Deductions from service pay and demands to repay an alleged overpayment

What is happening

Most servicemen learn about a deduction from a pay slip rather than from an order: the amount is simply smaller, with no explanation. It later turns out that the finance office decided you had been overpaid earlier — an allowance, combat pay, a regional coefficient or travel money — and is now taking it back in instalments.

The second common situation is a written demand to repay voluntarily, sometimes with a hint that otherwise the matter goes to court or the sum will be withheld from your final settlement. A demand on its own deducts nothing: without a lawful ground and an order, money cannot simply disappear from your pay.

Deductions also arise from material liability — lost property, a shortage, damaged equipment. Here the command is bound by limits on the amount and the time, and by the duty to hold an inquiry and establish your fault before anything is withheld.

What the law says

• Service pay and its components are set by the law on service pay (Federal Law 306-FZ); a finance office has no power to reduce the payment at its own discretion.
• A deduction is lawful only on a ground stated in the Pay Procedure (Ministry of Defence Order No. 727 of 6 December 2019) or in Article 1109 of the Civil Code: an enforcement document, a decision on recovery of damage, an arithmetical error. ‘We recalculated and decided’ is not a ground.
• Overpaid service pay is generally not recoverable where the overpayment arose through no fault of the serviceman and was not an arithmetical error — that is, where nothing was misrepresented.
• A serviceman's material liability is capped, and before any deduction the commander must hold an inquiry: without established fault and proven loss, recovery is unlawful.
• The total of all deductions from one month's payment is limited — your pay cannot be taken in full.
• The commander's decision and the finance office's actions are challenged in a military court, and Article 219(1) of the Code of Administrative Procedure allows three months, counted from the moment you learned of the deduction.

What we do

• We gather the documents — pay slips, orders on payments and allowances, finance office statements — and trace where the alleged overpayment came from.
• We check whether there is a lawful ground for the deduction and whether the cap set by Article 99 of Federal Law No. 229-FZ on Enforcement Proceedings has been observed.
• We prepare objections to the repayment demand and applications to the finance office and the commander.
• We apply to the military prosecutor where money is being withheld with no order and no inquiry.
• We challenge the recovery decision in the military court and seek the return of sums already deducted.
• We represent you in material liability proceedings, showing that there is no fault or no loss in the amount claimed.

What we need from you

• Pay slips for the disputed period, ideally for several months either side of the deduction.
• The demand, notice or letter from the unit about repayment, if you have it.
• Extracts from orders on allowances, official travel and participation in combat operations.
• Your contract, a service record certificate and the extract from the order on your appointment.
• The file of any inquiry into the alleged loss, together with your written explanations.
• A bank statement for the account into which your service pay is paid.