Finance_Guy

All, here's another recent change. SUBJECT:UTD for MAP 18-11(E) -- Clarify GOV’T QTRS Use/Availability When TDY/Delay Is Less Than 24 Hours 1. SYNOPSIS: Clarifies JFTR, par. U1045-B4, by changing the language from “24 hours” to “1 night”, when determining Government quarters use/availability, when TDY/delay is less than 24 hours. 2. These changes are scheduled to appear in JFTR change 293, dated 1 May 2011. ------------------------------- U1045-B4: 4. For any TDY/delay of only 1 night at one location (stopover or multiple locations);

All, I can't remember if I posted this or not but since there have been two instances where this has happened and travelers were not reimbursed, you need to know this. Lost Receipt forms cannot be used either. You must get a receipt from the hotel or you are out of luck. Simply put, don't use online booking sites unless it is a site for that exact hotel chain. U4129 LODGING UNDER THE ‘LODGING-PLUS’ COMPUTATION METHOD H. Online Booking Tool. Despite any savings realized through online booking agents, subject to Service requirements the CTO should be used for lodging arrangements or the traveler should reserve a room directly with the hotel/chain (including the hotel’s online website). Lodging reimbursement is not authorized for hotel lodging obtained through online booking agents unless an itemized receipt from the hotel is provided. SUBJECT: UTD/CTD for MAP 91-10(E)/CAP 65-10(E) -- No Online Booking for Hotels 1. SYNOPSIS: Clearly state that a traveler may not be reimbursed for a hotel booked using online booking agents unless an itemized receipt from the hotel is provided and a traveler must not submit a 'lost receipt' statement to substitute for an online booking hotel receipt. 2. These changes are scheduled to appear in JFTR change number 287, and JTR change number 541, dated 1 November 2010.

Where's the personnel guy? I don't know, but would suspect it should be covered in some 36 series AFI--try 36-2110 first. Ask your outbound assignments what they expect you to do for those 33 days. I would guess there would be some sort of casual status--or maybe recruiter duty? If so, be sure to get your status documented in writing, otherwise it would be charged as leave.

I think you PM'd me. I sent you a reply. OK, I got to chime in here. IF you have verified that all your CZTE/IDP has posted for the months you were there, then your local finance has done their JOB. Now it appears to either be one of two possibilities. #1. The DFAS pay system named DJMS is having some sort of problem and will require manual intervention to fix it...CMS case. Or, #2. Your W2 is correct but you just don't agree with it. I have literally worked 100s of case involving problems with W2s and W2Cs, and more often than not they are not wrong, it is just something the member don't understand. Before you go in to the finance office and claim your W2 is wrong, bring some good evidence. Most just come in and say my W2 is wrong with no sort of calculation to back it up. I can try to get ahold of a spreadsheet DFAS uses for tax calculations if anyone would be interested. But again, DFAS does have system problems. If that is the case, don't take it out on the local Finance. They have no control over that piece of COBOL crap. They should NEVER tell a customer to do that...unless it is a retiree.

Reserve or Active Duty? Also depends on if dependents are authorized to PCS with you to UPT. Many variables to BAH to list and just what you have said isn't really enough to go on. Most reserve orders will spell it out. If you are reserve then ask your RPO. If active then if dependents are on orders to travel, you typically don't get BAH rate back home unless you apply for a waiver. Generally BAH is paid for the rate of the PDS you are assigned, not where dependents are located. But again, you can apply for a waiver when attending schools or PMEs as a PCS. I know of no separate application of rate protection for reservists. I would suspect if you are not on a continuous active duty period the the protection would not apply. I'd recommend you ask your RPO since they should be most familiar with it. Basically for Active, they won't receive less than already getting due to a rate change or promotion. But if a Member PCSs or has other status changes, they normally are no longer rate protected.

W2s depend on the actual payment date and not when your actual PCS occurred. Is it possible the payment for one of the PCS's was made after 31 Dec 2010? If not, then have finance pull both your PCS payment voucher from RTS and then have them send that info to DFAS Limestone to find out why there is only one when there should be two based on what you say. TMO has nothing to do with W2s.

Most likely Housing/AF paid for the HHGs move and the privatized housing company paid for the cable reconnection. If both base houses were privatized you would never receive Partial DLA since the JFTR rules don't allow it. Too Funny. We've found at some bases where they paid the Partial DLA out of the local O&M pot of money.

Is Columbus a TDY point? If so for mileage you just get mileage from SC to COL and back. If PCS, you get one way. If you do backtrack or have dad help, you still only get mileage for one vehicle if single. As for the DITY/PPM, there you get what uncle would have paid to Send it to COL and then back. You can't fit 400lbs in a car? What about renting one of those top carriers?

