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March/April 2025
January, February, March - success
We are very happy to report that GEARS successfully generated payments for January 2, February 3, and March 3, 2025. The associated reimbursement and payment reports were promptly reviewed and posted. The processing dates for the GEARS runs are 2024-12-18 for January 2nd, 2025-01-21 for February 3rd, and 2025-02-19 for March 3rd payments. Please refer to these dates when accessing the GEARS -603 and/or -620 reports.
As a reminder, you will occasionally see off-cycle run dates within the listing of Expense Processing Dates. Only those agencies included in the off-cycle runs will generate reports related to those runs and they will be notified of the appropriate Expense Processing Date of the reports.
Only one a month
There is one (and only one) regularly scheduled monthly GEARS Expense Processing job. The GEARS Processing Schedule is found at GEARS Processing and Payment Schedule | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Each month’s Expense Processing Date is listed as soon as the GEARS run is reviewed and accepted. Please refer to this schedule to identify the regular monthly GEARS Expense Processing Dates.
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So long, Calendar Year 2024
Get those final expenses in by March 25
The majority of contracts on GEARS are calendar year contracts. Currently, DHS Accounting personnel and program area staff are working on funding reconciliation and closeout finalization of 2024 calendar year contracts. Please ensure all the final expenses for the CY 2024 State and County Contracts are submitted by March 25, 2025.
We are taking extra precautions to make sure we have a seamless and precise closeout for the calendar year 2024, and to prevent any interruptions to other 2025 payments. Some things you can do to help with this process:
- Reconcile your accounting records to the GEARS Expenditure reports submitted. Ideally, agencies have been doing this on a monthly basis or at least on a quarterly basis, as required in the grant agreements.
- Verify expenditures reported were properly processed and paid by reviewing your agency’s GEARS-603 and/or -620 reports.
- Submit any necessary final expenditures or adjustments to previously reported expenditures (increases or decreases) on your final GEARS Expenditure report form. Final report due dates are established in your agency’s grant agreement. Grant close-out periods by profile are listed on the 2024 Listing of CARS/GEARS Profile Close Out Dates which is available from a link near the bottom of the GEARS home page, Grant Enrollment, Application and Reporting System (GEARS) | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. Final reports are due no later than the last day of the grant close-out period.
- If you have questions or concerns, contact the GEARS team promptly at DHS600RCARS@dhs.wisconsin.gov using the subject line Agency #-Agency Type-Contract Year-FINAL-Report Month & Year-Agency Name.
- Understand that the GEARS Team’s response may take a little longer than normal due to the increased number of expenditure reports and questions received during the calendar year close-out period.
Final reports with an end date of 12/31/2024
Final reports for GEARS profiles with a contract end date of 12/31/2024 and with a:
- 45-day closeout period were due mid-February. Reports received on or before 2/15/2025 were included in the February GEARS regular run, processing date of 2025-02-19.
- 60-day closeout period were due at the end of February. Reports received timely will be included in the March GEARS regular run.
- 90-day close-out period are due at the end of March and those received timely will be processed in the April GEARS regular run.
Final reports for the calendar year 2024 that are submitted on time and have not been previously processed will undergo standard processing in the April GEARS run. These reports will be included in the May 1st payment cycle. Furthermore, there may be special GEARS runs over the next three months to handle other closing adjustments.
Hello, Calendar Year 2025
Sign your contracts
- Contracts are activated in GEARS only after they are signed by both the grantee and DHS. Any costs incurred without a signed contract will remain the responsibility of the local agency.
- Only activated contracts are shown on the GEARS reports and are reimbursed costs. Contracts in pending status are not shown on your GEARS reimbursement reports (the GEARS-603 and -620 reports).
Reporting expenses
Please remember to download the expenditure reporting form from the GEARS website to ensure you have the most recent version. You can find the form here.
Agencies may report costs to DHS once they know their GEARS agency number and type, the profile(s) where costs should be reported, and the contract year. Expenditures reported against contracts in pending status are shown on the GEARS-603 and -620 reports, but they are not reimbursed until the contract is active. GEARS staff will send an e-mail to notify agencies if a profile on an expense report does not have an active contract in the system. This email is a reminder that payments will not be issued until:
- an active contract is in the system, and;
- the reported expenditure report falls within the timeframe of that active contract.
If you receive that email and think that the agency should already have a fully executed contract (signed by the agency and DHS), please double check the data on the expense report. Make sure that there were no errors on agency type, contract year, report period, or profile ID.
Where to find helpful GEARS information and how to contact us
Please visit the GEARS website at Grant Enrollment, Application and Reporting System (GEARS) | Wisconsin Department of Health Services to access the GEARS Payment Processing Schedule, CARS/GEARS Reports (603, 610, 620, GEARS Payment Report, and GEARS Profile List), Expenditure Reporting information and instructions, program funding sources listing and profile closeout dates, the CARS/GEARS Manual, and much, much more!
You can find our contact information on the GEARS home page in the left menu. You can get there directly here: GEARS: Contacts | Wisconsin Department of Health Services. By using the listed contact addresses on that page as well as formatting your subject line as suggested, you help us respond to you more quickly.
You can also sign up to receive GEARS Newsletters by clicking on the “Join our email list” link on the GEARS website. Grant Enrollment, Application and Reporting System (GEARS) | Wisconsin Department of Health Services
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