As the holder of an individually billed government travel charge card (IBA), it is the responsibility of the cardholder to reconcile the account. When a government employee travels on official government business, their transportation and lodging costs along with the Travel Management Center/Commercial Travel Office (TMC/CTO) booking fee will be charged to their IBA. Other items such as meals, parking, tolls, excessive baggage, rental car, and gasoline for the rental car may also be charged to the IBA. An important thing to remember is to keep all the receipts for charges made during the trip; it will aid in the reconciliation process. The IBA is to be used for official TDY travel only. Once a traveler returns to their residence/duty station, there should not be any more expenses charged to the IBA.
When the traveler returns to work, the Federal Travel Regulations state a voucher should be prepared within five business days. Expenses for airfare and lodging that were charged to the traveler’s IBA will be split disbursed on the voucher. If the traveler wishes, they can have more money sent to the credit card vendor to pay for other expenses they placed on their IBA.
Most credit card companies provide access to on-line credit card statements. In an effort to “go green”, some federal agencies had the paper statements turned off, meaning employees no longer receive a statement in the mail. In my opinion, on-line statements are the easiest way to ensure a travel voucher is prepared properly. The traveler can have everything right in front of them and can reconcile expenses against receipts while preparing the voucher.
By: Sue Burton
The contents of this message are mine personally and do not reflect any position of the Government or my agency.