Military travel per diem is a daily, non-taxable allowance that reimburses service members and DoD civilian employees for lodging, meals, and incidental costs while on official travel. For fiscal year 2026, the standard CONUS meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate is $68 per day, with roughly 300 higher-cost localities carrying larger rates.1U.S. General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates Because per diem is non-taxable, the money doesn’t appear on your W-2 and doesn’t raise your tax bill.
What the Allowance Actually Covers
Per diem splits into three parts, and each behaves differently on your voucher.2Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations
Lodging is reimbursed at the actual cost of your hotel or temporary residence, up to a ceiling set for the location. Pay less than the ceiling and you get back only what you spent. Stay with friends or family and you generally can’t claim a lodging allowance for those nights.
Meals come as a flat daily stipend covering breakfast, lunch, and dinner. No per-meal receipts required. The standard CONUS M&IE rate for FY2026 is $68, though high-cost cities run higher — Houston, for example, carries an $80 M&IE rate.3U.S. General Services Administration. FY 2026 Per Diem Rates
Incidentals are a small daily amount — $5 at the standard CONUS rate — intended for costs like baggage tips and small laundry charges. Laundry and dry cleaning beyond that amount are separately reimbursable only for OCONUS travel.
Where Your Rate Comes From
Three agencies set rates. The General Services Administration handles the continental United States. The Department of Defense sets rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories. The Department of State handles foreign locations.1U.S. General Services Administration. Per Diem Rates Rates update annually at the start of each fiscal year in October, and the Defense Travel Management Office publishes consolidated tables you should check before departure.4Defense Travel Management Office. Per Diem
Locality matters. A TDY to a rural installation may pay the $68 standard M&IE rate, while a trip to New York’s Essex County during peak season carries an $86 M&IE rate and lodging ceilings above $230 per night.5U.S. General Services Administration. FY 2026 Per Diem Rates for New York Reimbursement is based on where you perform your work, not necessarily where you sleep.
Adjustments That Change What You Receive
The published locality rate is a starting point. Several rules can raise or lower the amount you actually collect.
Travel Days
On the day you leave your permanent duty station and the day you return, you receive only 75% of the locality M&IE rate.2Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations At the standard CONUS rate, that means $51 instead of $68 for M&IE on those days. Lodging reimbursement stays at the full ceiling if you need a room.
Government Quarters and Dining Facilities
When your orders direct you to government housing and a military dining facility serves all three meals, your meals allowance drops to the Government Meal Rate (GMR), which is well below the commercial rate. If the dining facility isn’t actually available, you need a statement of non-availability to claim the full commercial rate. Without that statement, you stay at the GMR even if you ate off-post.
When only one or two government meals are available, or when a deductible meal is provided (say, lunch built into a conference fee), the Proportional Meal Rate (PMR) applies. The PMR is the average of the GMR and the locality meal rate.6Defense Travel Management Office. Meal Rates Claiming the full commercial rate when you should be on the PMR is exactly the kind of error that draws audit attention.
Long TDY: The Flat Rate
Extended assignments at a single location trigger mandatory reductions. Travel days count toward the duration only if you arrive at the TDY location on your first day of travel.
- 31 to 180 consecutive days: 75% of the full locality per diem rate.
- 181 or more consecutive days: 55% of the full locality per diem rate.7Defense Travel Management Office. Flat Rate Per Diem for Long Term TDY Frequently Asked Questions
The reduction reflects the assumption that longer stays let you negotiate weekly or monthly lodging, buy groceries, and settle into a cheaper routine. A TDY that ends on exactly day 30 pays the full locality rate the entire time.
Actual Expense Allowance
When lodging genuinely exceeds the locality ceiling — common during major conferences, holidays, or in cities with tight hotel supply — your authorizing official can approve an Actual Expense Allowance (AEA). The AEA raises the lodging ceiling to as much as 300% of the locality per diem rate.8Defense Travel Management Office. Computing Per Diem with a 300% Actual Expense Allowance It requires advance authorization on your orders and receipts for actual costs.
PCS Per Diem Works Differently
Per diem during a Permanent Change of Station is not the same product as TDY per diem. Instead of reimbursing actual lodging up to a ceiling, PCS per diem pays a flat daily rate to partially offset meals and lodging between duty stations. For service members driving, that flat rate is $178 per day. When flying, it’s $51 per day, since you don’t need overnight lodging en route.
Dependents also draw per diem during a PCS move: 75% of the service member’s rate for those over age 12, and 50% for those under 12. Authorized travel days follow official mileage — one day for the first 400 miles, then one additional day for every 350 miles beyond that.
