Finance Problems

[Muscle2002]

I received a notification from DTS that I owe money to the government for an unused portion of a plane ticket, which I was expecting and had received a refund from the airline with funds currently sitting as a credit on my GTC. Unfortunately, the debt the system thinks I owe is more than what I actually owe due to a DTS failure which dropped a rental car from my list of expenses. I've since amended the voucher again to show the correct debt I owe.

My question: do I need to do anything to address the original notification of debt or will resubmitting the voucher to reflect my actual debt to the government supersede the originally calculated debt?

BL: I don't trust the poorly designed DTS to recognize these cases as the same and want to avoid being assessed a new debt, the total of which is the combination of the first debt and the corrected debt.

Edited December 12, 2012 by Muscle2002

[Finance_Guy]

My question: do I need to do anything to address the original notification of debt or will resubmitting the voucher to reflect my actual debt to the government supersede the originally calculated debt?

DTS will send you another debt notice with the revised (or original amount in this case) debt amount. If the amounts are the same you can pay using either notice. The Pay.Gov option seems to be working well for people. You will request the refund from CITI separate from the payment to DTS.

[HercDude]

Anyone else find it ironic that a thread titled "I HATE FINANCE" is full of operators lavishing praise on a guy named "Finance_Guy"?

[Muscle2002]

DTS will send you another debt notice with the revised (or original amount in this case) debt amount. If the amounts are the same you can pay using either notice. The Pay.Gov option seems to be working well for people. You will request the refund from CITI separate from the payment to DTS.

Thank you, Finance Guy

[Tank]

Finance question:

I am separating in March and going on terminal leave at the end of January. When I start terminal leave, I will be moving to a new location other than where I am currently stationed. Will I continue to receive my BAH rate until I separate from my current duty location or will I start receiving my BAH from where I am moving to at the end of January?

Thanks.

[matmacwc]

Finance question:

I am separating in March and going on terminal leave at the end of January. When I start terminal leave, I will be moving to a new location other than where I am currently stationed. Will I continue to receive my BAH rate until I separate from my current duty location or will I start receiving my BAH from where I am moving to at the end of January?

Thanks.

Good question, I changed my address before my move, I think they asked for an effective date. Don't defraud uncle sugar, there are plenty of people already doing it, and they would probably prosecute you. I think I did it at finance, and took a hit!

Edit: Finance Guy is your man, lets hope he doesn't leave the military for the next 25 years.

Edited January 10, 2013 by matmacwc

[Striper_WSO]

Finance question:

I am separating in March and going on terminal leave at the end of January. When I start terminal leave, I will be moving to a new location other than where I am currently stationed. Will I continue to receive my BAH rate until I separate from my current duty location or will I start receiving my BAH from where I am moving to at the end of January?

Thanks.

Is big blue paying for the move?

It might not make sense to change your address. Based on my separation experience, I would continue with the BAH at your old location (if there is not a huge difference in cost of living).

[Tank]

Is big blue paying for the move?

It might not make sense to change your address. Based on my separation experience, I would continue with the BAH at your old location (if there is not a huge difference in cost of living).

Yes, big blue is paying for the move and I will get more BAH at the location I am moving to.

[Finance_Guy]

Yes, big blue is paying for the move and I will get more BAH at the location I am moving to.

I'm assuming your current PDS is CONUS. You can change your mailing address but that does not drive the zip code used for the rate of BAH. BAH is based [edit] on your PDS and while you are on terminal leave, you maintain assignment to that PDS. Therefore, your BAH stays at the rate of your current duty station and you cannot change that, only PCS orders or an AF Waiver can change it. I've never seen a waiver for a BAH rate at time of separation or retirement--probably because the JFTR doesn't provide for that type of change.

For more reading, check out the JFTR, para U10401.B and subparas 5 & 6 under that one. And specifically para U10416.E - BAH upon retirement or separation

Edited January 11, 2013 by Finance_Guy

[ClearedHot]

Finance Guy, I looked at the section you mentioned and am not sure how to interpret a situation.

What if the member is forced to live on base? Do they get BAH for the location they are leaving once they depart?

Also, I was told you do not accrue leave the period you are on terminal leave?

EDIT...I now see the note ref Government Qtrs, it looks like you get BAH for the Terminal Leave Address effective the day you surrender Gvt Qtrs.

