Looks like the responses are running in favor of expensing the $80.

Here's my thinking on the issue:

I paid (from my own pocket) for a card that has as a feature a 20% discount on dining at certain establishments. If I give my employer the benefit of the 20% savings, I have paid for my employer's benefit.

If the employer paid for my DC, my assessment would be different.

New hypothetical:

Example: I charge a $100 business dinner to my AA Mastercard, earning 100 miles. Those miles go into my account, not my employer's.

My expense report shows a $100 payment I made on behalf of my employer, and for which I expect reimbursement, but does not disclose that I earned miles for the purchase with a value of $xx (assign your own value).

I then proceed to liquidate those miles by "purchasing" free travel or upgrades, which clearly have a cash value suceptible of calculation.

My employer's policy is that frequent flier miles earned by flying belong to the employee, but the policy is silent on the ownership of miles earned from mileage-earning credit cards used for business expenses. (My employer, as in the first hypothetical, does not pay the annual fee on my AA MC).

If your answer to the first hypothetical was that I should expense $80 and not $100, is your response to the new hypothetical that I should expense $100 minus the realized value of the miles earned? If not, why not?

Mike