Morning! UNC has not historically allowed for per diem reimbursement for single-day travel because we did not have an efficient mechanism to treat this reimbursement as taxable. Now that we have stood-up Concur Request and Expense, we'd like to re-visit this and are wondering how other institutions have solved for this already? As a side note, we have two different per diem options for travelers: if they are traveling on Federal Funds then they are eligible to use the GSA rates which would of course be reimbursed at 75% and follow the IRS rules of being more than 40 miles away and traveling for at least 12 hours. However, most travelers will use the NC In-State and Out-of-State per diem rates. The State has separate rules on per diem for day travel:

By state statute, lunches cannot be reimbursed unless the employee is in overnight travel status or otherwise specified in G.S 138-6. Agency policy should incorporate the following departure times and return times:

Breakfast (morning): depart duty station prior to 6:00 am and extend the workday by 2 hours.
Dinner (evening): return to duty station after 8:00 pm and extend the workday by 3 hours.
The travel must involve a travel destination located at least 35 miles from the employee's regularly assigned duty station or home, whichever is less.

Both per diem methods will have to be treated as a taxable reimbursement. Any ideas or insight you can provide is greatly appreciated!

Best,
Rebecca Spanos