Citation Nr: 21023681 Decision Date: 04/21/21 Archive Date: 04/21/21 DOCKET NO. 15-35 656A DATE: April 21, 2021 REMANDED Entitlement to an amount greater than $4,645.55 for retroactive payment of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation withholdings under the Concurrent Receipt of Retired and Disability Pay (CRDP) or Combat Related Special Compensation (CRSC) programs, to include repayment for periods outside of March 2014 to November 2014, is remanded. REASONS FOR REMAND The Veteran served on active duty from July 1964 to July 1967 and from July 1971 to July 1988. This matter comes before the Board of Veterans’ Appeals (Board) on appeal from a January 2015 administrative decision of a VA Regional Office (RO). The Board has previously considered and remanded this matter on numerous occasions. In February 2020, the Board explained that there had been an apparent partial resolution of the appeal when VA issued a May 2017 repayment award of $28,588.46 for the period from August 2011 through March 2017. Unfortunately, the Board noted in the February 2020 remand that the Audit Error Worksheets (AEWs) in the claims file included inconsistencies. Specifically, it explained that AEWs from July 2011 and August 2011 had conflicting statements regarding the amounts owed to the Veteran corresponding to the period from January 2009 to June 2011. The Board directed the Agency of Original Jurisdiction (AOJ) to provide an explanation regarding the discrepancies in those AEWs. The Board also directed the AOJ to obtain a February 3, 2010, letter from the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) that the Veteran had reported he had received when he submitted his February 2015 notice of disagreement. After the February 2020 remand, the record indicates that some sort of contact had been made to DFAS in February 2020 and again in April 2020. The record does not, however, include the precise nature of the request to DFAS on those occasions and curiously, the April 2020 response indicated DFAS had no records in the Veteran’s name. No explanation was attempted regarding the inconsistencies in the AEWs noted in the February 2020. Based on this evidence, the Board again remanded the matter in June 2020. The Board observed that the February 2010 letter from DFAS remained absent from the record and that no attempt was made to explain the AEWs conflicting information regarding the amounts owed to the Veteran. As such, it directed the AOJ to again complete the February 2020 Board remand directives. Since the June 2020 remand, the only indication that any effort was undertaken to comply with the Board’s directives was a September 2020 letter to the Veteran asking him to provide the February 3, 2010, DFAS letter. The Board does not find that this effort was in substantial compliance with its remand directives and another remand is unfortunately required. The matters are REMANDED for the following action: (Continued on the next page)   1. Contact DFAS and request all correspondence sent to the Veteran in 2010, to include the reported February 3, 2010, letter. 2. Provide an accounting or statement that explains the discrepancies in amounts due from VA in the July 2011 and August 2011 AEWs (as an example, the June 2011 amount due listed in the July 2011 AEW was $86.30, whereas the June 2011 amount due listed in the August 2011 AEW was $215.00). M. Tenner Veterans Law Judge Board of Veterans’ Appeals Attorney for the Board B. Whitelaw, Counsel The Board’s decision in this case is binding only with respect to the instant matter decided. This decision is not precedential and does not establish VA policies or interpretations of general applicability. 38 C.F.R. § 20.1303.