Prep now for PFD First-time applicants need a 2016 LES

Service members who are filing for the Permanent Fund Dividend for the first time with the purpose of establishing an indefinite Alaska residency should start printing their December 2016 leave and earnings statement through the Defense Finance and Accounting Service website.

“[When logging into] MyPay to view previous LESes, it only goes as far as 12 months,” said Tech. Sgt. Kinsie Bradstreet, 673d Comptroller Squadron financial services flight noncommissioned officer. “So when we reach January 2018, service members will no longer have access to the December 2016 LES.”

According to the PFD website, service members must arrive in Alaska on or before the Dec. 31 before the qualifying year, and must claim Alaska as their state of legal residence.

“To my knowledge, the first time they get here they have to change their state of residence with the intent of retiring making Alaska as their permanent home of record to qualify,” the Sandpoint, Idaho native said. “They have to provide a copy of the LES so they can prove they did so.

“Members wait the very last minute to file for their PFD and come to finance to request their LES,” Bradstreet said. “To minimize the wait time, service members can do that on the DFAS website.”

Airmen from the 673d CPTS customer service will take an average of 10 minutes or more to go through the process to print just one LES. “As soon as we have multiple people coming in and requesting those, it takes so much time,” said Bradstreet. “We just ask members to help themselves and start printing them, so it’s beneficial to the members to be proactive and not run into any issues [or delay filing].”

If members have a question and need the answer right away, Bradstreet advises them to go to virtual finance on the Air Force Portal.

“This is a good site to visit,” said Bradstreet. “A lot of the questions we get from an email or the phone are already available on the website. But we are also here to help them. If we can get the word out we can minimize the wait time, because PFD is a big deal in Alaska for both JBER and Eielson Air Force Base.”

You can get the PFD after leaving Alaska if you’re in the military, but the state will look more closely to decide whether or not to give it to you. They’ll look at how long you were in Alaska compared to how long you’ve been away.

They’ll also want to know how often you have returned “home” to visit, and for how long. Whether you’ve establishedties to another state will also be important.

The state will look at whether you put Alaska as a high choice on your assignment preference sheet.

If you’ve been gone more than five years, the state will presume you’re not a resident. Before applying for the PFD for the few years you are stationed in Alaska, you should consider the penalties if the state determines you never intended to stay.

If you claim residency and ask for the PFD, and later choose not to return, know the state of Alaska may come after you to repay all PFD proceeds you and your family members received.

You may also be fined $5,000, and face criminal prosecution. Here’s the bottom line: if you like Alaska enough to live here when your military service ends – if you left the military tomorrow for any reason and you would use your last military-paid move to settle somewhere in Alaska – then apply for the PFD.

If that’s not how you feel, don’t apply.

For information about eligibility, visit https://pfd.alaska.gov/Eligibility/Military-Eligibility.