- and intra-city claims must be clearly listed as daily point-to-point trip segments with mileage readings noted for each individual segment.
   
   
4. The following address should be used for the UT campus: 1912 Speedway, Austin, TX 78712.
   
   
5. Trip segments should be reported in chronological order. Should there be several trip segments in a single day, multiple line entries will be necessary. Multiple days should not be combined on a single line.
   
   
6. The daily and total mileage cells in the pre-formatted spreadsheet are self-calculating and should not be modified.
   
   
7. Mileage worksheets that do not include daily reports of segmented travel detail or are submitted with any daily mileage segments left uncalculated will be returned to the claimant for completion, which may delay processing.
   
   
8. Segment mileage should be calculated for the shortest direct route between any two points in a day's travel (except in cases where the shortest route requires the use of a toll road).
   
   
9. Toll road fees are not reimbursable.
   
   
10. Mileage from home (or return to home) may only be claimed if the distance is shorter than the distance from the UT campus.  If home is closer, it (not UT) must be claimed as the starting point (or ending point).  Rationale -  If you live 100 miles from campus and 1 mile from your observation site, UT will not allow you to claim UT as your starting point because you only traveled 1 mile to get to your observation (not 99 miles).  Similarly, if you live 100 miles from campus and your observation site is only 1 mile from UT, you must use UT as your duty point (starting point) because UT will not pay for a 99-mile trip into town. 

Example:  Franklin HS is 8.2 miles away from the UT campus. If a field supervisor lives 10 miles away from Franklin HS, he/she can only claim 8.2 miles (UT to Franklin HS). If the field supervisor lives 5 miles away from Franklin High School he/she may claim 5 miles (Home to Franklin HS). 

Please note:  Use the mileage distance from home or from UT to a school, whichever is shorter, unless you actually had to leave from or return to UT for another reason.

***Exception:  Non-UT (contract) employees are not subject to the same travel reimbursement procedures as UT employees.   Non-UT (contract) employees may use home as official “duty point” and claim mileage to and from home as starting and ending points.

 11.  Mileage from home to the UT campus (or UT campus to home) may not be claimed at any time.

Due Date & Submission Information

1. Mileage reimbursement materials for each claimant (including all contact information) are due in the Education Services Office no later than 5 p.m. on the posted due date (typically on the Friday following the last class day) or prior to 60 days from the last day of travel, whichever is sooner.  The IRS requires that mileage reimbursement submissions are received no later than 60 days from the last day of travel. If submitting after 60 days, an explanation as to why it is being submitted late is required on the reimbursement form and is subject to approval.
   
   
2. Any travel taken between August 1 and August 31 must be submitted on a separate mileage worksheet by 5 p.m. the first working day in October.  (Travel taken September 1 through December must be submitted by the December due date.)
   
   
3. It is strongly suggested that all mileage claimants retain some form of travel record at least up to the point that payment is received in the event that a claim should require resubmission or verification.