[Claim for Relocation Expenses]

An Internal Revenue Service (IRS) authorized certifying officer requested an advance decision concerning payment of travel vouchers submitted by an IRS employee for expenses incurred during his permanent change of station. IRS disallowed or reduced many of his claims. The claimant submitted reclaim vouchers covering his house-hunting trip, transportation of his family and himself to his new duty station, temporary quarters subsistence expenses, miscellaneous expenses, and costs of transporting his household goods. GAO held that: (1) reimbursement is limited to the highest statutory per diem rate, not the actual expenses incurred during a house-hunting trip; however, an employee is entitled to reimbursement at the usual rate for a trip to and from the airport, not the reduced house-hunting mileage rate; (2) the agency correctly reduced and disallowed his claim for reimbursement for actual subsistence expenses and authorized his per diem based on the highest statutory per diem rate; (3) temporary quarters subsistence expenses may not be paid if an employee never occupies temporary quarters; (4) under a miscellaneous expenses allowance, a transferred employee may be reimbursed for the cost of registering and inspecting his cars and for telephone calls made on house-hunting trips, if they relate to otherwise allowable expenses; and (5) the determination of the weight of professional books is for the agency to make and will not be disturbed by GAO unless it is clearly in error. Accordingly, all the vouchers were returned to IRS for action in accordance with this decision.