The Ultimate Guide to TDY Travel Voucher Success and Fast Reimbursement

Travel voucher processing shouldn’t require weeks of frustrating back-and-forth corrections. Yet many service members experience significant delays due to preventable errors that could have been avoided with proper preparation. This comprehensive guide walks you through every step of creating vouchers that process quickly and correctly the first time.

Pre-Trip Preparation Sets the Stage

Successful voucher preparation begins well before you leave home. Review your orders carefully and completely. Note the authorization for each expense category including transportation, lodging, per diem, rental car, and any special allowances specific to your assignment. If something seems missing from your orders, address it before departure when corrections are easy to obtain.

Set up your receipt management system before the trip starts. This could be an expense tracking app on your phone, a dedicated envelope in your bag, or a specific email folder where you forward digital receipts immediately. The particular system matters less than your consistency in using it throughout your travels.

Verify your Defense Travel System account is current and accurate. Outdated banking information or expired profile elements cause payment delays even when vouchers are otherwise perfect.

During Trip Documentation Requirements

Every lodging night requires a detailed receipt showing the property name and address, your name as the guest, nightly rate broken down clearly, applicable taxes, and exact dates of stay. Checkout folios work best since they capture the complete picture in one document. Don’t rely on credit card statements alone since they lack the required detail for voucher submission.

Rental car receipts must show daily rates, any insurance options selected, and final fuel charges. Return receipts documenting final charges are absolutely essential. Keep the rental agreement showing your authorization to rent under government orders for your records.

Any expense over $75 requires a receipt without exception. This includes most parking fees, baggage fees on airlines, and miscellaneous costs that add up. Even expenses under $75 benefit from receipt documentation since it speeds processing and prevents questions.

The Daily Log Habit

Maintain a brief daily log throughout your TDY assignment. Note any meals provided at government expense, deviations from your planned itinerary, unusual circumstances, and anything else that might matter later. This log provides the detail needed to complete vouchers accurately and answer questions auditors may raise months after your trip.

Record travel times precisely on your first and last days. Your departure and return times determine per diem calculations on partial travel days. Estimating these times invites correction requests and delays that push back your reimbursement.

Completing Your Voucher in DTS

Log into DTS within five business days of returning home. Create a voucher from your existing authorization, which pre-populates many fields with data from your original orders and saves significant time.

Update the itinerary to reflect actual travel, not your originally planned travel. If your flight departed two hours earlier than scheduled, or you returned a day late due to mission requirements, reflect reality accurately. Discrepancies between orders and vouchers trigger audits that delay everything.

Enter expenses in the correct categories without exception. Lodging goes in lodging, transportation in transportation, and miscellaneous expenses in the appropriate designated category. Miscategorization confuses the system, delays processing, and may require starting over.

Common Errors That Cause Rejection

Claiming full per diem when meals were provided ranks among the most common errors that trigger rejection. Conference meals, official dinners, DFAC meals, and any other government-provided food all require M&IE deductions. Check your calendar and daily log against your per diem claims for every single day.

Mathematical errors in manually entered expenses cause problems despite seeming minor and easy to fix. Double-check every calculation before submission, including any partial day proration.

Missing receipts stop processing cold until resolved. Attach clear, legible images of every required receipt before submitting. Blurry photos require resubmission, adding days or weeks to your processing time.

The Memo for Record Solution

Lost receipts happen despite best efforts at organization. When they do, a memo for record signed by your supervisor can substitute for the missing documentation. This memo should explain what happened to the receipt, state the expense amount and business purpose clearly, and certify the expense was legitimate and necessary for your official travel.

Use memos sparingly and honestly. One lost receipt on an otherwise clean voucher raises no concerns. Multiple missing receipts suggest poor record-keeping and invite additional scrutiny of your entire claim.

Following Up on Processing

DTS shows voucher status throughout the processing chain. Check it regularly until payment actually posts to your account. If a voucher sits in any status for more than a few business days without visible movement, investigate the cause.

Contact your unit travel administrator for help with stuck vouchers. Sometimes a simple inquiry to the approving official moves things along quickly. Other times, system errors or missing information require technical intervention that only your administrator can initiate.

Building Your Voucher Expertise

Each voucher teaches lessons for the next trip. Note what caused delays or corrections so you can prevent similar problems in the future. Refine your receipt management system based on experience. Over time, voucher preparation becomes routine rather than stressful.

Help newer service members learn the system when you can. Your hard-won knowledge saves them from the frustrations you experienced. Strong voucher practices spread through units when experienced travelers share their expertise freely.

Clean vouchers process quickly, reimbursement arrives promptly, and you avoid the frustration of repeated corrections that seem to never end. Invest the time to get it right, and TDY financial management becomes one less thing to worry about.