Hamilton College Travel Card Policy

The travel card is issued by Key Bank pursuant to a license by Mastercard. Cardholders will receive an email notice on approximately the 28th day of each month that the billing statement for prior month charges is available online. Employees must then log on to Key2purchase, Key Bank’s online tool for reviewing card transactions and creating travel expense reports, and view the charges posted to their account.  Employees will have until the 15th of the month following the statement date to substantiate all charges posted to their account by submitting online moving expense reports. Employees do not need to wait until the billing statement is prepared however, they may access Key2purchase at any time to view transactions posted to their account and create moving expense reports.  Detailed instructions for accessing Key2purchase and preparing travel expense reports is available here.

Once employees complete their travel expense reports and attach receipts, they will submit online and the expense report will then be available for their supervisor to review in Key2purchase. Supervisors must approve or reject the expense report timely so that expenses may be reconciled to card charges and uploaded to the College’s  accounting system by month end. Instructions on how to approve expense reports in the Key2purchase are available as a PDF.

The IRS requires that payments to and on behalf of employees be substantiated as business travel within a reasonable amount of time. For this reason, charges on an employee’s corporate travel card that are not substantiated within 60 days by a travel expense report and required receipts will be considered taxable compensation to the employee. The appropriate amount of payroll taxes will be withheld on the amount in the employee’s next salary payment and the employee’s corporate travel card will be cancelled.

The Business Office audits card transactions and reporting on a routine basis and ensures that each card is audited for a specific period at least annually.  Cardholders and supervisors will be contacted regarding any questions/concerns that may arise from such audits.

Employees requiring a travel card should complete a travel card request form and forward to their appropriate vice president or dean for approval.  The approved form must be forwarded to the Business Office and a card will be ordered for the employee.  It generally takes one to two weeks for employees to receive their card. 

If an employee encounters difficulty with their travel card, they should call Key Bank Customer Service at 1-866-290-7700.  For security purposes, Key Bank will ask employees to provide their card number as well as the last four digits of their Social Security Number.  In order to protect employee information, the College provided Key Bank with Hamilton College ID numbers instead of Social Security Numbers.  For this reason, employees will need to provide Key the last two digits of their College ID followed by two zeros.

Travel cards will be revoked if cardholders do not comply with the requirements of this policy.