Staff members may be reimbursed for meals when traveling out of town and when conducting prescribed business activities. The IRS views meals as an inherently personal expense, requiring the team member to bear a heavy burden in proving they are legitimate business expenses. Occasional employee meals, as infrequent as once a month, have been ruled as personal by the IRS even though business was discussed. Eating a meal, while running errands on behalf of CHPC, does not qualify as a business meal. 

Staff meals should generally be purchased with a credit card, and an itemized receipt must be provided with the employees’ monthly credit card reconciliation report. Staff meals purchased with personal funds will be reimbursed only by receipt. The IRS per diem rates for the city in which you are dining, or closest locality published should be used as a guideline. A maximum of two meals per day will be reimbursed or paid by the church. Please note that these amounts are considered the maximum limit of a reasonable meal expense. Staff members are expected to practice good stewardship and dine as cost-effectively as possible. 

Meals incurred outside of travel status are considered a personal expense, and therefore will not be reimbursed, unless one of the following exceptions is met: 

• The meal is a business meeting including person(s) other than team members (i.e., vendors, volunteers, partners/attendees), and a legitimate business purpose for the meeting is documented. 
• The meal is a team building or team appreciation event, with the prior approval of the Pastor, and a specific purpose for the event is documented. *Note that any meal consisting of only staff members will be considered a team appreciation expense and will come out of your annual budget. 

Meals incurred by spouses or family members are considered personal expenses and will not be reimbursed. Spousal and family meals paid for via the credit card should be reimbursed to the church by the employee with the submission of the monthly credit card report. Limited exceptions to this rule include the following: 

• Development of relationships with key donors by a Pastor or designee 
• Limited situations involving the development of a team member and his or her spouse by a leader 
• Participation in church events and team building activities, if the participation of the spouse does not result in an increase in cost 
• Recruitment activities with interview candidates, having prior approval from HR 

Other exceptions to this rule must be pre-approved. 

It is acceptable for one individual to pay for his or her own meal as well as that of other team members who qualify for a meal reimbursement providing the individual lists the names of all others covered by the payment and abides by the limitations per person. 

Team members on temporary assignment out-of-town for more than 30 days may be paid a monthly meal allowance of $250. Receipts will not be required to receive the allowance.