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AIMD-95-71R 1 (1995-02-06)

handle is hein.gao/gaocrptabxc0001 and id is 1 raw text is: United States General Accounting Office Washington, D.C. 20548 Accounting and Information Management Division B-259229 February 6, 1995 Mr. Larry Eisenhart Deputy Chief Financial Officer Department of State Dear Mr. Eisenhart: This letter responds to your September 8, 1994, request that we provide you an interpretation of the requirements in Title 2, Accounting, and Title 7, Fiscal Procedures, of GAO'S Policy and Procedures Manual for Guidance of Federal Agencies, pertaining to processing employee travel claims. As described in your letter, the Department of State is attempting to streamline its system for processing employee travel claims in response to the National Performance Review (NPR) initiative to simplify administrative processes. As you know, in line with the NPR initiative, the Joint Financial Management Improvement Program (JFMIP) is examining governmentwide travel procedures with a view toward streamlining the processes. Although the JFMIP project began recently, we feel that as it progresses, it should provide useful information that you should consider regarding your proposed system. In your request, you mentioned that the General Services Administration (GSA)1 waived several items in your proposal provided your proposal did not conflict with the requirements of the GAO Policy and Procedures Manual. You also requested an opinion from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) on whether the flat-rate lodging reimbursement contained in your proposal constitutes income to the traveler for income tax purposes. If it did, the Department would incur additional costs to (1) track and report those reimbursements as income to IRS and the traveler and (2) withhold taxes. Subsequent to your request, you received an opinion from IRS that the reimbursement did not constitute income to the traveler for income tax reporting purposes. To supplement the information in your request letter, we contacted your staff to discuss the proposal in more detail. However, we did not perform any tests of your current or proposed system, and consequently, our response only addresses your proposal conceptually and does not address whether your present system is capable of accommodating the proposal. 'GSA is responsible for issuing employee travel regulations which are published in its manual titled Federal Travel Regulations. GAO/AIMD-95-71R Employees' Travel Claims Page 1

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