Yes I have. The LOA is funded from the Military Personnel (MILPERS) appropriation 3500. The Civil Engineer resource mgmt office should know the LOA and if they don't have them run it up to their Command. But, just so you know, check out, http://www.af.mil/shared/media/epubs/AFMAN65-604.pdf , then Page 94 under 3500. The project is 599.04 for Partial DLA. So the entire LOA is: 5713500 321 P599.04 525725 Go show them all this and watch them freak out. Edit: I just wanted to add that this AFMAN is just another measly 170 some pages we finance folks are supposed to know. But in today's world knowing where to look first is over half the battle.

PCS MALT rate change effective 1 Jan 2011, from $.165 per mile to $.19 per mile. AF/A1PAT

Check on R/T mileage. Check on no permissive leave since the authorized days are considered duty days for a PCS move

Well, I'm not directly in the know of the exact details but was involved in the debacle of trying to get this problem fixed when the MILPERS appropriation went bust. IMO, there was no way in hell they had direct control of this problem--not at their level. There are too many working parts to the entire PCS process and no one person can put an exact cost on what each and every PCS move is gonna end up being in the end. Yes they have good ways of estimating but that is still only and estimate. . To put this in a little perspective. Per the AFD document, for FY 2005, the Direct Program for PCS costs was $988M. So being off by $87M was within 10 percent, right? http://www.saffm.hq.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-070221-128.pdf , Pages 102-119 in the .pdf file. So, you give me almost a billion dollars and here's what I do with it. #1. Issue PCS orders for everyone and don't put one estimate anywhere within. #2. We don't load any such estimate into any accounting system (These are Centrally Managed Funds- CMA) **Note, our accounting systems are written in COBOL and one cannot expect us to find programmers who can create a Window GUI in COBOL. It just would not work with the AF Standard Desktop or would take about a decade to get an ATO. #3. Prepare all kinds of HHGs shipment and storage documents and don't load any outlays/obligations to any accounting system #4. Same with PPMs (aka DITY Moves) #5. Oh, and did we forget the every changing rules and increase to entitlement from the JFTR and forget to update our Budget Estimate? #6. Then all the rain comes down. Everyone starts filing their travel vouchers to get paid and finally some expenditures begin to be posted to the COBOL accounting system, which by the way is not reviewed by the CMA Resource Advisor. They trust your local Finance Office to make sure entitlements are paid correctly. #7. Some people forget to file their travel vouchers so you have no idea how much their PCS costs are going to be. You might be thinking right now...hey, do I still need to file that DITY move from 2005? If so, make it $87 point something, something more mishandled. #8. Oh and go back to HHGs storage. Did we tell you that those thousand some storage lots that began years ago have to be charged to the Fiscal Year (FY) of the actual storage months? And, also, the TMO's system for tracking this doesn't allow them to update the FY in their system, so they keep charging the original FY. #9. Then we have accounting professionals who cannot figure out how to read an AFI and properly charge PCS moves to the correct fiscal year (that's where I got involved). There may have been $87M mishandled, but there was a lot of work done that identified that improper postings to the COBOL systems charged the incorrect FY which put the appropriation in the hole. We did what we could but to get everything 100% accurate was not possible. If only we had some modern software that could handle all this mess....well, we do. They are testing DEAMS as a technology demonstration at Scott AFB. Guess what, we still don't load PCS funding as targets or initial commitments. We just post it all at the payment stage and call it good. No freak'in wonder. There is no one person in the AF that could tell you exactly how much obligated for PCS moves on any given day. They can only tell you what has been expensed and by that time it is too late. These funds were not mishandled, but rather mis-posted or just not foreseen. The GOs were just the scapegoats of our bad un-auditable procedural and accounting systems. My 2 Cents, and only my opinion based on my knowledge of how all this works. I could be wrong. Out.

Well I retired from active duty (2006) but now working as a DoD Civilian--Did about 4.5 years on a AF contract. Financial services work without a break since 1984. I started in Travel Pay back when we computed vouchers as you waited and paid cash at the cage. No government travel cards back in those days. But we also weren't doing OEF/OIF for 9 years straight back then either.

Thanks CH and to all the rest of the posts. I'm a career finance guy since my first assignment at Scott back in 1984--we didn't have internet or email then. I just find this forum is just one medium where I can help all of you while also helping all those finance support folks out there. They probably don't read this forum but if you get the right info here and present to them, then I'd hope they learn something along the way. Glad that I can help and mostly that all of you get the right answers.

