Treasury Dept. Rejects Over $300 Million in Improper Payment Requests Using New Verification System

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has blocked its first improper payment requests using a new automated payment verification system spearheaded by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

DOGE announced Tuesday that Treasury identified and rejected $334 million in improper payment requests due to missing budget codes, invalid budget codes, and budget codes with no authorization.

Invalid budget codes include budgets that had already been fully spent. Unauthorized codes refer to payments not linked to the budget.

Prior to DOGE’s intervention, the Treasury’s accounting code was optional for the $4.7 Trillion in payments that go out each year, making traceability almost impossible.

“This is a big deal,” DOGE Chief Elon Musk commented on X. 

Back in February, the Treasury Access Symbol (TAS) became a required field, increasing transparency into where U.S. tax dollars are going.

Treasury went live with its new payment verification system last week, resulting in the rejection of over $300 million in fraudulent accounting entries.