Contracting and International Travel Fees

  • I'm doing some independent contracting and may have to travel overseas. Is there a general rule for how this will be charged to the company? I'm at a loss here.

  • "The company" means your client organization or your own company?

    If you travel for your client business, it should have been stipulated in the contract.

  • Where is your company based?

    I contract in the UK. Travel to clients is expensed to your company not the client. The only time you can claim expenses back from a client is if the client has told you, you need to be at a specific place.

    For example, one client of mine I work from their office near my home (near Preston, NW England), the 6 miles it takes me to get to that office is charged as an expense against me.

    That same client needs me to attend a meeting in London for something they need me to do. Now I can drive, take the train, flight etc. The initial charge is against my company, but as its an agreed expense between myself and the client, I invoice the client for the cost of the transportation.

  • It has to be in the contract that negotiate with the company. I have three rates, a friend's rate, an at-home rate, and then a travel rate plus expenses. If I have to travel to your site, you're paying for my airplane flight, hotel, meals & car rental. This is negotiated up front. I've had companies that want me to just charge a flat fee, so I calculate the cost of travels and add that to my rate for the time they want me there.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

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  • Grant Fritchey (10/22/2015)


    It has to be in the contract that negotiate with the company. I have three rates, a friend's rate, an at-home rate, and then a travel rate plus expenses. If I have to travel to your site, you're paying for my airplane flight, hotel, meals & car rental. This is negotiated up front. I've had companies that want me to just charge a flat fee, so I calculate the cost of travels and add that to my rate for the time they want me there.

    Just curious. Since travel can sometimes be lengthy, do you charge for the actual travel time?

    --Jeff Moden


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    First step towards the paradigm shift of writing Set Based code:
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  • Jeff Moden (10/22/2015)


    Grant Fritchey (10/22/2015)


    It has to be in the contract that negotiate with the company. I have three rates, a friend's rate, an at-home rate, and then a travel rate plus expenses. If I have to travel to your site, you're paying for my airplane flight, hotel, meals & car rental. This is negotiated up front. I've had companies that want me to just charge a flat fee, so I calculate the cost of travels and add that to my rate for the time they want me there.

    Just curious. Since travel can sometimes be lengthy, do you charge for the actual travel time?

    I have not. Which means in terms of time, for a three day engagement once, I ate a day of my time flying out the day before. Then I made sure I had a flight back the evening of day 3 in order to get home ASAP and reduce my wasted time on the road.

    "The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood"
    - Theodore Roosevelt

    Author of:
    SQL Server Execution Plans
    SQL Server Query Performance Tuning

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