United States Department of Agriculture

Office of the Chief Financial Officer

National Finance Center

P.O. Box 60000 New Orleans Louisiana 70160

This bulletin supersedes bulletin HRPAY 15-09, New Taxable Allowances, dated March 23, 2015, announcing two new taxable allowance codes being implemented to provide reimbursements for all applicable Agencies. The Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel (OTRAT) Allowance Type 535, Transaction Code (TC) 53, Suffix 05 is being revised to state that it applies to all applicable Agencies with the exception of Smithsonian Institution Agencies 72 and 73. The Education - Taxable Allowance Type 536, previously stated that it was applicable to Federal employees who are United States (U.S.) citizens in a foreign area. However, this allowance is only applicable to those employees under Smithsonian Institution Agency 71. All other information remains the same as shown below.

Effective Pay Period 06, 2015, the National Finance (NFC) implemented two new allowance codes allowing reimbursements to be reported as gross taxable income on the annual Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Form W-2, Wage and Tax Statement. These pay transaction codes will appear on the Earnings and Leave Statement as Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel and Education - Taxable. Both allowances are taxable except for the above mentioned Agencies.

Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel (OTRAT) Allowance Type 535, Transaction Code (TC) 53, Suffix 05

This allowance applies to the round trip travel for employee and immediate family from posts outside the U.S. to the place of actual residence at the time of appointment to the post of duty, after he/she has satisfactorily completed 2 years of service outside the continental U.S. The Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) permits employees to travel to locations other than their actual residence but reimbursement is limited to the cost of travel to actual residence.

Note: The OTRAT Allowance will be applicable to all Agencies with the exception of Smithsonian Institution Agencies 72 and 73.

Education - Taxable Allowance Type 536, TC 53, Suffix 06

The Education - Taxable allowance is used for education expenses only for Smithsonian Institution Agency 71 Federal employee's (U.S. citizens and non-U.S. citizens) dependents due to the employee's service in a foreign area.

Systems and Applications

The following NFC systems and applications will be updated to accommodate the new allowance codes:

Earnings and Leave Statement (E&L Statement)

NFC will modify the E&L Statement to display the allowances as Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel and Education - Taxable on the Earnings and Leave Statement with a suffix code of 05 or 06, respectively, for transaction code (TC) 53.

EmpowHR

The EmpowHR Allowances Page will be modified to add Allowance Type 535 OS Tour Renew Agrmnt Trav and Allowance Type 536 Education - Taxable. These allowances will be shown as taxable in the Taxable option block. The same allowance amount should be entered in the Allowance-Rate and Allowance -Total fields with the Allowance-Code of 3 - per pay period.

Web-based Entry, Processing, Inquiry, and Correction System (EPIC Web)

EPIC Web will be modified to add Allowance Types 535 and 536 to the Document Type 127 under the Allowance* Tab. These codes will be available in the drop-down. The same amount should be entered in the Allowance-Rate and Allowance-Total fields with the Allowance-Code 3 - per pay period.

Information/Research Inquiry System (IRIS)

IRIS Program IR109, Allowances/COLA/Post Diff will be modified to include the literal Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel for Allowance-Type 535 and Education-Travel for Allowance Type 536.

Personnel Input and Edit System (PINE)

PINE edits will be updated to accept the new Allowance Types 535 and 536 as valid transactions.

Special Payroll Processing System Web (SPPS Web)

SPPS Web will be modified to add Allowance Types 535,Overseas Tour Renewal Agreement Travel and 536,Education-Travel in the drop down on Miscellaneous Payments.

Table Management (TMGT)

TMGT Table 032, Transaction Codes has been updated to include TC 53, suffix 05 as Overseas Tour Renewal Agrmt TRVL and TC 53 suffix 06 as Education - Taxable.

W-2 Tax Reporting (WTWO) System

WTWO System will be modified so that these allowances are reported as taxable income on the W-2.

Payroll/Personnel Procedures

The procedure manuals for these applications, which are available online at the NFC Web site, are being updated to include the information in this bulletin. To view and/or print these procedures, go to the NFC Home Page and click the Publications tab at the top of the page. At the Publications page's left-hand menu, select the applicable publication category to access the procedure manuals within that category.

Inquiries

For questions about NFC processing, authorized Servicing Personnel Office representatives should contact the NFC Contact Center at 1-855-NFC-4GOV (1-855-632-4468) or via the Internet using the Requester Console.

/s/ Helen Young for
ANITA H. FINCHER, Director
Government Employees Services Division