The federal per diem rates set the maximum daily allowance the government reimburses for lodging, meals, and incidental expenses on official travel. For fiscal year 2026, the standard rate across most of the continental United States is $110 for lodging and $68 for meals and incidentals, totaling $178 per day in areas without a special designation.1General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates The General Services Administration publishes these figures and refreshes them each October. Private employers and self-employed travelers use the same numbers as benchmarks for tax-advantaged reimbursement.
What the Rate Covers
Per diem has two pieces. The lodging allowance pays for your hotel room. The meals and incidental expenses allowance, usually called M&IE, covers breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a narrow category of incidentals.
Incidentals are smaller than most travelers assume. Under the Federal Travel Regulation, they cover tips to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, and hotel maids, local transportation between your hotel and a restaurant when meals aren’t available on-site, and the cost of mailing travel vouchers or paying a government charge card.2GovInfo. 41 CFR 300-3.1 – Definitions Laundry, dry cleaning, personal phone calls, and entertainment are not included. The incidental portion is $5 per day at every CONUS tier.3General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns
Standard and Non-Standard Area Rates
The $110 lodging and $68 M&IE figures are the CONUS standard, applied to most locations in the lower 48 states where travel costs are moderate. About 300 locations are designated non-standard areas with higher allowances. These are typically major cities, resort destinations, or places where seasonal demand pushes hotel prices well above the baseline. A trip to New York City, San Francisco, or Washington, D.C., for example, carries a lodging allowance well above $110. You can look up the exact rate for any destination by city, state, or ZIP code on the GSA’s per diem tool.1General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates
New rates take effect each October 1. The GSA generally announces them in mid-August, giving agencies roughly six weeks to prepare before the fiscal year turns over.
First and Last Day: The 75% Rule
You do not receive the full M&IE rate on your departure or return day. On those days you receive 75% of the applicable M&IE rate. At the standard $68 tier, that works out to $51.4eCFR. 41 CFR 301-11.20 – Meals and Incidental Expenses (M&IE) Reimbursement Amounts The same 75% applies to trips longer than 12 hours but less than 24.
The reduction is tied to the calendar day, not the hour you leave or arrive. A traveler departing at 6 a.m. and one departing at 4 p.m. receive the same reduced M&IE. Lodging is unaffected. If your first night falls in a high-cost city, you receive the full lodging rate for that location.
Deductions When Meals Are Provided
When the government or a conference registration fee provides a meal, you subtract that meal’s value from your M&IE for the day. At the standard $68 rate, the deductions are:
- Breakfast: $16
- Lunch: $19
- Dinner: $28
- Incidentals: $5, kept regardless of whether meals are provided
Deductions apply only when the government or a third party actually furnishes the meal. Complimentary hotel breakfasts and meals served on an airline do not require a deduction.3General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns The distinction trips people up. A conference lunch drops your M&IE by $19; a free continental breakfast at the hotel does not touch it.
Alaska, Hawaii, Territories, and Foreign Travel
CONUS rates do not apply to Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, or foreign destinations. Two other agencies handle those. The Defense Travel Management Office sets per diem for non-foreign locations outside the continental U.S., a category that includes Alaska, Hawaii, Guam, and Puerto Rico.5Defense Travel Management Office. Per Diem The Department of State’s Office of Allowances publishes foreign per diem rates through a searchable database covering cities worldwide.6U.S. Department of State. Per Diem Rates Foreign rates are stated in U.S. dollars and adjusted more often than CONUS rates to reflect currency swings and local cost changes.
Private Employer Use and Tax Treatment
Private companies are not required to follow GSA rates. Many do because the IRS treats reimbursements at or below the federal per diem as non-taxable when the employer runs what the IRS calls an accountable plan. An accountable plan requires three things:
- A business connection between the expense and the employee’s work.
- Adequate accounting of time, place, and business purpose within 60 days.
- Return of any amount above actual or allowable expenses within 120 days.
When those conditions are met, the employer does not report per diem as wages, and the employee owes no tax on it.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 – Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses That treatment is why so many private firms use per diem in the first place: no collecting individual food receipts, and reimbursements stay off the W-2.
If the employer pays above the federal rate and the employee keeps the excess, the overage becomes taxable income. The employer must withhold federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare on the excess and report it on the W-2. The portion at or below the federal rate stays non-taxable as long as the accountable plan rules are met.7Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 – Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses A more common failure is skipping the expense report entirely, or filing one without the required details. In that case, the whole per diem payment becomes taxable, even if it was below the federal rate.
The IRS High-Low Method
Rather than track GSA rates city by city, private employers can use the IRS high-low method, which sorts all CONUS locations into two buckets. For the period beginning October 1, 2025, the high-cost rate is $319 per day ($233 lodging, $86 M&IE), and the low-cost rate is $225 per day ($151 lodging, $74 M&IE). The incidentals-only rate is $5. These figures come from IRS Notice 2025-54. An employer that adopts the high-low method must apply it to all employees for the calendar year, though it can switch methods between years.
Self-Employed Travelers
Self-employed people can use the federal per diem, but only for meals. Lodging must be deducted based on actual costs with receipts.8Internal Revenue Service. Per Diem Payments Frequently Asked Questions Recordkeeping is the same as for anyone else: dates, destinations, and business purpose for every trip. The meal deduction is also subject to the standard 50% limit on business meals.
Receipts, Lodging Taxes, and Actual Expenses
For standard per diem claims, the paperwork is lighter than travelers expect. Lodging receipts are required regardless of amount and should show the hotel name, dates of stay, and an itemized charge breakdown.9eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 – Subsistence Expenses You do not need to save M&IE receipts under the standard method. Departure and return times still need to be recorded accurately, since those trigger the 75% first- and last-day reduction.
Lodging taxes in CONUS are not built into the per diem rate. They are reimbursed separately as a miscellaneous expense, but only on the portion of lodging that falls within the per diem cap.10U.S. General Services Administration. Frequently Asked Questions, Per Diem If your room costs $130 in a city with a $110 rate, the reimbursable tax is calculated on $110.9eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 – Subsistence Expenses Federal travelers should also present a tax exemption certificate at the hotel where applicable, since many states exempt the federal government from state and local lodging taxes.
Per diem is the default, but federal travelers facing genuinely unusual costs can request actual expense reimbursement. This applies when lodging or meals in a particular location significantly exceed the per diem rate because of unexpected circumstances, such as a natural disaster driving up hotel prices or a remote assignment with limited food options. Actual expense reimbursement usually requires advance approval from an authorizing official. The Federal Travel Regulation caps it at 300% of the per diem rate for the location, and there is no authority to exceed that ceiling.9eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 – Subsistence Expenses Under this method, every cost must be itemized, with receipts for lodging regardless of amount and for any single meal above $75.