PCS Financial Assistance Part 2
Here is part two of programs that help offset a PCS’s cost. Making this list has been very helpful to me, given the fact that we just PCSd a few weeks ago. I’ve found extra funds that we qualify for that we wouldn’t have known about without this research. Hopefully, you’ve been better informed than I have about programs that help with PCSing, or you’ve found something useful in this list to help with the expenses.
1. Tax deductions
I’m going to link to the specific IRS page for you to look over yourself, but from my understanding, anything that is a reasonable moving expense that is not already reimbursed by the military can be deducted from your taxes. This can include things like household goods, personal effects, storage, and travel expenses (including lodging). Meals cannot be deducted.
There are specific forms to fill out related to this item, and you cannot deduct anything that the military pays for, such as per diem, which would cover hotel costs during travel days. I would highly recommend talking to an accountant about these things and keeping all receipts for proof of purchase. Get more information from this page of the IRS website: https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc455
2. Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation (MALT)
This standard rate is paid out to cover the drive from one base to another. It is based on the official distance between one base and another, which is usually the shortest, most direct path. It is generally paid at a rate of 16-20 cents per mile. For example, our PCS from Tinker to Robins covered 942 miles. At a rate of 16 cents per mile, we should receive about $300 for our drive since we had two cars. You need authorization to get reimbursed for more than two cars. I think this is a pretty standard reimbursement and usually covers the cost of gas for a trip, but may not cover any maintenance required for a vehicle before or after a long drive.
3. Advance Basic Pay
This is an interest-free loan in which we can withdraw up to three months of basic pay in advance. This would come directly from the base salary of the service member and would not include BAH or any other extra income such as flight, hazard, etc. Generally, this is paid back in twelve equal installments starting the month after it is drawn. It can be extended to twenty-four months under special circumstances. The payback comes directly out of the pay when it is received.
This is one of my least favorite options to help pay for the cost of a PCS because so many of us are already living paycheck to paycheck. Drawing from next month may help us today, but often, we end up in a bigger hole when it comes time to pay it back. This should really only be used for extraordinary expenses rather than paying for luxury items or day-to-day life. (To show how out of date this webpage discussing advance basic pay is, the example given for a “luxury item” is a CD player.) The chain of command usually approves this type of pay. You have to be very careful with it, and it can go wrong very quickly. There’s also an option for advanced BAH, which works similarly and is approved in the same way. I don’t think someone can receive both advance basic pay and advance BAH, though.
4. Inconvenience claim
This can be paid out if the moving company fails to meet the required pickup or delivery dates. For our move, our household goods were scheduled to be delivered on January 4th. If the company had not been able to deliver that day, they would have reimbursed us for anything we needed to survive that first night that was already in our household goods. This would include things like appliance or furniture rental, air mattresses, pots and pans, dishes, paper goods, linens, laundry service, etc. Keep the receipts because they must be submitted for reimbursement with claims that happen if household goods take more than seven days to arrive after their estimated delivery date.
Anything spent before that will not need a receipt unless it costs more than the per diem rate because that is assumed to cover these costs. We were told prior to moving that if we plan to submit an inconvenience claim because the movers were late, then we need to buy the bare minimum of things to get through. For example, an air mattress would be reimbursed, but a real mattress would not be. If the moving company covers the cost of these things directly, then they are entitled to reclaim them upon delivery of household goods. Ultimately, it sounds like a tricky thing to get reimbursed for because each company can be picky about what they do and do not cover.
5. Loss and damage claims
This isn’t really a way to “make” money after a PCS, but it is an important step. I highly recommend photographing everything and its condition before a military-covered move (this does not apply to a PPM since those operate under a “you broke it, you bought it” principle). Having evidence of the condition something was in before a move helps significantly when filing a broken claim after a move. We had a storage container, a set of bookends, a couple of picture frames, and an entertainment center break for our move. Thankfully, it was nothing we really cared about, but it did include things that needed fixing or replacing.
Having before and after pictures helped get the claim processed quickly, and we were reimbursed for a reasonable amount for each item. However, we lost a 7-foot ladder that likely got left on a moving truck because it was not tagged on our inventory. Getting this reimbursed is nearly impossible since there is no evidence of it being moved, and unfortunately, the garage was one space that I did not photograph very well. We could fight for it, but we have decided it is not worth the battle. I’ve also seen some really weird reimbursements that need to be argued. For example, someone had the leg of a table broken, and they tried to just pay for the leg, which doesn’t work because it made the entire table useless, so just be prepared to argue a little bit, especially if it’s something on the pricier side.
6. Air Force Aid Society
Each branch has one version of this, such as the Army Emergency Relief, Coast Guard Mutual Assistance, and Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society. They offer a variety of support programs during a PCS, such as childcare, no-interest loans, and education support. These programs are not available at every base, but it’s worth looking into to see if they can aid at your location.
Army emergency relief lists spouse relicensing, temporary lodging, rent deposit, appliance repair, and auto repairs as things they can assist with. The Coast Guard Mutual Assistance provides interest-free loans for the first and last month’s rent, security deposits, and, in some cases, up to $6,000 on closing day to assist with closing costs. These may be the same across all branch-specific entities, but each website highlighted a different variety of services.
I’m sure there are other things that I have missed, but I think one of my biggest takeaways from making this list is that a decent amount of this stuff is secret. Sure, we already knew about per diem and TLA, but we didn’t know about spouse unemployment pay or the dislocation allowance. It shouldn’t be so hard to navigate a PCS. Although this information may not have technically been kept a secret (it did just take some googling for me to find it), it is not readily available, and if families don’t know what they’re looking for, it can be much harder to find. If families find themselves in a financial hole after a PCS, it is unlikely that they will be able to find programs that solve their problems, especially since many of these need to be taken advantage of in the moment. These are by no means a perfect solution to the costs of PCS, but maybe they’ll help take the edge off for your family.