PCS moves now include a pet transportation allowance for service members who can’t bring a cat or dog to their next duty station because of government housing restrictions, breed prohibitions, or unaccompanied tours. Reimbursement is capped at $550 for CONUS moves and $2,000 for OCONUS moves, covering commercial pet shipping, hotel pet fees, and quarantine costs.9Defense Travel Management Office. New Reimbursement Available for Pet Transportation Costs
The Government Travel Charge Card Is Mandatory
The Travel and Transportation Reform Act of 1998 requires DoD personnel — military and civilian — to use the Government Travel Charge Card (GTCC) for official travel expenses.10Defense Travel Management Office. Government Travel Charge Card Program Using a personal card when you have an active GTCC can bring disciplinary action, and using the GTCC for personal purchases is prohibited.
When you file your voucher, split disbursement automatically sends the portion of your reimbursement that covers GTCC charges directly to the card vendor (Citibank), so the money doesn’t sit in your account first. On a DD Form 1351-2, you list GTCC charges in Block 1. Leave it blank and the travel office calculates lodging, rental car, and airfare charges from your orders and forwards that amount to the card company, with the rest going to your personal account.11Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Split Disbursement
Filing Your Voucher
DoD policy requires you to submit your voucher within five working days of returning from TDY. A late voucher doesn’t void your claim, but it attracts chain-of-command scrutiny and can trigger collection on any outstanding travel advance.
Most travelers file through the Defense Travel System (DTS), signing electronically with the Common Access Card.12Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Completing Your TDY Travel Voucher If your travel authorization was created in DTS, the voucher must be completed there too. When DTS isn’t available, you use DD Form 1351-2 with a written or digital signature.13Defense Travel Management Office. DoD DTS Best Practices Guide After a certifying official reviews and approves it, the voucher routes to the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) for payment. Funds typically reach your account within three to five business days of approval.14Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Voucher Payment Process Steps Confirm the deposit matches your approved amount.
Documentation You Need
The Joint Travel Regulations require specific documentation for every claim:
- Travel orders, which are the legal authorization for the trip and set the reimbursement window. No orders, no allowances.
- Lodging receipts for every night, no matter the amount.
- Itemized receipts for any single expense of $75 or more. Below $75, non-lodging receipts are generally not required.
- A statement of non-availability, if your orders directed you to government quarters or a dining facility that turned out to be unavailable.
Lost a receipt? You can submit a lost receipt statement — except for online-booked hotel receipts, which you can always reprint. Keep a running log of expenses during the trip. The difference between a smooth filing and weeks of back-and-forth usually comes down to whether you organized receipts as you went.
Travel Advances
DoD civilian employees can request a travel advance of up to 80% of projected lodging and meal costs plus 100% of budgeted reimbursable expenses like rental cars or conference fees, processed no earlier than 10 days before departure.15Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Travel Advance Payments Service members should check with their unit finance office; procedures vary by branch. Any advance you take must be reconciled on your voucher, or the amount can be deducted from your pay.
Personal Leave During an Official Trip
Your authorizing official can permit personal leave combined with an official trip, but the government will not pay more than it would have if you’d traveled directly between official locations.2Defense Travel Management Office. Joint Travel Regulations
For service members, per diem stops entirely on any day classified as leave or administrative absence. No partial-day exception. Civilian employees have slightly more flexibility: per diem is authorized when leave covers only part of a workday but not when it covers the whole day. Personal legs must be arranged at your own expense, and City Pair Program airfares can’t be used for those segments. Your travel authorization must clearly identify the personal portions and acknowledge that excess costs are yours.
What Won’t Be Reimbursed
The JTR’s default is unambiguous: if the regulations don’t specifically authorize an expense, it isn’t reimbursable. Items that trip travelers up most often:
- Trusted traveler memberships like TSA PreCheck or Clear, which are prohibited by statute.
- Rental car extras — prepaid fuel, prepaid roadside assistance, negligence-based cleaning fees, and damage payments.
- Rideshare cancellation fees.
- In-flight Wi-Fi unless specifically authorized and used for official business.
- Currency conversion losses.
- Furniture or RV purchases, including buying an RV to use as lodging.
- Entertainment, alcohol, and social event costs.
Penalties for False Claims
Accuracy on your voucher matters. Under federal law, knowingly submitting a false, fictitious, or fraudulent claim to any U.S. department carries up to five years in prison plus substantial fines.16Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 287 – False, Fictitious or Fraudulent Claims Most per diem fraud cases involve inflated lodging receipts, claiming per diem for days the traveler wasn’t at the TDY location, or billing for lodging while staying rent-free with someone. Even unintentional errors can trigger debt collection, so verify each daily lodging amount against the matching receipt before you sign.