A voucher gets returned for one of about six reasons, and all of them are avoidable on the day you check in. This is the checklist we hand guests at checkout, expanded.
Before the trip
- Check your travel authorization for the lodging allowance, M&IE and any documented restrictions. Ask your travel office about anything unclear.
- Government lodging checked; non-A number saved as a screenshot and an email (how).
- Government travel card active; know your credit limit versus the lodging total for the stay.
- A cloud folder named for the TDY: orders, non-A, every receipt as it arrives.
At check-in
- Confirm the nightly rate is at or below the cap for every month of the stay (seasonal localities change on the 1st).
- Confirm the receipt will be itemized: nightly rate × nights, taxes on their own line, zero balance, property name and address.
- Ask how extensions are handled — orders mods happen, and you don't want a second lease.
During the stay
- Partial payments on long stays are normal; get a receipt for each one and a final statement at checkout.
- Rental car, fuel, tolls, parking: receipts for anything over $75, and it's easier to keep them all.
- Keep a one-line log of any day you weren't at the TDY location (leave, other TDY) — M&IE changes those days.
Filing
- Lodging: actual cost up to the cap per night. Taxes as a separate reimbursable expense (CONUS).
- M&IE: flat, 75% on travel days. If a meal was government-provided (exercise chow hall), the deduction applies.
- Attach: orders, non-A, lodging receipts, car/fuel receipts. Then read the AO's comments before assuming it's stuck.
The six ways it comes back
- No non-A where government lodging was directed.
- Non-itemized receipt (a booking summary, a card statement).
- Lodging over the cap with no actual-expense approval.
- Dates on receipts don't match the orders (extension without an amendment).
- Flat-rate per diem applied on day 31 and lodging priced above it.
- Fees (cleaning, resort, pet) claimed as lodging when the AO won't allow them.
Read the mechanics in TDY per diem, explained, pull your rate on the per diem pages, and if you stay with us, the itemized statement is waiting at checkout.