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Department of Defense form 281A. Official designation: DD Form 281A, Voucher for Emergency or Extraordinary Expense Expenditures (Memorandum), January 2000.. Purpose: Voucher for Emergency or Extraordinary Expense Expenditures - Memorandum. Current edition not stated, status not stated.
Prescribing authority: not stated. Proponent: not stated. Unlike service-specific publications, DD forms carry Department-level authority and apply across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard when operating under Defense jurisdiction.
Users include uniformed members of any branch, DoD civilian employees, contractor personnel where authorized, and the administrative staff who process the completed record.
When the form is filed is a matter of not stated and local instruction. The description here covers the document itself and how to obtain a copy.
Available formats: PDF. The form runs 1 pages and contains approximately 38 fillable fields.
Every listed format is free to download. Modern pdf software handles the pdf files, with the caveat that browser-embedded viewers sometimes ignore field properties that a desktop reader honours.
What the form asks for
- 1. Disbursing Office voucher number.
- 2. Bureau voucher number.
- 3. Voucher prepared at (location).
- 4. Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 5. Paid by (for use of paying office).
- 6. United States, DR, To (Payee).
- 7. Address (nclude zip code).
- 8. For emergency or extraordinary expense expenditures under appropriations listed below. a. Expenses incurred during the period (Fill in only if voucher covers reimbursement of funds actually expended). From:
- a. Expenses incurred during the period to:
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 1.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 2.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 3.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 4.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 5.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 6.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 7.
- c. Amount.
- b. Appropriation chargeable, line 8.
The document is filled from the top down. Identification precedes substance, substance precedes certification. Fields lower on the page are commonly keyed to entries made above them.
Edition in use: not stated. Because DD forms are revised at Department level and distributed to all services at once, an obsolete printing may not match the fields an office expects. The date is printed on the form face.
Field-level instructions appear on the form itself and in not stated. The directive is the controlling text.
After completion, the copy goes to the office designated by not stated or by local procedure. Retention of a personal copy is ordinary practice and costs nothing.
Associated forms are traced by number within the series. Because the DD sequence is common to all military departments, no service qualifier is needed to identify a referenced form.
Where a DA form is cited alongside a DD form, the two belong to different systems: DA numbering is Army-specific and administered by an Army proponent, while DD numbering is Defense-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. Numbers do not translate between the systems.
Forms are reissued for several reasons: directive revision, changed data requirements, updated notice language. Confirming not stated at the moment of download covers the risk.
Scope of this page: distribution of a published form and description of its contents. It offers no legal guidance and no assurance regarding any particular submission. Direct procedural questions to not stated, to the servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 281A?
- DD Form 281A, Voucher for Emergency or Extraordinary Expense Expenditures (Memorandum), January 2000.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?