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Guide · The free voucher checker

Why vouchers get returned: the six checks the free checker runs

The checker reads a completed Excel voucher in your browser and flags the things funders send back. It is a fixed set of rules, not AI. This page lists each check, what it looks for, and why a funder returns a voucher over it.

How the checker works

You pick the funder the voucher is for and upload the workbook you have already filled in. The file is read in your browser and never uploaded. It is not stored, and nobody at Prove It sees it. The checker reads Excel workbooks (.xlsx or .xls); a PDF or a scan cannot be parsed.

Results come back in two groups: likely problems, which are the things a funder's manual says it will not accept, and worth checking, which are figures that look inconsistent and deserve a second look before filing. Each result names the sheet and cell it came from. A third group, headed Also true for the funder you picked, lists that funder's recurring errors whether or not anything was detected.

If you leave a work email after a result, a person, not a sequence, replies within one business day with what each flag means on that funder's voucher and the fastest way to fix it. Asking for that stores your email, the funder you picked, how many things flagged and the names of the rules — never the file, a cell reference, or any figure from it.

1. An unallowable cost appears as a charged line item

The checker looks for wording on the voucher that maps to a cost the funder's own manual lists as unallowable, and flags it only when there is an amount on the same row. A term sitting in a lookup list with no amount against it is not flagged. Each term is checked only for the funders whose manual actually names it, so an alcohol line is flagged on a DYCD voucher and not on a DHS one.

Why it gets returned. The funder's manual names the cost as one it will not reimburse. A voucher carrying it is either returned for correction or paid short of the amount claimed, and the line is a routine audit finding later.

2. A fringe rate above the funder's ceiling

Wherever a cell mentions fringe, the checker reads the percentages on that row and the rows beside it. A rate written as 0.26 and one written as 26% are read the same way. Anything above the ceiling in the table is flagged as a likely problem.

Five funders publish the ceiling as a hard cap — HRA, DOP, DYCD, MOCJ and ACS — and for those a rate above it is a likely problem: the flag says that exceeding it needs prior written approval with supporting documentation. Every other funder in the table publishes no fixed fringe ceiling. For them the number is the threshold the checker reviews against, not a rule the funder wrote down, so a rate above it comes back as worth checking, with a note to confirm the rate against your award agreement and audited actuals.

Why it gets returned. Fringe is claimed as a rate on salaries, so a rate above the ceiling overstates every personnel line on the voucher at once. HRA's ceiling is the clearest case: it is a real published number, and going above it needs prior approval with plan summaries or actuarial reports.

3. An allocation column that does not total 100%

When a column header contains a percent sign, "percent" or "alloc", the checker adds up the rates directly beneath it, stopping at the first gap. It only does this when the column really holds rates rather than dollars. If the total lands away from 100% the column is flagged as worth checking. If your sheet splits a person across a row rather than down a column, the flag does not apply and can be ignored.

Why it gets returned. Allocation across every contract a person is charged to has to come to exactly 100%. On a DYCD PS schedule, splitting someone 60/60 across two contracts is the second most common rejection.

4. A total that does not match the figures above it

For any row labelled "Total" or "Grand total", the checker sums the values in the column above the total, tolerating the blank spacer row that usually sits above one, and compares the two. A difference of more than 5% and more than one dollar is flagged as worth checking. A column that already contains its own subtotals, where the sum lands near double the total, is left alone.

Why it gets returned. A hand-typed total that no longer matches its column is the kind of thing a funder's fiscal reviewer catches on the first pass, and the whole voucher comes back for it. The flag says to confirm rather than to correct, because subtotal rows inside the range can explain the gap.

5. A header field that looks blank

The checker looks for the labels a voucher header normally carries: contract number, provider, period and vendor name. If one of them has no value beside it or beneath it, and the sheet otherwise holds figures, it is flagged as worth checking.

Why it gets returned. Funders routinely return vouchers missing contract or period identifiers. The figures may be right, but without the contract and period the funder cannot post them.

6. Funder advisories — "Also true for…"

These are the recurring errors that do not show up as a scannable keyword. They are shown for the funder you picked whether or not anything was detected, so a clean result still tells you what to look at by hand.

NYC DYCD

• Title codes must match DYCD's own list. A staff title that is not on DYCD's published title-code list is one of the most common reasons a PS schedule is returned.
• Allocation across contracts must total 100%. Splitting one person 60/60 across two contracts is the second most common rejection.

NYC ACS

• Distorting factors belong on their own lines. Client stipends, client transportation, incentive payments, rent, subcontracts over $25,000 and equipment over $5,000 must be budgeted separately and excluded from the indirect base.
• ACS defaults indirect to 10%, not 15%. If no rate is on file, ACS applies a 10% de minimis, not the 15% federal floor other city agencies use.

