Special Disbursement Instructions for Payments Processed by Treasury During the 2012 Holiday Season

The U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service, has announced the Kansas City Financial Center’s 2012 holiday processing schedule. Any manual same day or foreign payment that must be processed by the holiday dates listed below should be received by the Controller Operations Division’s Administrative Certification personnel via fax at 303-205-3435, according to the following schedule:

December 27 is the last disbursement cycle which will carry a payment date in calendar year 2012 (used for 1099 purposes). Please direct questions to the following:

Click here to view the Kansas City Financial Center’s 2012 holiday processing schedule.

CCR Is Going Away—What to Expect

The Central Contractor Registration (CCR) system is going away. CCR, along with Federal Agency Registration (FedReg), the Online Representations and Certifications Application (ORCA), and the Excluded Parties List System (EPLS), will be migrated into the new System for Award Management, or SAM. Click here to visit the Central Contractor Registration page for information about this transition and how it will affect you. For questions, please contact the Table Maintenance Section at 504-426-5377.

COD Contact Center

The COD Contact Center provides support to USDA financial and accounting system users. The Contact Center Reference Guide has been developed to explain the Contact Center resolution process, and to identify the various tiers and define the roles and responsibilities of each. The guide is available from the Quick Picks menu on the Publications tab. Click here for a shortcut to the guide.

2010 RIT Processing

COD is ready to accept and process all 2010 Relocation Income Tax (RIT) vouchers. Please submit all RIT vouchers to:

Controller Operations Division
Attention: Travel Section
P.O. Box 60,000
New Orleans, LA 70160

If submitting by Federal Express, send to:

Controller Operations Division
Attention: Travel Section
13800 Old Gentilly Road
New Orleans, LA 70129

Questions concerning processing of RIT vouchers should be directed to the Travel Inquiry Section at nfc.travel@usda.gov, 800-421-0323, or 504-426-6515

TRVL Payments in FMMI

The Travel System (TRVL) processes relocation and local travel payments to employees for both travel advances and vouchers. Upon implementation into the Financial Management Modernization Initiative (FMMI), all TRVL payments issued to employees will be remitted to the individual’s salary address in the vendor table, regardless of the payment address option selected in TRVL. This salary only payment option is currently adhered to for all temporary duty travel payments generated from GovTrip, and is being applied consistently to TRVL employee payments. The additional special address options will be disabled in TRVL when FMMI is fully implemented across the Department.

Please notify your agency travel coordinators that all TRVL payments to employees will be sent to their current salary address. If you have any questions or require additional information, please contact Travel Inquiry at 800-421-0323 (select Option 2, then 1), 504-426-6515, or nfc.trvl@usda.gov. The hours for Travel Inquiry are 7:45 a.m. to 4 p.m. Central time, Monday through Friday.

Notice Regarding 2009 Relocation Income Tax (RIT) Claims

In accordance with Federal Travel Regulations, if you were relocated by the Federal Government in 2009 and incurred a withholding tax allowance (WTA), you are required to file a RIT claim. A RIT claim must be filed even though your WTA may not have exceeded the RIT allowance. Since the WTA is an estimated payment, the RIT claim may result in an additional payment to you; however, if a RIT claim is not submitted, a bill to collect the full amount of the WTA will be issued.

The first wave of notices has been issued to those employees who have not yet filed 2009 RIT claims. Please contact COD at 1-800-421-0323 (select Option 2) or the transferring agency for assistance in preparing and submitting your RIT claim to COD, or if you would like to submit a voluntary refund of the WTA amount.

Invoice Processing Platform (IPP)

Invoice Processing Platform (IPP) is a web-based system provided by FMS free of charge to all government agencies and their vendors. IPP is a single system for federal government and is estimated to reduce the cost of entering invoices and responding to invoice inquiries by $450 million annually.

IPP will be used to:

• streamline the approval and payment of invoices allowing vendors to electronically create, submit and track invoices on-line, approve or reject invoices and return to the vendor
• record and track invoices from associated Purchase Order (PO) through Payment Notification.
• enable e-mail notifications for agencies and vendors.
• provide remittance data (payment notifications) to vendors, including Treasury offset information.

Visit the IPP webpage on the COD website HERE for more information.

Agency Advocates and Contact Center Representatives

COD agency advocates and Contact Center representatives are available to provide direct assistance to their respective agencies by researching and resolving system-related issues, providing responses to inquiries, and coordinating efforts where required.

The list of agency advocates and Contact Center representatives by agency is available in the left-hand menu on the Contact Info tab. Click here for a shortcut to the list.