New Special Leave Accrual (SLA) procedures. See attached. FY10_SLA_Message.doc FY10_SLA_Message.txt

THIS is crazy money - http://www.missourieducationwatchdog.com/2010/09/on-taxpayer-dime-lucrative-financial.html If you got all them degrees, try a different career - A Missouri School Superintendent. Free lifetime healthcare

In that case it would be considered Gov't Quarters. If billeting sets up quarters and PAYs for such quarters then that is true "Contract Quarters" and by definition in the JFTR App A, are considered Gov't Quarters. GOVERNMENT QUARTERS. NOTE: Privatized housing, of any style or type and in any location, is not GOV’T QTRS. A. GOV’T QTRS. The following are GOV’T QTRS: 1. Sleeping accommodations (including aboard a ship) owned, operated, or leased by the GOV’T; 2. Lodgings or other QTRS obtained by GOV’T contract;

I ran across this. Too funny.

It's been extended to 2013. http://www.navy.mil/search/display.asp?story_id=55551

Actually for TSP, you can do it anytime after 1 Dec. TSP enrollments or changes have to be done prior to the 1st of the month they are to be effective. So if you change it on 2 Dec, the system can not legally make it effective for 1 Dec, but must roll to the next month, being 1 Jan 2011. So my answer is you can do the change anytime from 2-31 Dec. But to be safe, get it in before about 25 Dec.

This is not a call for MPF or Finance. The CCs or resource advisors in both units need to figure out who is going to pay for what. Normally AETC funded TDYs do not authorize rental cars so most are just stuck with their home unit funding it. In your case, the losing unit.

Did you file for a waiver or remission? Not sure you will ever see explanations explaining the decision unless it was a DOHA claim (those are posted on-line). I'm sure they look at the fact you received per diem when you may not have had meal expenses, so one has to question why would one expect to receive $$ for meals they don't have to purchase. Example is errors made on deployment vouchers to the AOR. Here's a good DOHA case read: http://www.dod.mil/dodgc/doha/claims/military/07011710.html Example: I went to the AOR and we all know I get $3.50/day (about $100/Month). I get back and file a voucher and magically I get a per diem check for $5,000. Now do I just go spend this extra $4,600 dollars (or keep it and don't say anything) or go to finance and insist on paying it back? I'd say the former happens most of the time. But getting back to your question, you could ask finance but they have no obligation to show you what they sent. If you have new facts or want to file for financial hardship, you could file a rebuttal.

I'm sure that's not quite how it went down. Finance would have required a document from the HARM--they just don't make up entitlements and post them to the pay record. There has to be a source document. 2nd, there's a limit as to how much can go into TSP and $50k exceeds that. TSP contributions cannot be distributed retroactively.

LR has some good troops.

Do not claim taxis you didn't use--Even if you did those have to be approved too. Approval for in/around mileage (or taxis) doesn't have to be on your orders. It's one of those things that can be reimbursed after the fact on the voucher (see "Approve" definition below). Now if it's AETC funded it may be harder to get approved to be reimbursed, but many times the home unit (therefore your unit approves) will pay the cost and approve it on the voucher. Refs below from the JFTR--note in both C & D it says when auth/approved but doesn't say it has to be on the orders. Normally "Authorized" means it's on the orders before the TDY, but both allowances per the JFTR say they can be authorized or approved. So your finance office needs education on those definitions. U2105 RETROACTIVE MODIFICATION AND AUTHORIZATION/APPROVAL ...Some allowances may be authorized only in advance of travel. Other allowances may be approved after travel is completed. Other allowances may be authorized and/or approved. APP A1 for definitions of “authorize” and “approve”. Approval after the fact, when permitted, does NOT constitute 'retroactive modification' of an order to create, change, or deny an allowance. Note: The only few things I can find that absolutely have to be approved in "advance of travel" (meaning on the orders) are premium-class travel accommodations, due to a medical disability/special need, Air Travel Medically Inadvisable and Actual Expense Allowance(AEA). U3510 TRAVEL AT THE TDY LOCATION A. Travel Points . Transportation expense reimbursement in the TDY area may be authorized/approved for travel between: 1. Lodging and duty site; 2. Duty sites; or 3. Lodging or duty site and dining facility. C. Commercial Travel . When authorized/approved, a traveler who uses commercial transportation is authorized reimbursement of: 1. Local public transportation fares; 2. Taxicab fares plus transportation-related tips (when to the GOV’T’s advantage); and 3. Special conveyance costs between lodging and duty site and between lodging/duty site and dining facility (when to the GOV’T’s advantage). D. POC Travel . If authorized/approved, POC travel in and around the TDY station is reimbursed using the rules in par. U3505-C. Definitions: APPROVE(D). The ratification or confirmation of an act already done. AUTHORIZED. 1. Permission given before an act. 2. The giving, through these regulations, of an allowance to an eligible individual requiring no other action. (Example: When the regulation states that an allowance is authorized, – the regulation means that an eligible individual has that allowance without further action by any other activity.)