How to Fill Out and Submit DA Form 31: IPPS-A Steps and Leave Types

To fill out DA Form 31, complete blocks 2 through 11 with your name, DOD ID, rank, the date, your leave address, unit information, the type of absence, the start and end dates, your accrued leave balance, and your signature. Leave Block 1 blank for your S-1 to assign a control number, and let your supervisor and commander complete the approval blocks that follow. Most active-duty soldiers now submit the equivalent request electronically through the Integrated Personnel and Pay System – Army (IPPS-A), which generates the same information without a paper form.¹

Where to Get the Form

The blank form is available from the Army Publishing Directorate at armypubs.army.mil or from your unit’s S-1 administrative office. The current edition is dated June 2020. Most active-duty soldiers no longer complete a paper copy because IPPS-A’s self-service portal generates the equivalent electronically when you submit an absence request.² Field environments, National Guard units not yet fully integrated into IPPS-A, and outages still call for the paper version. Every leave policy behind the form comes from Army Regulation 600-8-10.³

Block-by-Block Walkthrough

The current DA Form 31 has 30 blocks, but you only complete the first portion yourself. Your supervisor, the approving authority, and finance handle the rest. Here is what each block you own asks for:⁴

Block 1, Control Number: leave blank. Your unit’s administrative office assigns the tracking number once the request enters the system.
Block 2, Name: last name, first name, middle initial.
Block 3, DOD ID: your 10-digit Department of Defense identification number. Older versions of the form asked for a Social Security number; the current edition uses DOD ID.
Block 4, Rank: your current pay grade and rank abbreviation.
Block 5, Date: the date you are filling out the form, in YYYYMMDD format.
Block 6, Leave Address: street address, city, state, ZIP code, and phone number where you can be reached during leave. Your chain of command uses this to contact you in an emergency, so make it accurate.
Block 7, Organization and Station: your unit designation, installation, and a point-of-contact email and phone number for your unit.
Block 8, Type of Absence: select chargeable (ordinary leave), advance, excess, or non-chargeable (administrative absence such as PTDY or parental leave).
Blocks 9a through 9c: start date, end date, and total number of days requested.
Block 10a, Accrued Leave Balance: your current credit balance from your Leave and Earnings Statement. This lets the approving authority confirm you have enough days.
Blocks 10b and 10c: the number of chargeable days and non-chargeable days, respectively.
Block 11, Signature: your signature. If you’re unavailable to sign during an emergency, your supervisor can sign on your behalf.

Double-check that your start and end dates line up with your actual leave balance. Requesting more days than you’ve accrued pushes you into advance leave, which requires separate justification and commander approval. The dates in blocks 9a through 9c drive everything downstream, including pay adjustments, accountability records, and your legal duty status. A one-day error creates problems for you and your S-1.

Submitting Through IPPS-A

IPPS-A replaces the paper DA Form 31 and DA Form 4187 by routing everything electronically.² To submit a leave request through the self-service portal:

Log in and open the Pay – Absence – Incent – Ded (PAID) tile on your self-service dashboard.
Add your employee ID, select “Absences” as the entry type, and click “Add” to create a new request.
Choose the absence type and reason. For ordinary leave, select “01 – Chargeable” and reason “Annual Absence.” For house-hunting PTDY, select “02 – Administrative” and “House Hunting.” For PCS leave, select “01 – Chargeable” and “PCS Absence.”
Pick your begin and end dates from the calendar.
Enter your destination address and your supervisor’s information.
Attach any supporting documents your unit SOP requires, such as Red Cross messages for emergency leave or orders for PCS leave.
Click submit. The system routes the request to your supervisor and then the approving authority automatically.

One IPPS-A pitfall with a PCS move: if you’re combining house-hunting PTDY with PCS leave, the house-hunting days must come first in the leave block. Reversing the order creates arrival-processing errors in the system.⁵

What Happens After You Submit

Your immediate supervisor reviews the request against current mission requirements and unit manning, and records a recommendation in Block 12 or the digital equivalent. Final authority to approve or deny rests with the unit commander or a designated representative, whose action appears in Block 13.⁴

Approval alone doesn’t put you on leave. You still need to formally sign out before departing, which usually happens at the unit staff duty desk or through the IPPS-A portal. That step sets the exact date and time you transition to leave status in Block 14. When you return, you sign back in at staff duty and the return date gets recorded in Block 16. Skipping either step creates a gap in the accountability record that draws questions from your chain of command and can foul up your pay.

Picking the Right Type of Absence for Block 8

AR 600-8-10 defines several categories of authorized absence, and the one you select in Block 8 determines whether the days are charged against your balance.

Ordinary Leave

The default category. Soldiers accrue 2.5 days per month, totaling 30 days per fiscal year.⁶ Every day is chargeable. Use this for vacations and personal time. Regulation sets no minimum notice period, but most units require requests at least two weeks in advance under local SOP.

Emergency Leave

Emergency leave covers urgent situations such as a death or serious illness in the immediate family. Commanders can authorize up to 30 days. It is chargeable, just like ordinary leave. The only exception is trans-oceanic travel time for soldiers stationed overseas who need to return to the United States, which is not charged.³ American Red Cross verification is helpful but not required if documentation from another official source is available.

Permissive TDY

Permissive Temporary Duty is a non-chargeable absence for semi-official purposes. The most common use is house hunting during a PCS, which allows up to 10 days that do not count against your leave balance.⁷ PTDY still requires formal authorization through DA Form 31 or an IPPS-A absence request. Other uses include certain professional development events and job interviews during transition.

Convalescent Leave

Non-chargeable time off to recover from illness, injury, or childbirth. It’s approved jointly by the medical treatment facility director and the soldier’s commander, and it’s typically 30 days or less.⁸

Parental Leave

The Military Parental Leave Program provides 12 weeks of non-chargeable leave within one year of a child’s birth, and both birth and non-birth parents are eligible.⁹

Terminal Leave

Terminal leave, officially called transition leave, is ordinary chargeable leave taken at the end of service after out-processing is complete. Request it on DA Form 31 using the “terminal leave” option. AR 600-8-10 directs that requests should normally be granted to prevent loss of accrued leave.⁸ It ends on the same calendar day as your discharge, ETS, or retirement date, and all administrative processing must be finished before you sign out.

If You Can’t Get Back on the End Date

Failing to return when your approved leave expires is not an administrative issue. Without a valid excuse, you’re considered absent without leave under Article 86 of the UCMJ, and consequences range from non-judicial punishment under Article 15, including reduction in rank, forfeiture of pay, and extra duty, up to court-martial for extended absences.¹⁰ If a canceled flight, natural disaster, or similar circumstance prevents a timely return, document everything and contact your unit immediately. A soldier who can’t return through no fault of their own has not committed the offense, but the burden falls on you to prove the delay was unavoidable.

1
Army.mil. Soldiers Advised to Look for IPPS-A Makeover of Legacy Paperwork
2
Defense Visual Information Distribution Service. IPPS-A Soldiers Guide
3
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. Absences Leaves and Passes AR 600-8-10
4
United States Army. DA Form 31 – Request and Authority for Leave
5
Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Submitting Absence Request (Post PAID System Update)
6
Joint Base San Antonio. Army Updates Military Leave Policy
7
My Army Benefits. Permanent Change of Station (PCS) CONUS
8
Military OneSource. Types of Military Leave and How It Works
9
My Army Benefits. Changes to Military Parental Leave Program in NDAA 2026
10
United States Army. United States Army Trial Defense Service Article 15 Fact Sheet