What does this form do? DA Form 4850 is titled NONAPPROPRIATED FUNDS TIME AND ATTENDANCE REPORT, and its job is to nonappropriated funds time and attendance report. Anyone sent to find "the 4850" is being sent here. Everything below expands on that one function.
Which edition is on this page? The one dated 10/01/1995, status ACTIVE. On army forms the edition date is the version, printed on the page itself so any copy can be checked.
Who is responsible for this document? ASA (FM&C) maintains it, and not stated prescribes when it is used and where it goes. Completion falls to the person the entries describe or to the administrative staff holding the file. As for effort: unknown page(s), roughly unknown fields.
Download the form
What can I download here? The formats available are none published here. Each one reproduces the identical official layout. What separates them is the method of entry, nothing on the page itself.
Fillable or printable — which do I want? Fillable, if there is a keyboard involved: the boxes are interactive objects that store text. Printable, if there is a pen involved: the boxes are just lines on paper. Nothing else distinguishes them.
What do I open a pdf with? Any current browser will display one, and any dedicated reader will do better. For fillable use the reader is the safer choice, because some browser viewers accept typing and then discard it when the tab closes. Test one field and one save before committing.
Is it free? Yes, entirely. No registration stands between you and the file, and what arrives is exactly what the publisher released.
Where do you start? At the top of the page, with the identifying entries: name as your official records spell it, identification number, unit or organisation, date of preparation. Why first? Because those entries are what the form is filed and searched under later, and a record indexed on a misspelled name is a record nobody retrieves.
How should you work through the entry fields? With the tab key. It follows the order the form was constructed in, which is usually the order the page reads, so nothing gets passed over. Do check boxes work the same way? They are clicked rather than tabbed into. In an exclusive group, a second click elsewhere clears your first choice, as intended.
Can a field hold a long answer? Not if it is sized for one line — there is no wrap, and the excess prints missing while remaining visible as you type. So where does the extra text belong? In the remarks area or a continuation sheet. Should you skip fields that are irrelevant to your case? No. Mark them accordingly, because an empty field reads as an oversight rather than an answer.
When do you sign? Last, after every other entry is settled. Until the signature is applied the document is a draft, however complete it looks. What if more than one signature is required? Reviewing official, approving authority and witness sign in the order the blocks print, and each dates the form on the day of signing rather than the day it was prepared. What goes wrong most often? Mandatory fields left empty, transposed digits in identification numbers, dates with day and month reversed, and old entries surviving in a working copy that was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
Why does the form carry a Privacy Act statement? Because personal information is being collected, and the statement declares the authority, the purpose, who else routinely sees the data, and whether answering is required or optional. Is it worth reading? Read it before you fill the fields it governs, not after. Does it change how you keep the file? It should — a filled copy is a personal record and gets the handling such records receive.
Where do you send it? To the destination the prescribing directive names, which may be a specific office, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's file. Is a copy worth keeping? Always, and taken before submission. How long does the receiving office keep it? For the period the records schedule for the series prescribes, regardless of local custom.
What if this form is not the only one you need? Search by series and number. Within the DA series, forms under the same proponent or the same prescribing directive tend to be required as a set, and anything named on the face of one normally accompanies it. Are continuations part of that? They are, along with covers and transmittals, and all of them are collected in advance rather than after a query.
When is an edition replaced? When the proponent revises the form and publishes a new edition date. What should you do with a copy kept on your own machine? Check its date against the edition in force before reusing it. Does the change reach backwards? It does not; work already completed on an earlier edition remains valid as filed.
What exactly is this site? A place to download reproductions of published Department of the Army documents. Is it part of the Department of the Army? No — it is independent, issues no forms of its own, and has no authority over any of them. Can it tell you whether your completed form will be accepted? It cannot, and nothing written here is legal advice. Who answers the real questions? ASA (FM&C) or the administrative office servicing your unit, on any question of entry, requirement or eligibility.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 4850?
- NONAPPROPRIATED FUNDS TIME AND ATTENDANCE REPORT
- Which edition is current?
- 10/01/1995
- Who is responsible for this form?
- ASA (FM&C)
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- No file published here
Publisher notes
- 44-CRITICAL ITEM