UW Travel Card is to be used for individual’s travel expenses only. Sharing a card is not recommended.

Only UW faculty and staff are qualified for a card.

Gene synthesis or analysis service usually involves primarily human effort and therefore would be considered a professional service not a retail service subject to WA State sales/use tax. Taxability Grid.

Food or beverages integral to an event is meant to indicate the types of meetings where UW business is conducted, the location is away from the place where the employee normally performs his or her work, where food and refreshments are needed or wanted, and where obtaining meals or refreshments would be disruptive to event continuity. In these cases, a Food Approval form for meeting/trainings can be used.

Reimbursement for meals is usually under specific circumstances, because the UW does not normally pay for a person’s lunch during their work hours. Circumstances that the meal could be reimbursed are, as an example, if you hosted or attended a business meeting where a meal or light refreshment was an integral part of the meeting or a recognition or training event. 

If you purchase an item normally classified as food but use it for another purpose, it is still treated as food and therefore, not taxable.

Example 1: A department purchases vinegar but uses it for cleaning. The vinegar is not taxable. 

Example 2: A department purchases pumpkins in fall and has students decorate them for display in the office. The pumpkins are still considered food and are not taxable.

As a state institution, we do not issue money orders or cashier's checks.

Yes, only the equipment will be tax exempt. Maintenance service agreements are still taxable. See taxability grid on the Tax Office webpage at https://finance.uw.edu/tax/netid/taxability. 

Meals are held to the state required per diem rate. If there are any additional charges, they can be charged to a discretionary funding source only when approved by a Dean or Vice President. Keep a record of the number of attendees of the event. If the cost goes over the per diem rate, also keep a justification of why that supplier was chosen.