Edited January 14, 2013 by ClearedHot

[Jughead]

Also, I was told you do not accrue leave the period you are on terminal leave?

EDIT...I now see the note ref Government Qtrs, it looks like you get BAH for the Terminal Leave Address effective the day you surrender Gvt Qtrs.

I'm far enough in the process of my own retirement that I can confirm that you *DO* accrue leave, at the same 2.5 days / month, during terminal leave.

I don't live in gov't quarters, but my scanning of the entitlement stuff I've gotten so far supports what you said re BAH.

[pawnman]

How about this poor bastard?

http://news.msn.com/us/how-the-pentagons-payroll-quagmire-traps-us-soldiers#tscptmf

[Fuzz]

How about this poor bastard?

http://news.msn.com/...oldiers#tscptmf

"DFAS said pay errors are extremely rare. Based on a self-audit, it said, its accuracy for pay and calculation of benefits for military personnel in the nine months through July 2012 was 99.76 percent. The agency also said it had undergone partial audits for pay accuracy by the inspector general of the Defense Department and by the GAO."

Biggest load of bullshit, No offense to Finance Guy, I know you work hard to make sure your job is done right.

On another note where is his leadership on this, not one word from his CO or NCOIC in the entire article. This is as much a failure of leadership as it is a failure of the bureaucratic system.

Edited July 15, 2013 by Fuzz

[DFRESH]

The interwebs (wiki) says they pay 6.6 million people a year. So at 99.76% success rate, there's nearly 16,000 people with pay problems. That's assuming those metrics were run per person and not per transaction. Wiki says they do over 455 million transactions a year. With a 99.76% success rate that means they fuck up about a million transactions a year.

Alibis for 2- math in public and using wiki as a resource.

[Fuzz]

The interwebs (wiki) says they pay 6.6 million people a year. So at 99.76% success rate, there's nearly 16,000 people with pay problems. That's assuming those metrics were run per person and not per transaction. Wiki says they do over 455 million transactions a year. With a 99.76% success rate that means they fuck up about a million transactions a year.

Alibis for 2- math in public and using wiki as a resource.

I and just about everyone I know must fall into the 0.24% because 9/10 there's always something screwed up on mine and my buddies vouchers or pay (had a friend promote and his paycheck was less than what he was making at his previous rank). The person that did the audit was probably the same person that's making Liquid's and GC's manning charts.

[17D_guy]

Don't worry guys, ECSS will fix all this.

Kinda falls under another acquisitions issues. Feel sorry for that dude.

Lacking a unified, automated system to process soldiers arriving from combat zones, DFAS had to post staff at Landstuhl to do the work in person, by hand — but only for those soldiers arriving by air. Aiken, who had already moved with his unit from Afghanistan to another location in Germany, arrived by bus.

That's cool, we've only been doing this for a few months so it makes sense no process is in place...

Edited July 15, 2013 by 17D_guy

[MooseAg03]

I'm having an issue with lodging payment for a TDY. Hopefully others on here, or even Finance Guy can help me out and tell me if I am seeing things the correct way. I completed a 4 month TDY en-route at Holloman when I was PCSing from Charleston to Creech. I chose to bring the family along and we wound up staying in an old legacy house on base (privatized housing) on a temporary basis. The Soaring Heights people at Holloman charged me what my BAH would have been there ($1329), which works out to $44.30 per night. I figured since the on base lodging was going to cost $53 per night, the Air Force would be thrilled to pay me $10 less per night, but I am now being told by Nellis finance that since my dependents were with me, I am not entitled to TDY lodging payment. Holloman finance had no problem paying me 2 accrual vouchers while I was there, and those lodging payments were subtracted from my PCS voucher and Nellis is now refusing to pay me.

Am I crazy to think I should be paid lodging? My dependents were not on my TDY orders, so the BAH I was being paid was from Charleston - my previous duty station. It should make no difference to the AF if my family was still there or not. I am being told that my BAH covered the base housing at Holloman and that if I was to be paid lodging that would be "double dipping." They used JFTR paragraph U4130-G-1 which says if you stay with a "friend or relative" during TDY that you receive no lodging, and said that since my family was with me, that was the "relatives" I was staying with. To me that is totally ridiculous because that rule is written saying you stayed with a relative who lives near the TDY location and incurred no lodging cost on your own.

