Professional Expense Reimbursement

The Professional Expense Reimbursement (PER) program is designed to enable Academic staff to access, in a tax efficient manner, funding for expenditures that support them in successfully performing their professional duties.

Each academic year (July 1 – June 30), eligible academic staff are given a PER allocation that provides funding for expenditures that relate to their teaching, research, professional and/or general university duties.

You can purchase items from the Bookstore and charge your PER Account directly. There is no requirement to submit an expense claim. Review the Bookstore PER Process to learn more.

For more information and a list of eligible and ineligible expenses for the PER Program, refer to the Professional Expense Reimbursement Handbook 

For Qatar Academics that do not have Canadian bank accounts, please refer to this process to request expense reimbursement.

PER Allocation Schedule

Purchases made after July 1 can be submitted for reimbursement even if new PER allocations have not been added to your account. PER allocations are made sometime after an employee has started, so new employees may not see their balance immediately. Refer to the chart below for allocation dates by academic staff type.

  1. Academic Year

    Allocations loaded mid July

  1. Each Semester

    Four to six weeks after start date of appointment.

Eligible Amounts

Academic staff members – Initial Term, Contingent Term and Limited Term (full-time)

A maximum of $1,750 for each academic year (July 1 – June 30)

Term Certain – Sessional

$175 per half course equivalent of duties, to a maximum of $1,750 for each academic year (July 1 – June 30)

Your PER Account

  • To access your PER account, log on to the myUCalgary portal. Navigate to My work> Finance & Supply Chain > PER Statement
  • To submit a PER expense claim, log on to the myUCalgary portal. Navigate to My work> Finance & Supply Chain > Create Expense Report
  • To see your PER balance, log on o the myUCalgary portal. Navigate to Finance and Supply Chain Management > Employee Self Service > Professional Expenses > PER Statement

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. Academic Staff Members – Initial Term, Contingent Term and Limited Term (full-time)

    Claims may be submitted at any time during the academic year but staff are encouraged to submit claims as the expenses are incurred. This will ensure claims are received and eligible for reimbursement during the allowable claiming period. All claims for expenditures made within the current Academic year must be submitted and received in Human Resources no later than Aug. 31 (two months following the end of the academic year).

  2. Academic Sessional Instructors

    Claims can be submitted at any time during the contract period, but all claims must be submitted no later than three months after their contract end-date.

In order to load PER allocations a project must be set up for each eligible staff member. Once Research Accounting as set up the projects, HR then loads the employee's allocations to each project. If the project has not been set up the client will get this message. If this is the case, email [email protected] for an update on project set-up.

No, you can carry forward unspent PER balances from one academic year to the next, but cannot use PER funds to reimburse an expense that occurred in a previous year. Eligible expenditures must be made and reimbursed in the same academic year.

Yes, provided you have a current Canadian bank account and an email address on file at the University of Calgary.  Exception: qualifying Academics in Qatar (see top of page for more details).

Yes, you can grant access to someone else to view and submit PER expenses on your behalf in the Finance PeopleSoft System. The PER Handbook provides the steps on how to grant access to someone else.

In general once the claim has been approved clients should receive payment within three to five business days.