Important information about expense reports and reimbursements

Expense report

An expense report consists of transactions; it can be expenses, mileage and/or allowances (per diem). 

A travel bill/expense report must be established shortly after your return, but no later than one year after your return. The right to compensation expires after one year; no exceptions may be made. 

Expenses are reimbursed against verification, you must attach scanned documents to your expense report, i.e. scanned receipt per expense and other documents such as conference programs, itinerary, hotel confirmation, program, invitation, agenda and boarding cards (EU projects) etc. You keep original receipts until your expense report is paid.

For reimbursement of everyday expenses (e.g. pastries for coffee break), try to collect multiple expenses per expense report to reduce the number of registered expense reports, but no more than 20 expenses per report. 

Signatures on paper are not required, all approvals are carried out electronically in the system. 

Expenses

The main rule is that goods and services must be purchased through procured suppliers and paid for via invoice.

If you need to buy something, you must first control if there is any framework agreement that you should use. For more information, please contact the Purchase Officer at your school.

I you have nevertheless made a purchase outside the framework agreement, then you must explain why you did it. Write an explanation in the comment field when you register your expense.

Receipts for expenses older than one year have expired and will not be accepted. No exemptions will be given.

It is important that you attach one receipt for each expense because the system has a check for duplicate receipts. Note: Bank statements, invoices or cash receipts with, for example, the text “Ej kvitto” (Not a receipt) do not count as a receipt.

Keep original receipts until your expense report is paid.

The following costs may not be registered in the system: URA expenses (when stationed abroad), moving expenses to Sweden and fee to the Swedish Migration Agency. Please contact the travel administration at your school for further handling of these types of expenses. 

For expenses such as flight, accommodation, taxi, please provide an explanation as to why you did not book through the procured suppliers.

Fuel costs are only reimbursed when you rent a car. If you use your own car, you must register a mileage reimbursement.

Meals during a business trip are not reimbursed against receipt, except in the case of entertainment, congratulation costs or working meals. Instead, you register a per diem (allowance).

When representing, you must state the purpose, names of the participants and attach an agenda/program. Keep in mind that KTH has limits on amounts when it comes to external or internal representation.

When entertaining or purchasing alcoholic beverages, the Swedish VAT should always be 0 SEK.

Tips in Sweden hare not reimbursed.

If you had a different exchange rate than the one the system calculates, you can manually change it. Don’t forget to attach verification, such as a bank statement, which includes your name.

If your trip was financed by an EU project, then you must report the foreign VAT separately from the amount of the expense. Select the expense type “VAT EU project”, see separate guide.

If you shared the hotel room with someone who is not entitled to compensation for accommodation costs (accompanying person, e.g. spouse), then the cost of the room will be reimbursed at 75% of the price of a standard double room. 

Mileage

Always provide an explanation for why you needed to use your own car for work, KTH does not reimburse car expenses from home to the place of work. Example: if you live south of Stockholm, travel first to KTH, then on to Uppsala, then KTH will only reimburse the car trip from KTH to Uppsala (the trip from home to KTH is a private trip).

If you are given a ride by your spouse to Arlanda, for example, then KTH will reimburse one way, i.e. from your home to Arlanda. When you return from your business trip and are picked up, then KTH will reimburse the ride from Arlanda to your home. 

Allowance (per diem)

You receive a subsistence allowance to cover the increased living expenses during the business trip, i.e. higher than usual meal costs and various small expenses. If you do not pay for the meal yourself, your subsistence allowance will be reduced.

To be entitled to a subsistence allowance, you must travel to a location that is more than 50 kilometers from your usual place of work and more than 50 kilometers from your home.

The trip to the assignment should be booked as close to the assignment's start time as possible. The trip home should be booked as soon as possible after the assignment is completed. The right to subsistence allowance expires for days outside of the assignment.

When taking holiday/days off in connection with a business trip, the traveler must book the accommodation privately and pay all additional costs themselves.

Please remember to attach your travel itinerary, including hotel/accommodation confirmation, and program or agenda to your expense report when applying for a per diem. For EU projects, also attach boarding cards. The review team cannot process your expense report until these attachments are included. 

Allowance rules for holiday/days off

Holiday/days off in connection with official business shall be in reasonable proportion to the length of the business trip. 

According to the Swedish Tax Agency's rules, you are not entitled to a per diem when you have holiday/days off before, during or after a business trip.

If you have holiday/days off before a business trip, then you are not entitled to a per diem for the trip to the business trip location, i.e. you will only receive a per diem when the conference begins.

If you have holiday/days off during your business trip, you are not entitled to a subsistence allowance during these days off. 

If you have holiday/days off after your business trip, you are not entitled to a subsistence allowance for the trip home, i.e. your business trip ends when the conference ends.