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Guidance pertaining to waivers is based on different subsections of the U.S. Code, depending on the status of the member.
- 10 U.S.C §2774 for Military Members Waivers
- 32 U.S.C §716 for National Guard Members
You should send any documents you have pertaining to the debt. Required documentation MAY include the following:
- Forms that authorized the payments which caused the debt.
- Leave and Earnings Statements (LESs) – 1 month prior to and 1 month after debt period.
- If there has been a formal investigation which concludes the debt was the result of fraud, include the report and all exhibits referenced in the report.
- Please support or justify your recommendation for approval or denial in block 29.
Additional supporting documentation is listed on the individual service pages.
Complete the DD Form 2789 – Waiver/Remission of Indebtedness Application and gather supporting documents. *Please note: You may need to right click to download or the save the documents to your computer before you are able to fill them out.
SmartForm: For step-by-step guidance to help complete your DD Form 2789, click here.
PDF: Download and complete your DD Form 2789 in PDF format, click here.
Keep in mind...
Debt computations must conform to the format as outlined in the DD Form 2789 - block 24. Complex or involved debt computations should be attached on separate pages. Any entitlement listed in block 24a should include the following:
- Dates entitlement received – broken down by month.
- Was paid amount –amount of money the member received on their LES for the entitlement they received erroneously.
- Should be paid amount – amount the member should have received. This could be zero ($0.00), or if entitled to a lesser amount should be that number, i.e. BAH-Diff vs. BAH-D amounts.
- Difference – difference between what the member received and should have received amounts.
Debt computations are the primary reason a waiver request is returned for additional information, correction, or revision. The finance office has primary responsibility for accurately presenting the member’s debt in a format that conforms to the requirements set forth on the DD Form 2789. The debt computation must accurately reflect the debt not only as seen on the member’s MMPA, but also as the member would have received the pay or entitlements on their LESs. Therefore, when the computation is created, the finance official must verify that the debt on the MMPA (usually as a DQ, DS, or DV lines) is valid and correct.
Debt computations are checked by DFAS Remissions and Waivers Branch personnel for accuracy and conformity as stated above. Should the member’s waiver be forwarded to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals for a decision, the debt again will be verified line by line against the member's LESs to ensure that the indebtedness against the member is valid and was computed correctly.
Avoid these commons errors when completing the debt computation:
- Ensure debt is broken out monthly (do NOT lump entire debt period into one line when the debt occurred over a period of time).
- Each entitlement should be displayed individually (do NOT display multiple entitlements as one debt type).
- ALWAYS complete 24d of the DD Form 2789 – amount could be zero ($0.00), or if entitled to a lesser amount should be that number, i.e. BAH-Diff vs. BAH-D amounts.
- Amount in the difference column does not add up to debts on MMPA.
- Incorrect debts, or incomplete debts.
- Net debt amounts listed, when it should be the gross amount of the debt.
- Incorrect computations.
The following is an example debt computation that meets the requirements of the DD Form 2789. In this example, the member was paid BAH with Dependents but should have received BAH Single.
| ENTITLEMENT |
DATES |
WAS PAID |
SHOULD HAVE BEEN PAID |
DIFFERENCE |
| BAH w/Depn |
Jun-07 |
$1,632.00 |
$768.00 |
$864.00 |
| BAH w/Depn |
Jun-07 |
$1,632.00 |
$768.00 |
$864.00 |
| |
TOTAL |
$3,264.00 |
$1,536.00 |
$1,728.00 |