• Staff who choose to exceed the IRS guideline amount can only request reimbursement up to the amount of the IRS guideline. QUEST II is programmed to display the Nebraska IRS guideline amounts (excluding Douglas County) when meal reimbursements are entered.
• If staff travel to a city with higher IRS guidelines, the actual amount spent (up to the IRS guidelines for that city) can be entered in QUEST II, and the “reason” should be entered as “IRS guidelines for (city) are $” (i.e., IRS guidelines for Kansas City are $58).

• Exceptions will only be approved in rare situations such as when a staff member eats as part of a larger group and the bill is split evenly among all parties (in this example the only option is to pay their “share” of the bill, which may exceed the IRS guideline amount).
• Exceptions will not be made for situations in which staff arbitrarily choose to exceed the IRS guideline amount. For example:

  • “Olive Garden is expensive.”
  • “I wanted the swordfish!”
  • “Sushi is expensive and good!”
  • “I was hungry!”
  • “No special reason; food choice was over limit.”
  • “I had the salad bar with dinner.”
  • “Didn't know the maximum amount.”
  • “As a new employee, I did not realize the amount for meals.”
  • “I ordered desert.”
  • “Ordered an appetizer to share w/group of employees.”