PS Form 1011 Travel Advance Request: Filing, Limits, and Repayment

PS Form 1011, the Travel Advance Request and Itinerary Schedule, lets an eligible USPS employee draw cash before an authorized business trip so lodging, meals, and transportation don’t come out of pocket. To use it, you complete the form in the USPS Online Forms (OLF) application with your trip dates, destination, purpose, and estimated expenses; route it to your supervisor and the approving official for signatures; and submit it at least 14 days before domestic departure.¹

Who Can Use PS Form 1011

The advance is for bargaining unit employees who do not hold an individually billed government travel charge card and who must travel away from their duty station for official business or training.¹

If you are a bargaining unit employee who does hold a travel card, you don’t file Form 1011. You use the card’s ATM feature instead, which allows withdrawals of up to $50 per day of official travel with a $350 weekly cap.¹

Nonbargaining employees, generally management and supervisory staff, are expected to use their travel cards and cannot receive a cash advance through this form.

How Much You Can Request

Handbook F-15 sets two ceilings based on whether lodging is provided at your destination:

Lodging provided: up to $1,000 to cover meals, per diem, and incidentals.
Lodging not provided: $1,000 plus the cost of your lodging, including taxes.¹

Request only what you expect to spend. An inflated request slows approval and leaves a larger balance to reconcile when you return.

Filling Out the Form

PS Form 1011 is submitted through the USPS Online Forms (OLF) application on the internal network. The mail-in option through the former Scanning and Imaging Center closed in 2016.² If you print a hard copy for any reason, use ink and initial any erasure or change to a total.³

Traveler and Trip Details

Check “Regular” for a standard business trip or training. Check “Relocation” only if the advance is tied to a permanent change of station, in which case you also enter the relocation phase and the travel order number from your PS Form 178.³

Enter your full name (first, middle initial, last) and Social Security number. Add the finance number of the office being charged for the trip, the mailing address of your official duty station, and a phone number where you can be reached at your temporary duty station.³

Itinerary

Enter your departure date under “From” and your return date under “To.” Describe your mode of transportation: air, bus, train, or privately owned vehicle. There is space for two legs; if your trip has more, use the designated continuation line. List each destination city and state your business purpose clearly enough that someone unfamiliar with the assignment can see why the trip is necessary.³

Estimating Your Expenses

Build the estimate in three parts: lodging, meals and incidentals, and transportation. This is where most errors happen and where approving officials look hardest.

Lodging and Per Diem

USPS travel reimbursement follows GSA per diem rates, which vary by destination. For fiscal year 2026 (October 2025 through September 2026), the standard CONUS rate, which applies to any city without a special designation, is $110 per night for lodging and $68 per day for meals and incidentals. About 300 non-standard areas, mostly major cities and resort destinations, carry higher rates, so check the GSA per diem lookup before you estimate.⁴

On the first and last day of travel, you receive 75 percent of the daily M&IE rate, which is $51 at the standard level.⁵ Multiply nightly lodging by the number of nights, then add full-day M&IE for the middle days and 75 percent for your first and last.

Transportation and Mileage

If you’re driving a privately owned vehicle, estimate the round-trip mileage and multiply by the federal rate. For 2026, that rate is 72.5 cents per mile.⁶ For air, bus, or train, use the expected ticket cost. There is also space for miscellaneous transportation like taxis, rideshares, and parking. Add these figures and enter the total in the expense grid.

Submitting the Form

Sign the form and route it to your immediate supervisor, who checks that the trip is authorized and the estimates are reasonable, then forwards it to the approving official with budget authority to release the funds.

Timing matters. For domestic travel where you already hold a valid passport (if one is needed), Handbook F-15 requires submission at least 14 days before the expected departure date. For international travel without an official passport, add at least 45 days plus whatever time the passport office needs to process the application.¹ Once the accounting system clears the advance, funds are typically deposited electronically.

Closing Out the Advance After the Trip

When you return, reconcile the advance by filing PS Form 1012, the Travel Voucher. This compares your actual expenses against the money you received up front.⁷ If your expenses ran higher than the advance, USPS reimburses the difference. If the advance exceeded your actual costs, you owe the balance back.

For bargaining unit employees without a travel card, the advance is automatically deducted from the reimbursement calculated on the voucher. Any remaining balance can be repaid by personal check or money order payable to the U.S. Postal Service; include your Social Security number and attach a memo directing the payment to your outstanding advance balance.¹

What Happens If You Don’t Repay on Time

If an advance stays outstanding for 120 days or more after your trip ends, the IRS treats the entire amount as reportable compensation. It becomes subject to federal income tax, Social Security (FICA), and Medicare withholding, so you owe taxes on money that was meant as a temporary loan.¹

USPS can also recover the debt through payroll deductions. If you separate from the Postal Service by retiring, resigning, or being let go, any unpaid advance comes out of your final salary checks.¹ Federal debt collection rules authorize interest on delinquent amounts and a penalty of up to 6 percent per year on any portion more than 90 days past due.⁸ Repeated failures to reconcile on time can also cost you future travel advance privileges.

File your PS Form 1012 as soon as you return, attach any payment owed, and close the advance out.

1
United States Postal Service. Handbook F-15 Travel and Relocation
2
United States Postal Service. eIWS Online Forms Application Replaces the Scanning and Imaging Center
3
United States Postal Service. Handbook F-15 Travel and Relocation
4
U.S. General Services Administration. GSA Per Diem Rates
5
U.S. General Services Administration. FY 2026 Per Diem Rates
6
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Sets 2026 Business Standard Mileage Rate at 72.5 Cents Per Mile, Up 2.5 Cents
7
United States Postal Service. Policy Reminder: Details in Excess of One Year
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 31 – Section 3717