NYC DOE

• Category and Item Label are a paired vocabulary. The Item Label has to be one DOE recognizes for that Category, not your internal chart-of-accounts wording.
• Every ledger line needs its DBN. A provider working across several schools files per DBN rather than one blended total.

NYC DHS

• DHS uses a 10% de minimis. Most DHS shelter contracts are city tax-levy funded, so the federal 15% floor does not apply.
• Maintenance work has a $5,000 bid threshold. Much lower than the $25,000 threshold for goods; it catches providers out regularly.

NYC DOHMH

• Federally-funded subrecipients drop to a $3,500 estimate threshold. Not the $25,000 that applies elsewhere. A common audit finding.
• The crosswalk is what gets scrutinized. It is the document that proves a cost belongs to the budget line you charged it to.

NYC DFTA (NYC Aging)

• Everything must serve participants aged 60+. Staff time spent on non-eligible participants is not chargeable.
• $5,000–$25,000 needs three written estimates. At or above $25,000: five solicitations, minimum three bids, plus DFTA review.

NYC HRA

• Gross pay and amount requested are different numbers. Gross pay is across every contract the person works on; the request is this contract's share only. Conflating them is the most common error on the PS form.
• Fringe above 26% needs prior approval. HRA publishes a real ceiling, with plan summaries or actuarial reports required to exceed it.

NYS OCFS

• Report in OCFS's categories, not your own. OCFS maps your budget lines to its own narrower official category set.

IOLA Fund (NYS)

• IOLA's fiscal year runs April 1 – March 31. "1st Quarter" means April–June. Filing on a calendar-quarter assumption misaligns every period.
• There is no indirect line on the voucher. Overhead must be embedded within Salary, Fringe, or Operating Expenses/Other.

NYS UCS — Judiciary Civil Legal Services

• Indirect above 15% of direct costs requires UCS approval. Stated on the UCS Budget File template itself.
• Reports are due within 30 days of quarter end. A tighter turnaround than most city contracts allow.

Health Research, Inc. (NYSDOH fiscal agent)

• HRI is the fiscal agent, not the funder. Program rules come from whichever NYSDOH program funds the contract, and they vary.

NYC SBS (Small Business Services)

• Indirect is capped at 10% of a reduced base. The lesser of 10% of the annual budget — after Bonus, Client Transportation & Stipends, Equipment over $5K, Incentives, Rent and Sub-Contractors over $25K come out — or your own approved rate (SBS Fiscal Manual, Sept. 2024).
• Fringe is your own worksheet rate, not a published cap. SBS computes the allowable rate from the organization's actual wage and fringe costs on its Fringe Rate Worksheet.

NYC MOCJ (Criminal Justice)

• Fringe above 35% prompts a documentation request. Stated in MOCJ's own Fiscal Manual (effective July 1, 2026); have the plan summaries ready before you file.
• Cumulative line changes of 10% or more need a POCR. A formal budget modification in PASSPort on MOCJ's own template; even a $10 travel voucher needs full backup.

NYC DOP (Probation)

• Fringe must sit between the FICA rate and 30% of salaries. A published floor and ceiling in DOP's own Fiscal Manual (revised June 2025); the shared NYC HHS Cost Manual governs wherever the two conflict.
• Equipment stays Property of NYC. Anything bought with DOP funds is tracked and disposed of under DOP's inventory rules at contract end.

NYS OMH

• Agency administration is allocated by Ratio Value, not a negotiated rate. CFR Manual §15.0 — the OMH-approved allocation methodology, not a federally negotiated indirect rate.
• A late CFR can hold Medicaid payments. Outstanding Consolidated Fiscal Report filings can trigger Medicaid payment withholding.

NYS DOL — WIOA

• Incentives, not bonuses. WIOA allows milestone-based participant incentive payments within the local board's caps; "bonus" wording gets a line questioned.
• Closeout is 90 days after the period of performance. 2 CFR 200.344(b) — the subrecipient deadline, not the 120 days the prime gets.

Federal HHS — Head Start

• Single Audit required over $1,000,000 in federal expenditures. Counting all federal awards, not just this one.

NYS AmeriCorps (ONCS)

• Match escalates with program year. 24% in years 1–3, 26% in years 4–6, 28% in years 7–9 and 30% from year 10; every claim tracks federal funds and grantee match side by side.
• Whole dollars, no miscellaneous or contingency lines. Fractional amounts and undefined items are named as unallowable in the ONCS Financial Management Guide.

