us treasury checks - Office of the Under Secretary of Defense ...

DoD Financial Management Regulation Volume 5, Chapter 7
November 2009
0701 GENERAL
CHAPTER 7
U.S. TREASURY CHECKS
070101. Authorized Purposes. Disbursing Officers (DOs) shall issue United States
(U.S.) Treasury checks only in accordance with applicable laws and regulations for the following
purposes: military pay and allowances; civilian payrolls; public vouchers for purchases and
services; travel claims; authorized advances to travelers and agents; deposits to the credit of the
Department of the Treasury; and exchanges for cash.
070102. Negotiability. All U.S. Treasury checks are payable up to 1 year from the
date of issue. This limited payability became effective October 1, 1989; checks issued prior to
October 1, 1989, became void as of October 1, 1990. Checks presented for payment that are not
negotiable due to the above criteria shall be verified for validity and replaced, if appropriate, as
prescribed in Chapter 8 of this volume.
070103. Check Types
A. Regular Issue Checks. Regular issue checks are standard checks with
preprinted check symbol, serial numbers, and magnetic ink character recognition (MICR)
encoding. Standard checks are the only instruments which DOs are authorized to draw on the
account of the Department of the Treasury.
B. Test Grid Checks. Test grid checks provide the format of the check by
grid lines for use in testing or aligning automated check-writing equipment. They are white with
a nonreproducible blue test grid (eight vertical lines per inch and ten horizontal character
positions per inch). Test grid checks are printed for government-wide use. Date and dollar
boxes are to be ignored since these boxes are not preprinted on checks. Test grid checks are not
for issuance.
C. Unnumbered Checks. Unnumbered checks are regular issue checks
without preprinted check symbol, serial numbers, and MICR encoding. These checks are for use
only by the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) sites. Unnumbered checks are
controlled by a preprinted Inventory Control Number (ICN). Special check-writing equipment is
required to issue unnumbered checks.
D. Specimen Checks. Specimen checks are identical to unnumbered checks
except that each specimen check is overprinted with the words “SPECIMEN CHECK -
NONNEGOTIABLE” in the signature space. Specimen checks should be safeguarded the same
as blank checks although they have “SPECIMEN - NONNEGOTIABLE” preprinted across
them. A blank check marked “Void - Not Negotiable, No Check Issued Under this Number”
should be used, if available, in the absence of a specimen check; otherwise, a piece of paper or
card of check size 7 3/8 inches in length and 3 1/4 inches in width may be used instead.
7-3