Move/Relocation Expenses: Overview

Last Updated: January 7, 2025 12:49:37 PM PST

Find out about the move/relocation policy for new appointees and transferring employees, including eligibility and reimbursable moving expenses.

Note

Expenses for an employee move/relocation may be eligible for payment or reimbursement by UCSD, but due to IRS regulations and tax law, expenses are considered taxable. This applies to out-of-pocket expenses as well as direct payments to the Moving Company using your Travel & Entertainment Card (T&E). Once your expense report(s) are approved, you can contact Payroll seeking an exception so that the tax can be spread out over several paychecks.

Did you know that there are multiple policies for Move/Relocation trips? If you are the move coordinator for your department, it is crucial that the new employee is fully aware of what expenses are allowable and this is determined by their job title code.

To determine which policy applies to your employees, you would first have to obtain their 4-digit job title code. Once you have that, you can search for it in the Title Code System Lookup page, and you can search by Academic Titles and/or Non-Academic Titles.

After you’ve determined what your new employees job title is, these are the different policies:

For employees that fall under the Managers and Senior Professionals (MSP) AND Professional and Support Staff (PSS) title codes, the policy that applies to them is G-13.
For Senior Management Group (SMG) employees, their allowed expenses are highlighted by Regents Policy 7710.
For Academic employees (i.e. Professors, Assistant Professors), the Moving Expenses for Academic Appointees policy is where you would check which expenses are allowable.
Reimbursable expenses for Postdoctoral Scholars are highlighted in APM-560. The Office of Postdoctoral Scholars Affairs has a Move Reimbursement FAQs page which provides an overview of the policy.

To ensure that the review and approval process of the Move/Relocation expense report is a smooth one, please make sure that your new employee is aware of which Move/Relocation policy applies to them. For an overview of allowable expenses, please review the Reimbursable Move/Relocation Expenses for Employees Blink page. NOTE: Please open each drawer to check eligibility requirements for each job title (SMG, MSP, PSS, Academic, Postdoc).

Claiming expenses that are not reimbursable per their job title will delay the reimbursement/reconciliation process.

For more information on Moves/Relocation Policy & Procedures, please watch the training below:

Find answers, request services, or get help from our team at the UC San Diego Services & Support portal.

Notice: Published UCSD policy is decisive as it has been adapted to UCSD's organization, delegation of authority, terminology, chart of accounts. The source for this policy is UC Policy and Regulations for MSP and PSS personnel (PDF) and Senior Management Group Moving Reimbursement (PDF).