Per diem · rates of GSA FY2027
OCONUS per diem rates: where to find them and how to use them
Type the lodging and M&IE rates you found on the DoD or State Department lookup: the tool totals the trip and splits the M&IE into meals.
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Per diem for the trip
$1,750
4 nights × $280 + M&IE with 75% on travel days
| Lodging | $1,120 |
| M&IE | $630 |
| Breakfast value | $21 |
| Lunch value | $35 |
| Dinner value | $56 |
| Incidentals | $28 |
Meal values from the GSA OCONUS breakdown table. Foreign lodging rates already include taxes. How this is calculated.
OCONUS per diem rates, for travel outside the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia, are not in the GSA table. The Department of Defense, through its Defense Travel Management Office, sets the rates for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the other territories and possessions, which the regulation calls non-foreign areas; the Department of State sets the rate for every foreign location. Both are used the same way as CONUS rates: a lodging ceiling per night, an M&IE amount per day, 75% of it on the first and last day. What differs is the meal split and the hotel tax. GSA's OCONUS breakdown table covers M&IE rates from $1 to $265; above that, breakfast takes 15%, lunch 25%, dinner 40% and incidentals the rest. Foreign rates already include lodging taxes, while in Alaska, Hawaii and the territories the tax is claimed on top.
Two publishers, two lookups
The DTMO per diem lookup is the place for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Midway, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wake Island and the other non-foreign areas outside the continental United States. The State Department table covers foreign countries, city by city. Appendix A to part 301-11 of the Federal Travel Regulation points to both, and IRS Publication 463 sends taxpayers to the same two addresses for the standard meal allowance outside CONUS.
This page does not copy either table: they are long and revised on their own schedules. The calculator above takes the two figures you read there, lodging and M&IE, and does the rest. It applies one lodging figure to every night, so when the published rate changes partway through your stay, price each block of nights on its own and add them. Note the date of the rate you used, since the table in force on the night of the stay is the one that counts, not the one online when you file.
An OCONUS trip with or without lodging tax
Lodging, M&IE and tax
$1,640
| Lodging: 4 × $250 | $1,000 |
| M&IE, 75% on travel days | $540 |
| Lodging tax claimed apart | $100 |
Tax counts only on the room cost up to the lodging rate.
Hotel tax: in the rate abroad, on top in U.S. areas
The split follows 41 CFR 301-11.16. For CONUS and non-foreign OCONUS locations, lodging taxes are reimbursed as a miscellaneous expense, limited to the taxes on the reimbursable part of the room. For foreign areas, a separate claim for lodging tax is not allowed, because State Department rates were built with the tax left in. A week in Honolulu and a week in Tokyo look alike on the voucher until this line: the Hawaii traveler adds the tax, the Tokyo traveler does not.
Splitting a high M&IE into meals
OCONUS M&IE rates run far beyond the five CONUS tiers of $68 to $92, so GSA publishes a separate breakdown. For every whole-dollar rate from $1 to $265 a table gives the value of each meal; above $265, fixed shares apply. These values matter only when a meal is provided and must be deducted.
| M&IE rate | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Incidentals | Method |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $140 | $21 | $35 | $56 | $28 | GSA table |
| $300 | $45 | $75 | $120 | $60 | 15% / 25% / 40%, rest incidentals |
Notice how much heavier the incidentals are abroad: $28 out of $140, against a flat $5 at home. A conference that serves dinner on a $140 day removes $56, not a CONUS figure.
A worked trip, and the long-flight rest stop
Four nights at a lodging rate of $250 with $140 of M&IE: $1,000 for the rooms, and $630.00 of M&IE, since the departure and return days pay $105.00 each. A foreign destination stops there; a non-foreign one adds the lodging tax on the $1,000.
Long itineraries bring one more rule. When the origin or the destination is outside CONUS and scheduled flight time, stopovers included, exceeds 14 hours in coach or premium economy, the agency may authorize a rest period of up to 24 hours on the way (41 CFR 301-11.12). The per diem for that stop is the rate of the rest stop location, which may be a third lookup.
The tax rules that change outside CONUS
The IRS high-low method stops at the border of the 48 states: an employer using it must still pay OCONUS travel by another method, at actual cost or at the federal per diem of the place (Rev. Proc. 2019-48, section 5.03). The special transportation industry rate is $86 outside CONUS against $80 inside, per Notice 2026-60. The high-low page and the truck driver page give the details.