This Treasury Financial Manual (TFM) chapter sets out provisions regarding the voucher date, deposit date, and funds availability date, as these terms apply to the deposit of public monies.

31 U.S.C. § 321

As provided by law, the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service) can designate commercial financial institutions and Federal Reserve Banks to serve as depositaries and agents of the Government and to provide collection services to federal entities. This chapter refers to “depositaries” and “agents” interchangeably. Financial institutions that have been designated as depositaries or agents of the Government deposit all revenue that the Fiscal Service collects. All revenue collected through a depositary or an agent has a voucher date, a deposit date, and a funds availability date.

6515.10—Voucher Date

The voucher date is the date that a federal entity's funds are credited to or to have been debited from a Department of the Treasury (Treasury) account. A federal entity uses this date for reconciliation with the Bureau of the Fiscal Service (Fiscal Service). Federal entities must treat this date as if it were the deposit date. Even in those situations where a federal entity is allowed to consider funds as deposited on the voucher date for accounting purposes, the actual deposit date is still used to determine the funds availability date.

6515.20—Deposit Date

The deposit date is the banking date that a depositary or an agent credits funds to a Treasury account. A depositary or an agent uses this date for reconciliation with the Fiscal Service.

6515.30—Funds Availability Date

The funds availability date is the banking date that deposited funds can be disbursed or otherwise withdrawn or transferred from a Department of the Treasury (Treasury) account at a depositary or an agent. The funds availability date can be early as the deposit date, but no earlier.

The focus of this chapter is on voucher dates, deposit dates, and funds availability dates, but these dates are often expressed as banking dates and can be associated with processing dates and bank posting dates as well.

6520.10—Banking Date

The banking date is that part of any calendar day that an office of a bank is open to the public for carrying on substantially all of its banking functions. The banking date excludes:

If January 1, July 4, November 11, or December 25 fall on a Sunday, the banking date also excludes the following Monday.

6520.20—Processing Date

The processing date is the banking date that deposit processing occurs. For instance, if a bank processes a transaction on a given Monday after the banking date cutoff time, the processing date of the transaction is considered to be Tuesday.

6520.30—Bank Posting Date

The bank posting date is the banking date that a depositary or an agent credits funds to or debits funds from a Treasury account. A depositary or an agent uses this date for reconciliation with the Fiscal Service. The deposit date is a type of bank posting date.

If the Fiscal Service or its depositaries and agents are unable to process transactions in a timely manner, the Fiscal Service works with the affected federal entity or entities to address the problem. Among other things, this may include changing the voucher date associated with the transaction.

Direct questions regarding this chapter to:

Department of the Treasury 
Bureau of the Fiscal Service

202-874-6935