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Speed up your waiver application process by avoiding these common problems.

Active Duty Military

Be sure you sign and date your waiver application.

You must submit DD Form 2789 (fillable PDF) or DD 2789 (smart form) Remission/Waiver of Indebtedness Application through your finance office. The form must be endorsed by your Commander before you send it to the Remissions and Waivers Department.

If you indicate on the waiver application that you dispute the validity of the debt your application could be rejected.  If a debt is disputed, ask your servicing finance or payroll office to conduct an audit before you proceed with the application process.

Remember to state the date and how you became aware of the debt (Blocks 12 and 13 on DD Form 2789 (fillable PDF) or DD 2789 (smart form).

You must state a concise reason why you are requesting a waiver and why you feel it should be approved (Block 14 on DD Form 2789 (fillable PDF) or DD 2789 (smart form) .

All supporting documents that apply to the debt must be included with the waiver application.

Active Civilian Employees

You must submit your application to the office that sent you the debt notification letter.  That office will submit the application to either the DFAS-CL or DFAS-IN Civilian Payroll Office.  Civilian Pay will complete a debt computation, ensure the debt is valid, gather additional documentation, and then forward the application to the Remissions and Waivers Branch at DFAS-IN.

Spouses & Dependent Children (Annuitants)

Submit your application through annuity pay.

Retirees

If your debt did not occur on military duty, submit your application to the retired pay office.

Out-of-Service Military & Former Civilian Employees

Submit completed documents to AskDFAS
 

Debt Computations

Debt computations are the primary reason a remission or waiver request is returned to the finance office for additional information, correction or revision.  Debt computations are one of the most critical elements of the waiver request and are rigorously inspected. The finance office has primary responsibility for accurately presenting the members debt in a format that conforms to the requirements set forth on the DD Form 2789 (fillable PDF) or DD 2789 (smart form) The debt computation must accurately reflect the debt not only as seen on the members 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 or remission be forwarded to the Defense Office of Hearings and Appeals for a decision, the debt again will be verified line by line against the members LESs to ensure that the indebtedness against the member is valid and was computed correctly.

Errors on Debt Computations

Primary errors on debt computations typically include the following:

The entire debt period is lumped into one line when the debt occurred over a period of time

  • Entitlements are not separated out (BAH,BAS,FSA all presented as one debt type)
  • Should be paid amount left blank, when the member should have received something
  • Difference amounts don’t 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

 

Example Debt Computation Here is a basic debt computation that meets the requirements of the DD Form 2789 (fillable PDF) or DD 2789 (smart form). In this example the member was paid BAH with Dependents but should have received BAH Single.

ENTITLEMENT DATES WAS PAID SHLD HAVE BEEN PAID DIFFERENCE
 BAH w/Depn  Jun-07  $1,632.00  $768.00  $864.00
 BAH w/Depn  Jul-07  $1,632.00  $768.00  $864.00
   TOTAL  $3,264,00  $1,536.00  $1,728.00

 

Debt Computation Templates

Remissions and Waivers is happy to provide you with debt computation templates for your use.  We believe that these debt computation templates will be helpful in working with both simple and more complex debts, and should reduce the number of returned packets for debt computation errors.

Template 1 – useful for general or miscellaneous debts in a single year of entitlement
Template 2 – useful for multiple monthly entitlements in one debt period
Template 3 – useful for PEBD and longer debt period debts

Page updated April 25, 2022