Expense policy

This drafts the numbers an expense policy has to state and shows what the policy implies for the business. The receipt threshold, the claim deadline and the return period default to the federal figures so the policy starts inside the accountable plan rules; the mileage rate and daily meal allowance default to the published IRS and GSA rates; the approval limit is yours. Enter how many people claim, how often and for how much, and the page shows the reimbursement the policy will be paying out per month and per year, and how many claims someone has to approve.

The three figures that keep reimbursements out of wages

An accountable plan needs a business connection, substantiation and the return of excess within a reasonable period. 26 CFR 1.62-2 gives a fixed-date safe harbor: an advance within 30 days of the expense, substantiation within 60 days, and return of any excess within 120 days. A policy that writes those deadlines down, and a workspace that dates every claim against them, is the difference between a reimbursement and a taxable payment. The defaults on this page are those figures; shorten them if you like, but lengthening them takes the policy outside the safe harbor.

Set the receipt threshold at the rule, or below it

26 CFR 1.274-5 requires documentary evidence for any single expense of $75 or more and for lodging at any amount. A policy may require receipts for everything, and many do because it is simpler to explain, but it cannot require less than the rule and still substantiate. The page defaults to $75 and lets you lower it; the number it prints is the one your team will read.

Rates are policy, and the policy should say them

The mileage rate and the meals allowance are the two numbers a claimant most wants to know and most often gets wrong. The IRS standard business mileage rate is 76 cents per mile from July 1, 2026, and the GSA standard meals and incidentals rate is $68 a day. A policy can pay those, or less. What it must not do is leave them unstated, because then every claim is a negotiation. The expected monthly and annual figures at the top are what the policy commits the business to at the volume you entered, which is worth knowing before it is signed.