Anyone, please help. I'm sick of arguing with these people and they can provide no reg that says I shouldn't be paid lodging.

[Herk Driver]

Interesting twist to the privatized housing thing, which I am not very familiar with. However, I see this as no different than staying in an apartment downtown. I do not have a JFTR reference but your logic is correct, IMHO. If Finance Guy cannot help, I would suggest working with your CC and if that fails then go talk with the IG.

[Tonka]

Am I crazy to think I should be paid lodging?

I don't have a reg to give you, but I did the exact same thing during an en-route through Little Rock. Same set up, staying in legacy housing on base. The one thing that maybe I did differently was ask the housing folks for a reciept with the cost broken down by days, so it appeared as a day-rate lodging expense... Your cards are probably already played with that, but hopefully someone else can chim in with a regulation.

I can see if you "signed in" to housing at Holloman and started receiving Holloman BAH how their argument would hold, but I assume you did not do that.

[MooseAg03]

You are correct, I did not "sign in" at Holloman, I was there TDY to school. So I was still assigned to Charleston and receiving Charleston BAH. As far as finance is concerned, how do they know I wasn't still making a house payment in Charleston? Which technically I was. That is what my BAH payment was for, not the base house at Holloman. I agree that the legacy house is basically the same as staying at an apartment downtown, and I know that I am not eligible for any more than the government lodging rate, but I'm asking for less than that. Hopefully my push back will work, but if not I'll go up the chain.

Thanks for the sanity check.

[HossHarris]

Get holloman housing to write you a receipt. I've done it with daily and monthly receipts, as well as a lease and receipts for payments.

Then go read the JFTR. It's black and white and in your favor.

When you read the JFTR, you'll find you can also be reimbursed for a cleaning lady, phone service, cable tv, etc. so dig up those receipts as well.

Add as many legal, authorized expenses as you can until you get to $53 a day, then go talk to the first officer you can find at finance with JFTR in hand.

Did I mention you should read the JFTR?

[BitteEinBit]

I did a 4 month TDY enroute to my next duty station and still received BAH for that time at the previous base rate until I checked into my new duty station. I was authorized billeting at $39.00 per day at my TDY location, but I opted to use it for on-base housing (privatized) and was reimbursed the amount per month equivalent to $39.00 per day. I ended up paying some out of pocket for the house, but it wasn't much. I did have to submit receipts from the privatized housing office with my vouchers. The point is that I got BAH and housing reimbursement at my TDY location up to the authorized billeting amount. Unless something has changed since 2009, you should be entitled to both. Whether or not your family was with you (on the orders or not) shouldn't matter. You are still authorized billeting at your TDY location as well as BAH at your previous assignment until your check in to your new base.

I'm anxious to see what FinanceGuy has to say. If what I said above is incorrect, then I was just joking and it never happened....

[Finance_Guy]

I figured since the on base lodging was going to cost $53 per night, the Air Force would be thrilled to pay me $10 less per night, but I am now being told by Nellis finance that since my dependents were with me, I am not entitled to TDY lodging payment.

Can say I've never heard of that. First, as mentioned above, this is privatized housing so essentially the same a renting an apartment. Dependents being with you has NO affect on your lodging entitlement--so they are dead wrong on what they told you. So get a copy of the lease and/or rent receipts and use that as the receipt/support and they should reimburse up to the cost of a single VOQ room--which should be about $53.25/night. You should also be able to do a lost receipt form for the rent, but I'm sure the company should have no problem getting you some kind of document to show you paid the monthly rental amount. In rental situations you do not need the daily itemized receipt.

FG

[WAG]

Can say I've never heard of that. First, as mentioned above, this is privatized housing so essentially the same a renting an apartment. Dependents being with you has NO affect on your lodging entitlement--so they are dead wrong on what they told you. So get a copy of the lease and/or rent receipts and use that as the receipt/support and they should reimburse up to the cost of a single VOQ room--which should be about $53.25/night. You should also be able to do a lost receipt form for the rent, but I'm sure the company should have no problem getting you some kind of document to show you paid the monthly rental amount. In rental situations you do not need the daily itemized receipt.

FG

And that's how you do it General Chang.

[sky_king]

Cant wait to hear Finance Guy's response to that!