- Employed at Lnu
- Salary and allowances
- Travel claim
Travel claim
Have you traveled for work? Here you will find information about the travel module in Primula and how to register your travel invoice as soon as possible after completing the trip.
Remember to book your trip through the travel agency Linnaeus University has procured, purchases are primarily made via invoice. As an employee, you have the option of obtaining a Eurocard to avoid paying in advance with own funds in cases where purchases cannot be made via invoice.
General information on the travel claim
You register your travel claim in Primula as soon as possible after your trip has ended. There are three options for travel expenses:
Expenses & car compensation, (without allowance) - used when no allowance is to be paid, you do not need to register as much information.
Domestic travel with allowance - used for domestic travel when an allowance is to be paid. In order for the system to calculate the allowance correctly, some more information about the dates and times of the trip is required.
Foreign travel with allowance - used for travel abroad when an allowance is to be paid. The amount of the allowance varies from country to country and the system needs more information about the dates and times of the trip, including when you travel between countries. Local time is always entered.
The allowance is an allowance paid by the employer to cover some of the additional costs during a business trip. If you have been offered food during the trip, the allowance will be reduced and in some cases benefit taxation will take place, according to the Swedish Tax Agency's regulations.
Allowances and salary supplements are paid outside the usual place of work, i.e. more than 50 kilometers from the employee's place of work or residence. For employees with a place of employment in Växjö or Kalmar, no allowance or salary supplement is paid for travel between the locations or within 50 kilometers of either location. Employees who have another place of employment are entitled to a daily allowance and a salary supplement when travelling to Kalmar and Växjö, provided that the location and home are more than 50 kilometers away. In the same way, employees based in Kalmar or Växjö receive equivalent compensation for business trips to these locations. A condition is also more than 6 hours of absence.
You attach receipts and other documentation digitally directly to the case. In the case of original paper receipts, we must also receive the original, which you send to your financial administrator in the finance department. Keep in mind that the business trip must be approved by the head of department/manager before departure and to make purchases via invoice whenever possible.
The travel expense report must be registered and sent in Primula, complete with attached receipts and supporting documents no later than the 5th of the month for reimbursement with the salary payment in the same month. If the travel expense report is incomplete, e.g. if supporting documentation is missing, and it has not been completed by the 5th, reimbursement will not be paid until the following month after completion of the case.
Normally, travel advances are not paid. Remember to order travel through the travel agency that Linnaeus University has procured. For tickets, accommodation and other travel costs that can be paid by invoice, no travel advance is paid, nor for costs that can be paid by Eurocard that you as an employee have the opportunity to order, with personal payment responsibility. Train journeys between Kalmar and Växjö are booked through the Kalmar Länstrafiken app. If a travel advance is required in a particular case, a special form must be completed, which can be obtained from the payroll specialist, specifying the costs and approved by the manager. Travel advances are settled in the month following your return. If your registered expenses do not cover the travel advance or if you make the registration later, a deduction will be made from your salary.
If you have questions, for example about how to register your case, you are welcome to contact your payroll specialist in the HR department. If the question concerns expenses incurred in connection with the trip, please contact your financial administrator.
We ask you to register your travel expenses as soon as possible after the end of your trip. Travel claims that are incomplete and have not been completed and approved by the manager within one year of the trip being undertaken will not be reimbursed.
Functions in the travel module
Much information is available in the travel module both in the right margin and under the information icon, it is enough to move the mouse pointer over the icon to get the information. If you want the information to appear as an information box, click on the information icon instead.
You can save the case continuously during registration cklicking Save case. After a moment of inactivity, you will be logged out and the information you have not saved will disappear. You can also choose to start a travel case and complete the registration and send the case at a later time, in which case you must remember to save the travel expense report before you leave.
To change your opened travel claim, click Reset case. This will reset the claim to the last saved version.
To completely delete a travel claim that you have started, click Discard case. The entire form will disappear and you will have to create a new one.
To attach files, click on browse or drag the desired file to the field. Remember not to have the file open when you attach it in Primula. If the file is open, it risks being damaged, which means that the attachment cannot be opened by the administrator or manager who will handle the case. Also remember not to use special characters in the file name, as it will not be possible to open the file either.
