When making purchases at Hobby Lobby, a copy of the Hobby Lobby Tax Exemption Card and Certificate will need to be taken into the store for each purchase. The Hobby Lobby Tax-Exempt ID, which is located at the bottom of the card, can also be provided at checkout. For additional information, please see the UA Tax Office website or contact the UA Tax Office directly at tax@ua.edu.
When traveling on UA business, travelers often incur several expenses prior to the trip such as airfare reservations, conference registration, and hotel deposits. These expenses should be reconciled and submitted according to the p-card deadlines even if this occurs prior to the trip. When doing so, the traveler should use either the transaction date or the date that they are submitting the report as the Report/Trip Start Date and Report/Trip End Date in the report header. When the traveler returns from the trip, they should then use the actual travel dates as the Report/Trip Start Date and Report/Trip End Date in the report header. This will allow the traveler to correctly add the GSA per diems to the report using the correct dates of travel.
As a result of a change in the statute, effective August 1, UA will be making changes to the in-state travel policy. UA employees traveling within the State of Alabama will be reimbursed GSA per diem to cover their meals and incidental expenses. The GSA per diem will replace the in-state per diem UA currently uses. Lodging within the State of Alabama will be reimbursed up to $250 per night before taxes. Conference rates in excess of $250 per night are allowable. Any lodging rate greater than $250 per night before tax, that is not a conference rate, requires additional explanation from the traveler as to why the lodging rate was necessary. Going forward, in-state lodging should be paid for with the UA P-Card. The supervisor of the traveler will need to approve the in-state travel expenses before the travel takes place and a record of the approval must be retained within the department.
Purchases made within, or shipped to, the state of Alabama are exempt from state sales tax if they are charged to state funds (Chart A). Several merchants around Tuscaloosa have specific requirements for allowing purchases to be made without sales tax. Please visit the Tax Office’s website for specific instructions on making purchases with the following vendors: Dollar General, Hobby Lobby, Best Buy, Target, Wal-Mart, and Office Depot. In some cases, action is required before shopping in-store.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to pcard@ua.edu.
As a reminder, if a department wishes to pay an amount towards relocation costs for a new hire, this will be paid as a taxable moving allowance.
There are two options for the timing of moving allowance payments:
For further details, refer to the following website links:
When booking travel, please remember that only domestic airfare is required to be booked through Concur or Christopherson Business Travel (CBT). All Concur bookings must be charged to a UA P-Card. International airfare bookings may be booked externally if necessary. When booked externally, the UA P-Card continues to be the required method of payment. Lodging and rental car reservations must be booked through Concur when possible. When booked externally, the UA P-Card continues to be the required method of payment.
Domestic airfare bookings have been mandated through Concur and CBT for various reasons including the below benefits.
Access Online user profiles have now been set up for UA purchasing card holders. Access Online will allow cardholders to view posted transactions, single purchase and monthly limits, balances, available credit, and other account details. If you would like to use this resource, please view the registration instructions and then log into Access Online for the first time and finish setting up your profile. In the future this link will be added to the employee tab of MyBama.
Please note: Accountholders with a ghost account (no physical plastic) will not have access to their accounts in Access Online.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Pcard@ua.edu.
Did you know a UA issued check could be unusable if mailing internationally? Accounts Payable recommends wiring funds when paying international vendors. Please consider the following prior to selecting International Mail when processing your invoice in Concur. Checks can take months to arrive at an international address. Vendors often experience issues when cashing checks drawn on a US bank. Overall, wires are more efficient and allow for vendors to receive payments faster.
For users booking lodging for local hotels such as Hotel Capstone and Hampton Inn Tuscaloosa, please know that you can book these directly with the hotel. These do not have to be booked through the Concur Booking Tool. Many local hotels prefer that we continue booking directly with them so that they can obtain additional information needed for the reservation as these hotels are primarily used for UA guests. Please contact these hotels directly to reserve and be direct billed. The direct bill should then be paid using a UA P-Card. If you have any questions, please reach out to Accounts Payable at acctspay@ua.edu.
