If you're waiting on your Personally Procured Move (PPM) incentive pay claim, you're not alone. There's a significant backlog right now as the Coast Guard adjusts to the new mLINQS system and deals with a higher volume of PPMs this year.
Partly because people are unfamiliar with the new system, there have been more errors in PPM claim preparation, routing, and approvals. This has led to longer processing times and resulted in potential overpayments to members in some cases.
The Coast Guard understands this is causing frustration and financial strain. Here's what's happening and what's being done to fix it:
What's changed?
In February, the Coast Guard switched to mLINQS, to manage PCS (Permanent Change of Station) travel, including PPMs. The idea was to streamline the process as follows:
- Old way: Before mLINQS, you submitted your entire PPM claim to the Financial Service Center (FSC). They checked everything before you got paid. It usually took about 30 days.
- New way (with mLINQS): Now, when you enter your PCS travel information (or your Admin Yeoman does) and it's approved, you'll get paid for your authorized expenses and entitlements (like mileage, lodging, etc.) pretty quickly. This happens automatically.
- The incentive payment is different: There's a second payment called the "incentive payment." This is the money you get for doing a PPM instead of having the government move your stuff. This part still goes to FSC for review. FSC must check it and make sure the right amount of taxes are taken out before you get paid. This process still takes about 30 days. So, you'll get two payments now: one for your expenses and entitlements, and another later for the incentive.
Why the delays?
mLINQS is supposed to be faster, but there have been some problems that are causing delays with incentive payments:
- Mistakes on claims: People are making mistakes when filling out their claims. This includes claiming expenses that aren't allowed, not applying advances correctly, and other errors. FSC cannot calculate the incentive payment until these mistakes are corrected. If FSC finds a mistake, they have to send the claim back to your unit to be fixed.
- Claims not routing correctly: If the mLINQS PPM User Guide isn't followed exactly, the incentive payment part of the claim might not go to FSC for review. This causes delays.
- Incentive payments approved too soon: If the User Guide isn't followed exactly, the system could automatically approve and pay the incentive payment without FSC checking it and taking out taxes. This means you could get overpaid and end up owing a lot in taxes later.
The bottom line: Because of these problems, there's a backlog of PPM claims waiting to be processed correctly. As of August 1st:
- 499 claims need to be corrected before you can get paid. and you don't have a surprise tax bill.
- 729 claims will be checked by FSC to make sure the payments were right without FSC review, which likely resulted in overpayments to members. These claims were approved for payment without FSC review which likely resulted in overpayments to members. If you filed a PPM claim and were paid prior to July 1, you may be impacted. FSC will audit each of these claims and inform every member whether they were overpaid and/or have outstanding tax liability.
- FSC is working to process 738 additional claims within the normal 30-day timeframe.
Why is this happening now?
In addition to the issues with mLINQS, the HomeSafe Alliance (for government-arranged moves) failed and was subsequently cancelled. As a result, more people are doing PPMs this year, which puts more strain on the system.
What's being done?
The Coast Guard is doing the following to fix these problems:
- Changing the mLINQS Routing Process: The mLINQS system will be modified to route all claims to FSC for review before payment. Goal is that reimbursement for expenses and entitlements will occur within the 30-day period as in the past and will ensure accurate payments and facilitate processing of incentive claims. This change will not effect advances.
- Surging staff at FSC: FSC is adding more people to the team that processes PPM claims to review the claims paid without FSC approval and to approve all incoming claims as quickly as possible.
- Help from FSC: FSC is reaching out to units to help fix errors on PPM claims so they can be paid quickly.
- Better Training and Communication: FSC and the Pay & Personnel Center (PPC) are working together to improve training, processes, and communication to make sure everyone has the right information and knows how to do things correctly.
What you can do
- Follow the mLINQS PPM User Guide carefully: This is the most important thing you can do to avoid errors and delays.
- Ask for Help: If you're not sure about something, ask your Admin Yeoman or contact FSC for help before you submit your claim.
The Coast Guard is committed to resolving the PPM claim backlog and ensuring members receive their payments as quickly and accurately as possible. Your patience and attention to detail in submitting your claims are greatly appreciated.
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