If you have original receipts to be sent to the financial administrator, start by clicking on Save case (to give it a case ID). Then click on Download form to print the expense form. The form contains your personal data and case ID so that the administrator can later link the receipts to the correct case. You then staple the receipt to the form and send it to the finance administrator in the finance department.
In the message box Add messages, you write information that can help the administrator or manager handling your case or other information about your trip. It is important to state which funds the trip is to be charged to, if the coding is different from your employment coding. You provide this information in the Financing box.
Boxes with * are mandatory to complete in order to close the case.
The image in the travel module may appear narrow. To widen the image, click on the arrow in the lower left corner, as shown in the image.
It is also possible to hide the help text to the right of the image to get a wider view. To do so, click on the info button at the top right of the image. The same button is used to bring up the help text again.
How to register your travel claim:
Log in to the Primula web.
Select My page, Travel/expenses
Select travel/expenses to register: choose the type of form:
- Expenses & car compensation (without allowance) - used when subsistence allowance is not to be paid which means you don't need to register as much information.
- Domestic travel with allowance - used for domestic travel when an allowance is to be paid. In order for the system to calculate the allowance, a little more information about the dates and times of the trip is required.
- Foreign travel with allowance - used for travel abroad when an allowance is payable. The amount of the allowance varies from country to country and the system needs more information about the dates and times of the trip, including when you travel between countries. Local time is always indicated.
Click on Create new case
Select employment: If you have more than one employment it is important that you select the employment to which the travel claim relates.
Financing: In order for the cost of the trip to be charged to the correct account, you as a traveller need to specify how the trip/reimbursement is to be financed, if it is not to follow the employment account. If the cost is to be taken from special funds, this must be indicated. If parts of the costs are to be financed differently, indicate this.
Enter the date and time when you leave your home/workplace and when you return to your home/workplace at the end of your trip.
When travelling abroad, first enter the date and time of the entire trip as described above.
You must also indicate when (date and time) you leave one country for another and when you arrive in the new country, see example below. All times are in local time.
If you cross a physical land border (e.g. by car), you must record the journey as being at least one minute long for the system to be able to handle it (i.e. if you cross the border between Sweden and Denmark by car at 12:00, you enter departure at 12:00, arrival at 12:01).
If you cross several borders during your business trip, add them by selecting Add new line.
Do not forget to register the return trip too.
This information is required to ensure that you receive the correct allowance for your trip.
Night allowance: If you have been responsible for the accomodation yourself, e.g. staying with a friend instead of in a hotel, you are entitled to a so-called nightly allowance - enter the number of nights in the box Nightallow (n). If the accommodation has been invoiced or a receipt is submitted for the cost, the box is left blank.
Destination/purpose: Information on destination and purpose of the trip should always be provided.
Meals: Here you need to enter the meals you received in the service.
The default value is that you as a traveller have not paid for all meals yourself. Click on the plus sign to indicate which meals you have been offered.
You will then see the box below with the dates of your trip.
Free meal: You check the Free meal box when you have received a meal that you have not paid for yourself.
A tick in the Free meal box means a reduced allowance, but there is no benefit taxation.
With meal benefit: Free meals are normally a taxable benefit. If you as an employee eat a meal that Linnaeus University pays for, it is a meal benefit. It is also a meal benefit if someone else provides the benefit, as long as the benefit is based on the employment. It does not matter whether it is at the workplace, on a business trip or at a conference/training.
You check the box if you have received a meal that is subject to benefit taxation. There are some exceptions that are not subject to benefit taxation, such as breakfast included in the price of a hotel, meals included in the price of a ticket on public transport or meals during a representation and meals during internal courses/conferences.
For exemptions from benefit taxation, see summary below.
A tick in the box With dietary benefit means that benefit taxation is made, the benefit value is calculated based on a standard from the Swedish Tax Agency.
Meals paid for by the traveller: For meals that you have paid for yourself, do not check any box. Do not submit receipts for meals you have paid for yourself, they are not reimbursed by the employer.
If you have not received any free meals, click YES under All meals paid for by the traveller (see top right corner in the image above).
Here is how to fill in the Meals box for various meals you have received.
