Per diem · rates of GSA FY2027
First and last day per diem: the 75% rule
Enter the M&IE rate and the number of calendar days: the tool applies three quarters on the two travel days and the full rate in between.
Published by Radif Partners · Rules and data · Editorial policy
M&IE for the trip
$259
2 travel days at $55.50 + 2 full days at $74
| If every day were paid in full | $296 |
| Cost of the 75% rule | $37 |
| Average per day | $64.75 |
Federal rule: 41 CFR 301-11.20. For tax purposes a payor may use this rule or another method applied consistently (Rev. Proc. 2019-48, section 6.04). How this is calculated.
On the day a federal traveler leaves and on the day they return, M&IE is paid at 75% of the daily rate, whatever the departure or arrival hour; every full day in between gets 100%. A trip of more than 12 but less than 24 hours gets 75% for each calendar day in travel status, and 12 hours or less gets nothing. At the FY2027 standard rate of $68, a travel day pays $51.00; at the top $92 tier, $69.00. The rule now sits in 41 CFR 301-11.20, after GSA rewrote part 301-11 in December 2025; it was § 301-11.101 before, the number Rev. Proc. 2019-48 still cites. For taxes, Rev. Proc. 2019-48 lets an employer use the same 75% or any other proration it applies consistently, while a traveler deducting meals under the standard allowance must use 75%.
The text, and its new number
75% on the first and last day: 41 CFR 301-11.20(a) says it in two sentences. Travel of more than 12 but less than 24 hours earns three quarters of the M&IE rate for each calendar day in travel status; travel of 24 hours or more earns three quarters on the day of departure and the last day, and full days are paid at 100%. Ship travel is the one exception, left to the agency within the M&IE rate.
Before FTR Case 2025-05, published in the Federal Register on December 8, 2025 (90 FR 56893), the same rule lived at § 301-11.101. The case rewrote and renumbered part 301-11, and the M&IE rule became § 301-11.20, with provided meals at § 301-11.21. The substance did not change. Rev. Proc. 2019-48 still points to the old section, and so may an older travel policy; read those references as the new one.
What the 75% travel-day rule costs
M&IE under the federal rule
$185
| 2 travel days at $55.50 | $111 |
| Every day at $74 | $222 |
| Gap | $37 |
A deduction must use 75%; a payor may use another method applied consistently.
Departure hour does not matter, the calendar does
The federal rule ignores the clock. Leave at 5 a.m. or at 9 p.m., the first day is a 75% day. What counts is the calendar date on which you leave your home, office or other authorized point and the date you get back (41 CFR 301-11.5). A five-day trip at $74 therefore pays $55.50 twice and $74 three times: $333.00, not $370.
| M&IE rate | Each travel day | Two travel days | Lost to the rule on any trip |
|---|---|---|---|
| $68 | $51.00 | $102.00 | $34.00 |
| $74 | $55.50 | $111.00 | $37.00 |
| $80 | $60.00 | $120.00 | $40.00 |
| $86 | $64.50 | $129.00 | $43.00 |
| $92 | $69.00 | $138.00 | $46.00 |
A same-day trip is the edge case. With no night away, the day is both first and last; the regulation pays three quarters only if travel status runs past 12 hours, and the per diem calculator asks for the hours as soon as both dates match. Provided meals on a travel day are taken off the reduced amount in full, a rule explained on the M&IE breakdown page.
What the IRS lets an employer do instead
A private employer is not bound by the FTR, and the tax rules give it room. Section 6.04 of Rev. Proc. 2019-48 allows a payor to prorate the M&IE for partial days either at three quarters, as the FTR does, or by any method it applies consistently and that is consistent with reasonable business practice. The procedure gives its own example: an employee away from 9 a.m. one day to 5 p.m. the next may be paid twice the daily M&IE rate, even though the FTR would allow one and a half. At the standard rate, that is $136 instead of $102.00, all of it within the tax-free ceiling.
The flexibility belongs to the payor, not to the traveler. The same section requires the three-quarter method when an employee or a self-employed person figures a deduction with the standard meal allowance (section 4.03) or with the $5 incidentals-only rate (section 4.05). Truck drivers who deduct the special transportation rate fall under that requirement too, which the truck driver page prices for a full year.
Which city's rate on a travel day
On the day you move, the rate is that of the place you are traveling to for work under the FTR (41 CFR 301-11.4). For tax purposes, Publication 463 says that when you stop in more than one place in a day, you use the rate where you stop for sleep or rest. If you reach the hotel after midnight, the FTR lets you claim the room on the previous calendar day, which keeps the night attached to the day you set off.