2014/15 edition Making a Claim imperialcollegeunion.org Making a Claim 2014/15 1
Contents 02 03 04 05 06 07 10 12 Contents Frequently Asked Questions Introduction Background Logging into eactivities Filling in the eactivities form Suitable Evidence Claim Statuses and Help Tell us what you think of this training publication 2014 Imperial College Union Version 1-2 June 2014 imperialcollegeunion.org/training/training-feedback 2 Making a Claim 2014/15
This manual will: 1 2 3 Provide volunteers with a step by step guide to making a claim for reimbursement from a Club, Society or Project Demonstrate how to submit the claim through eactivities Highlight the evidence required to support the claim Frequently Asked Questions What evidence do I need to claim my money? Refer to pages 7-9 Who will authorise my claim(s)? Refer to page 11, usually your Club or Society Chair or Treasurer What supporting documents are required to support my claim? Refer to page 8 What evidence is needed for my club to recover the VAT? Refer to page 10 When my claim is shown as pending, who should I contact to ensure the claim is processed promptly? Refer to page 11 Making a Claim 2014/15 3
Introduction What is eactivities? To make a claim for money you have spent on behalf of a Club, Society or Project you need to use eactivities. eactivities is an online system for facilitating the management of Clubs, Societies & Projects within the Union. eactivities is accessible by any Officer or member of a Club, Society or Project within the Union. What is this training manual for? The Making a Claim manual is a guide to navigating and using the system for submitting requests for Claims for Reimbursement when you have spent your own money on Club, Society or Project goods. People without College logins cannot make a claim through eactivities, if this applies to you please contact the Deputy President (Finance & Services). Further inquiries If you are looking for help with using eactivities please contact your Club, Society or Project Chair or Treasurer in the first instance. If you have any difficulties with eactivities, or there is a problem with the system you should contact the Union s Systems Coordinator by emailing club.web.enquiries@imperial.ac.uk. Warnings and advice The Union places a large amount of trust in its Club Officers and members. In return we expect you to act honestly and transparently when making financial transactions. When claiming money from the Union you should be aware that all fraud is taken very seriously and will lead to disciplinary action. 4 Making a Claim 2014/15
Background Overview For expenditure under around 200 it is permitted for you to undertake personal expenditure (i.e. your debit card or cash) to pay for a Club, Society or Project expenses such as buying a piece of equipment, food for a trip or paying for a referee. Bear in mind you must always check that your group has enough funds before making the purchase. It is important you obtain a VAT receipt for the purchase. Information about VAT receipts can be found in the Suitable Evidence section of this booklet. To make a claim for reimbursement you must login to eactivities.union.ic.ac.uk to register the details and upload electronic copies of the correct receipts. Throughout the approval process, information is provided by email to you as to the status of the claim. Once a claim has been approved, you will be paid directly by automatic money transfer (BACS) within three working days. Expenditure under 5 The Union will not reimburse expenditure of less than 5, either for payments to individuals or companies. If you have an item under 5 to claim, save it to claim with your next item. We don t consider this unreasonable; it also saves us a considerable amount in processing costs. Once a claim has been submitted to eactivities it must be approved online by the relevant people, including the Club, Society or Project Chair or Treasurer. Claims may be rejected by those who are responsible for approving the expenditure, either because the items being claimed for are not for Club, Society or Project business, or the receipts do not match the amount being asked for or are not of high enough quality. Making a Claim 2014/15 5
Logging into eactivities To log into eactivities, first head to eactivities.union.ic.ac.uk. You should come to the page pictured below, where you will see a Login box at the top of the screen. Click on the Log in box and a window will pop up requesting you to enter your personal College Username and Password. Click on the red Log in box to enter the eactivities site Enter your College Username and Password Your Roles in eactivities If you are a member of more than one Club, Society or Project, there are different eactivities areas for each group. All the Clubs, Societies & Projects you are a member of are tied to your College username. On the right-hand side of the eactivities page is the info panel. You will see under the Your Roles subheading your current role and a list of other roles you hold. Change to them by clicking the one you want. If you have more than four roles, clicking on the Other Roles button will make a drop down list appear where you can choose which Club, Society or Project s eactivities pages you wish to look at. 6 Making a Claim 2014/15
Filling in the eactivities form Registering your Bank Details Before you can make a claim you need to register your bank details on the system so you can be paid. Select the My Details button on the submenu. Here you will find all the information about you as a member of Imperial College Union. Select the Bank Details tab. You will need to enter a memorable name for your bank account in the Memorable Name field; the actual name of your account must be put in the Account Holder Name field. You can store multiple bank accounts if you wish, the system will automatically show the one you select as the default. Fill in your eight digit bank account number here. Please double check to ensure you have entered this correctly. Submitting a Claim Enter your six digit sort-code number for your bank account here. Please enter it in the format XXXXXX, excluding any dashes or hyphens. Make sure you have logged into eactivities and you have the correct role selected. Select the Finance button on the submenu, then Expenditure followed by Claims. Select which of your stored bank accounts you want the money to be sent to. Enter the total amount you are claiming Enter details of your claim in this box including what it is for. In instances where you are only claiming for some of the expenditure on a receipt details should also be given here. Making a Claim 2014/15 7
