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[Reimbursement of Travel Expenses]

B-198438 Mar 02, 1983
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Highlights

An authorized certifying officer of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) requested an advance decision as to whether a HUD employee was entitled to reimbursement for certain expenses incurred while he was on temporary duty. While on a temporary duty assignment, the employee leased a two-bedroom apartment for 1 month and was joined by his family for this period. HUD reimbursed the employee for the expenses he incurred during his initial stay at a motel, but the agency denied reimbursement for lodging and subsistence expenses claimed for the period during which he had rented the apartment, stating that there was sufficient information in the record to show that the amount claimed for lodging was in excess of that which the employee should have claimed and that reimbursement could not be made because the employee failed to show that his expenses were essential to the transaction of official business. GAO stated that the burden is on the claimant to establish the liability of the United States and the claimant's right to payment. GAO held that the employee did not convincingly demonstrate that he paid more than one-half the amount which he claimed as rent. GAO concluded that the employee could be reimbursed for lodging expenses of that amount and otherwise appropriate subsistence expenses. Accordingly, the voucher if otherwise correct may be submitted for payment.

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