Meal
|
Free meal
|
With meal benefit
|
---|---|---|
Free meals that do not fall under any of the options below
|
x
|
x
|
Breakfast included compulsorily in the hotel room rate
|
x
|
|
Breakfast not included in the hotel room rate
|
x
|
x
|
Meals on public transport that are compulsorily included in the price
|
x
|
|
Working meal (should be avoided), e.g. for information and planning of day-to-day work
|
x
|
x
|
Internal representation* - Staff party - Staff information meeting with program/agenda
|
x
|
|
Internal course and conference*
|
x
|
|
External representation* - - in relation to partners
|
x
|
|
External course and conference*
|
x
|
x
|
You pay for your meal yourself
|
|
|
For more information on the rules on representation, see the information on Staff.
Break in journey: If the business trip is interrupted, e.g. for vacation or other leave, you must state this in the travel statement under Break in journey.
Example with handling according to rules from the Swedish Tax Agency:
The traveller departing earlier than needed for the start of the business trip, has been off work at the destination, participated in a conference and then travelled home. In this case, break in the journey is registered in the beginning of the trip. Provided that the cost of the trip is not more expensive than if the traveller travelled directly to the conference, the employer may allow break in journey.
Registration for the example is done as below:
You must not calculate an imaginary time of arrival or return, as if you travelled later or went home directly. The early departure or return trip is included in the vacation part, even though the employer can pay for the trip without tax consequences.
When interrupting work for e.g. vacation or other leave, this leave must also be applied for separately in Primula.
An employee who is on a business trip cannot, for private reasons, change the travel route or final destination without tax consequences. However, an employee can choose to interrupt an ongoing business trip and pay for a private route. Thus, an employee cannot use the cost of the mission as a monetary "pot" and then change the route for private reasons.
Car compensaton: To apply for a car allowance, enter the number of kilometers driven and select Tax-free car allowance. (km) in the drop-down list. If travelling by private car is considered the most appropriate mode of transport, click in the box Also taxable allowance, to also receive a taxable supplement.
When you drive your own car abroad, only the tax-free part is paid.
You need to make a note in the message box of the distances you have driven.
Expenses. To be reimbursed for expenses incurred select the type of expense in the drop-down list. Enter the amount and VAT information.
Expenses in another currency: Here you register your expenses made in foreign currency. Select the type of expense in the drop-down list. Enter the amount in the foreign currency, any VAT information and the exchange rate applicable at the time of exchange. Sometimes you can see the exchange rate on the bank statement. If there is no rate indicated, the buying rate on the current day
Receipts are attached directly to the case. For original paper receipts, the original receipt must also be archived and sent to your financial administrator in the finance department.
Representation. Enter the Type of representation in the drop-down list and the amount. Enter the purpose of the representation, Number of people involved and Participants; first and last name of those who participated in the representation and which organization they represent. In the case of internal participants, Lnu is indicated so that anyone handling or reviewing the case knows. If you prefer to attach a document with necessary details of participants, that is possible. Then check the box Attachment and attach document to the case.
Internal: The representation aims to create good working conditions and is aimed at the own staff, i.e. within the organization. Participants are mainly employees at Lnu.
External: The representation is directed outwards towards external people to facilitate contacts with people/representatives of organizations that are of importance to Lnu. Participants are external persons/representatives of other organizations and employees at Lnu who are directly involved in the collaboration.
For more information on rules on representation, see information on Staff.
Travel advance: If you have been granted a travel advance, the travel advance needs to be settled with the travel invoice, this is the default setting. At the latest one month after the trip has ended, the advance needs to be settled. If you do not register a travel case with your expenses or if the expenses do not cover the travel advance, a deduction from your salary will be made in the month following your return.
If the travel claim is for a different trip and the outstanding travel advance is not to be settled, the checkbox I want to settle these travel expenses claim must be unchecked.
Calculate: To calculate the preliminary amount after tax that will be paid for the travel claim, click on Calculate.
Send case: When all information is filled in and any receipts are attached, click on Send case for the case to go further in the predetermined work flow, to the financial administrator for posting the cost to the account you have specified and finally to the manager role that approves and closes the case.