How Much Per Diem Do You Get on Travel Days?

On the first and last day of a business trip, per diem on travel days pays 75 percent of the meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate for your destination, not the full daily amount. For FY2026, the standard rate across the continental United States is $68, so most travel days pay $51. The percentage is flat: it applies whether you leave at dawn or in the late afternoon, and it covers the entire M&IE allowance, not just the meal portion.¹

How the 75 Percent Rule Works

The Federal Travel Regulation at 41 CFR § 301-11.20 sets the reimbursement for partial travel days. On a trip lasting 24 hours or more, the departure day and the return day each pay 75 percent of the applicable M&IE rate. Every full day in between pays 100 percent.¹

The same 75 percent rate covers shorter trips. If your travel lasts more than 12 hours but less than 24 hours, you receive 75 percent of the M&IE rate for each calendar day you’re in travel status.¹ A same-day trip with enough hours still qualifies for a partial per diem, even without an overnight stay.

The reasoning is simple. On departure and return days, at least one meal happens at home. The flat 75 percent removes any argument about departure times and keeps the calculation uniform. A traveler on a 6 AM flight gets the same travel-day amount as one leaving after lunch.

Finding the M&IE Rate for Your Destination

The General Services Administration publishes M&IE rates for every county in the continental United States and updates them each fiscal year. For FY2026 (October 1, 2025, through September 30, 2026), any location without a specifically designated rate uses the standard $68 per day.² Higher-cost destinations sit in tiers running from $74 to $92.³

Look up your destination’s zip code or county on the GSA website. The rate is based on where you spend the night, not where you work during the day.⁴ At the $68 tier, your first and last travel days pay $51. At the $92 tier, those days pay $69.

International travel uses a separate set of rates published by the Department of State, adjusted more frequently to account for exchange-rate shifts.⁵ Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories come from the Department of Defense.⁴

Provided Meals Reduce Your Travel Day Amount

If a meal is furnished by the government, included in a conference registration fee, or otherwise provided at no personal cost, you subtract that meal’s allocated value from your M&IE reimbursement. The deduction uses the GSA breakdown amounts, not the actual cost of the food served.¹ Even if you skip the provided meal, the deduction still applies as long as it was available.

At the standard $68 tier, the GSA allocation looks like this:

Breakfast: $16
Lunch: $19
Dinner: $28
Incidentals: $5

On a travel day, the deduction comes out of your already-reduced 75 percent amount. The regulation sets a floor: meal deductions can never push your reimbursement below the incidental expense allowance, which is $5 at the standard tier.¹ That incidental piece is always protected.

Meals That Do Not Trigger a Deduction

Two common situations do not reduce your per diem. A complimentary hotel breakfast and any meal served by a common carrier such as an airline or train are both exempt from the deduction requirement.³ The free hotel breakfast buffet does not cost you $16 off your per diem.

When You Cannot Eat a Provided Meal

Your agency may let you claim the full M&IE amount if you couldn’t eat a government-furnished meal because of medical needs or religious dietary requirements and purchased a substitute instead. You generally need to request approval before traveling if you know the meals will be provided.¹

Working the Math on a Travel Day

Start with the destination’s full M&IE rate, take 75 percent, then subtract any provided meals using the GSA breakdown for that tier.

At the standard tier, the full rate is $68 and the travel day pays $51. If a conference provides lunch on that day, subtract $19 (the lunch allocation at the $68 tier), and your reimbursement drops to $32.

At a higher tier the math scales up. Say you’re heading home from a destination at the $79 M&IE tier and a government-hosted dinner is included on your return day. Your travel day rate is $59.25 (75 percent of $79). You then subtract the dinner allocation for the $79 tier from $59.25. The result is your maximum claim for that day’s meals and incidentals.

Lodging Is Not Reduced on Travel Days

The 75 percent cut applies only to meals and incidentals. Lodging follows separate rules and is reimbursed at actual cost up to the location’s maximum lodging rate, on travel days and on full days alike. Lodging taxes are typically reimbursable as a separate expense from the room itself.

If You’re Self-Employed

Self-employed travelers can use the federal M&IE per diem as a shortcut for deducting travel meals instead of tracking every receipt, and the same reduced rate applies on the first and last day of the trip.⁶

One restriction matters: self-employed individuals can use per diem only for meals and incidentals, not for lodging. Lodging has to be substantiated with actual receipts.⁷ The meal portion of the deduction is also subject to the standard 50 percent limitation on business meal expenses.⁶

W-2 employees whose employers do not reimburse travel are in a different position. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act eliminated the deduction for unreimbursed employee expenses starting in 2018, so if your employer doesn’t reimburse the trip, you generally can’t claim per diem on your own return.

1
eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 Subpart A – General Rules
2
Federal Register. Maximum Per Diem Reimbursement Rates for the Continental United States (CONUS)
3
U.S. General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns
4
U.S. General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates
5
U.S. Department of State. Per Diem Rates
6
Internal Revenue Service. Income and Expenses 2
7
Internal Revenue Service. Revenue Procedure 2019-48