Filling in the eactivities form Scanning your Evidence Once you have entered the Club, Society or Project you are wishing to claim money from, together with the Bank Details you wish to be reimbursed to, the Claim will be provisionally entered into the system. At this point you need to scan in your receipts and other evidence to support your claim. You will also need to enter the total amount you are wishing to claim. To reimburse you we need evidence to support the claim you are making. We need this to ensure you have incurred the expense and for our records to enable us to claim back Value Added Tax (VAT) where applicable for your Club, Society or Project. Evidence needs to be scanned clearly so that all the text is readable. Illegible evidence will result in your claim being rejected. In order for your Club, Society or Project to reclaim VAT your receipt needs to contain all the correct information. See the following pages for requirements for VAT receipts and examples. You can scan your evidence by using the photocopier in the Student Activities Centre, this machine can email you the scan immediately. If you have a smartphone with a high quality camera you can also take pictures of your evidence for inclusion in your claim. Types of evidence The following documents constitute evidence to support a claim: Receipts. Full details of the requirements for different types of receipts are given in the next section of this booklet. Other purchase documentation. Other documents which describe the expenditure clearly. If these documents do not meet the requirements described later in this section for VAT then VAT cannot be reclaimed. Examples could be purchase confirmation emails. Bank or credit card statements. These can only be used in support of other forms of evidence where it is not clear from those documents who made the purchase. Receipts not in sterling. Evidence for expenditure not made in sterling should have the exchange rate on the purchase date written on them. No documents. In rare circumstances you may not be able to provide any of the above documents to support your claim, in this case please contact the Deputy President (Finance & Services). 8 Making a Claim 2014/15
Filling in the eactivities form Uploading your evidence and submitting your claim Once you have all your scanned evidence ready you can attach them to your claim. Make sure all the evidence you upload adds up to the amount you wish to claim. If you have attached all your evidence and entered all the information you need for your claim, you can submit your claim by selecting the Commit button. Committed claims cannot be edited once submitted but they can be cancelled. You can add multiple pieces of evidence for you claim by selecting the + button, this will bring up multiple browsing buttons. Select your evidence from your computer by selecting the Choose File button and then choosing the file from your computer. Checking the status of your claim You can check on the status of your Claims by selecting the My Submissions in progress tab. Making a Claim 2014/15 9
Suitable Evidence VAT Documentation In order to recover VAT on the expenditure for Clubs, Societies & Projects we must have evidence that VAT was paid in the first place. This is done by collecting the correct receipts at the time of the purchase. This is important as VAT can make a significant impact on the financial health of a Club, Society or Project. receipt must contain: A A Name and address of the supplier. A A Date of supply. VAT registration number of the supplier. Description of goods/services purchased. A A Total, including VAT amount and VAT rate. For an amount less than 250, the 10 Making a Claim 2014/15
Suitable Evidence If the receipt or invoice is over 250 it must have the following: A A Name and address of the supplier. Date of supply. VAT registration number of the supplier. Description of goods/services purchased. A A Total, including VAT amount and VAT rate. A A Customer address registered as Imperial College Union, Prince Consort Road, London, SW7 2BB. Invoice number and date. For each description of a good or service; A A VAT rate, Net cost, unit price, quantity, total Net cost. Total VAT Amount. Cash discount (if any). nvoice total, including VAT. Making a Claim 2014/15 11
Claim statuses and help As your Claim progresses through the authorisation and payment process the status will change. Pending Your claim is awaiting authorisation. Completed Your claim has been approved by the relevant volunteers. Rejected Your claim has been rejected. The reason will be shown on your Claim. This process should take no more than three days. Your Claim is being dealt with by student volunteers. Check on your Claim status page to see who. In Progress Your Claim has been received by the Union Finance Team and is awaiting payment. Sent for Payment Your claim has been sent for payment. Queried Your claim has been queried by the finance department This process should take no more than three working days. Your Claim is being dealt with by the Union Finance Team Any problems please contact clubs.finance@imperial.ac.uk. Where do I get help? Your first point of contact should always be your Club, Society or Project Chair or Treasurer who will be able to answer most queries. Alex Savell Deputy President (Finance & Services) dpfs@imperial.ac.uk 020 7594 8060, extension 58062 Ally Cott Systems Coordinator club.web.enquiries@imperial.ac.uk 020 7594 6412, extension 46412 Union Finance Team clubs.finance@imperial.ac.uk 020 7594 1514, extension 41514 Alex is the Sabbatical responsible for finances. He is also responsible for approving all expenditure over 1000. Ally is responsible for eactivities, speak to him if you discover an error with the system, he cannot help with financial content queries. The Union Finance Team are responsible for administering the finances of Clubs, Societies & Projects. 12 Making a Claim 2014/15
Imperial College Union Beit Quadrangle Prince Consort Road London SW7 2BB Registered Charity No: 1151241 Tel: 020 7594 8060 Fax: 020 7594 8065 Email: union@imperial.ac.uk Twitter: @icunion imperialcollegeunion.org Making a Claim 2014/15 13