You need DD Form 2560, and this page gives you the blank plus the steps for handling it. Start with what the form does: Advance Pay Certification/Authorization. Its official title is DD Form 2560, Advance Pay Certification/Authorization, March 1990.
Then look at the edition date: not stated, publisher status not stated. After that, ask whether the form covers your situation. It almost certainly does regardless of your branch — DD forms run Department-wide rather than through a single service.
After that, turn to timing. The requirement comes from not stated; the form is maintained by not stated. Local implementing instructions fill in the dates, so check with the office that will receive your copy.
Before you download, pick your approach — editable file or printed page. What follows covers the formats first, then the entries, then what you do afterward.
Start at the header. Complete your identification before anything else, then work through the main entries, then finish at the certification. Skipping around causes contradictions between the top of the form and the bottom.
Before your first entry, look at the corner of the page and compare the printed date with not stated. If they do not match, stop and download again. Old copies circulate in shared drives for years, and a DD form is revised centrally for every service at once, so a superseded blank may not carry the fields your reviewer expects.
If a particular field puzzles you, read the instructions printed on the form first, then go to not stated. When the two disagree, follow the directive.
Download the form
Begin by choosing a file. Available here: PDF. Plan for 2 pages and about 42 entries.
Download the pdf first. After it opens, test a field with your cursor. Fillable means you type, tab to the next box, and save your work inside the file. Printable means the page is a flat blank, so print it and write your answers in ink.
Type when you can. Printed entries stay legible after the form is scanned, copied and forwarded, and handwriting often does not survive that trip. If you must write by hand, use block capitals and press firmly.
Handle xfdl in two steps. First confirm you have IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or a compatible reader on your machine; ordinary pdf software will report the file as broken. Once the viewer is running, download and fill the form.
You will not be charged for any of these; the whole set is free. Before you start entering data, save the file to your computer and open it there. Fields behave far more reliably in a desktop reader than in a browser preview.
What the form asks for
- Part 1 - Request. 1. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- 3. Grade.
- 4. I request: Press space bar to mark X in first box if a. one month advance pay, or second box if b. more than 1 month but less than 3 months basic pay less deductions.
- If b., specify amount.
- 5. I request a repayment schedule of: X first box if a. 12 months or less, or second box if b. 13 - 24 months.
- If a., specify number of months.
- If b., specify number of months.
- 6. I request payment of the advance pay: X first box if a. within 30 days of PCS or 60 days after reporting to my next PDS, second box if b. 31 - 90 days before my PCS, or third box if c. 61 - 180 days after arrival at my PDS.
- 8.a. Amount, line 1.
- Amount, line 2.
- Amount, line 3.
- Amount, line 4.
- Amount, line 5.
- Amount, line 6.
- 9. Total expense amount.
- Part 2 - Certification of Expenses. 7. Expense. a. Line 1.
- 7.b. Expense, line 2.
- 7.c. Expense, line 3.
- 7.d. Expense, line 4.
- 7.e. Expense, line 5.
- 7.f. Expense, line 6.
- 10. Explanation of the circumstances where greater-than-normal expenses might be incurred or circumstances requiring an early or late payment of advance pay.
- Part 3 - Justification for more than 12 months payback. 11. Number of dependents.
Submit the completed form through the channel not stated or your local guidance specifies. Save a copy for yourself before it leaves your hands, whether that means a scan, a photograph or a duplicate file.
If the form points you to another document, you can find it by number alone. DD numbering runs across the whole Department, so you do not need to work out which service issued it — one number, one form, everywhere.
Watch out for one trap here. If your instructions cite a DA form as well, do not assume the numbers are connected. DA numbering belongs to the Army alone; DD numbering belongs to the Department and is administered by not stated or another Department office. The same number in each system means two unrelated forms, so read the prefix before you download.
Plan to repeat this step whenever the form comes up again. Revisions follow directive changes, changes in what data is collected, and updates to notice language. Since nobody notifies you, check not stated at download and you have covered it.
Before you go, note what is not covered here. You have the blank form and instructions for completing it; you do not have legal guidance, and no statement on this page determines what any office will do with your submission. Direct those questions to not stated, to the personnel office that serves you, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2560?
- DD Form 2560, Advance Pay Certification/Authorization, March 1990
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?