NYSED (NYS Education Department)

• Whole dollars only on the FS forms. The FS-10-F carries one itemization sheet per budget code (15, 16, 80, 90, 40, 45, 46, 49, 30, 20) and rolls them up on the Final Expenditure Summary in whole dollars.
• FS-25 requests are capped at 90% of the budget. Cumulative Requests for Funds may not exceed 90 percent of the grant budget; the balance is released on the FS-10-F, generally due 90 days after a federal project ends and 30 days after a state one.
• Code 90 runs on a modified direct cost base. Equipment, minor remodeling, BOCES purchased services, the portion of each subcontract above the threshold on your approved FS-10, and flow-through funds come out before the indirect rate is applied.

NYS OASAS

• Claims run through the CFRS software, not a spreadsheet. The Consolidated Budget Report and Consolidated Claim Report are generated only by the approved CFRS software and uploaded; a workbook is your backup, not the filing.
• Lines 6 and 12 of the DMH-2 take no entry. Vacation leave accruals (line 6) and adjustments/non-allowable costs (line 12) stay blank; agency administration (line 11) is allocated by the CFRS ratio-value method, not a negotiated percentage.

NYS DCJS (Criminal Justice Services)

• One PDF per contract, and never add rows. Compile the Claim for Payment, Fiscal Cost Report and every Detailed Itemization into a single PDF, one email per contract, and use an additional itemization form rather than adding rows to a protected one.
• The DCJS Number is for GMS contracts only. Statewide Financial System (SFS) contracts do not have one; the Invoice Number is the contract number plus the report period (C123456 1-3/25) and the Purchase Order is the contract number.
• A category has to exist in Attachment B first. DCJS only pays expenses that were incurred and paid, sit in a category the approved budget already contains, and have not been claimed on any other grant.

NYS OVS — VOCA Victim Assistance

• Budget and claims live in SFS, not a workbook. Use the category names SFS presents in Budget Properties; the Fringe & Prorating worksheets are the one Excel attachment.
• OVS reporting time is capped at 20% of any one FTE. VOCA-Required Reporting time (budget negotiation, amendments, Fiscal Cost Reports, PMT reports) may not exceed 20% of an FTE, per Appendix B of the RFA.
• Equipment at $1,000 or more gets an OVS inventory decal. Each item purchased with grant funds needs a unique inventory number, a lower threshold than the $5,000 most funders use.

NYS DHSES — Nonprofit Security Grant (NSGP)

• Management & Administration is capped at 5%, on actual costs. M&A may not exceed five percent of the NSGP funds awarded and must rest on actual expenses or known contractual costs; a flat percentage of the award without justification is not allowed.
• Equipment must be on the Authorized Equipment List. Only select AEL items are allowable, installation may trigger EHP review, and construction or renovation needs FEMA's prior written approval.

NYC DCLA — Cultural Development Fund

• There is no expense voucher for a CDF award. Payment runs on the Payment Checklist in the DCLA grants portal, not a cost-reimbursement voucher, so this check can only look at your internal spreadsheet.
• Requirements step up with award size. Over $5,000 a Doing Business Data Form; $25,000 or more EFT enrollment through PIP; $100,000 or more the insurance package and CEO/CFO certifications; Member Items add a Lobbying Certification on DCLA's own form.

HUD Continuum of Care (CoC)

• Project administrative costs are capped at 10%, including indirect. Indirect charged to project administration is added to its direct costs when testing the 10 percent limit (24 CFR 578.63(c)); a non-UFA recipient must also share at least 50 percent of admin funds with subrecipients.
• Everything except leasing needs a 25% match. Cash or in-kind from sources other than CoC Program funds, grant by grant; in-kind services need an MOU signed before grant execution (§578.73).

Federal DOJ — OJP (Justice Programs)

• Draw down only what you will disburse within 10 days. Funds not spent or disbursed within 10 days must be returned to the awarding agency.
• SF-425 reports are due January 30, April 30, July 30 and October 30. A delinquent FFR puts an automatic hold on remaining funds in ASAP; the final FFR is due within 120 days after the period of performance ends.
• Budget moves over 10% need a GAM. A Grant Award Modification is required when cumulative changes exceed 10 percent of the total award (awards of $250,000 or more), when money moves into a category not in the original budget, or for any change to the indirect cost category.

What the checker cannot see

The checker only reads the workbook you give it. It does not have your budget, your payroll register or your award agreement, so it can tell you that a sheet is internally inconsistent or carries a term a funder will not pay for, but not whether a figure is the right figure. It matches wording, so a cost described in words the rules do not know will pass. A clean result means none of the six checks fired, not that the voucher will be accepted.

Inside the platform, the same funder rules are applied while each voucher is built from your own budget, payroll and invoices, and a person reviews every line before it posts.