GSA M&IE Rates Breakdown: What $68 to $92 Actually Splits Into

Guides · Updated October 2026

The GSA M&IE rates breakdown is the part of federal per diem most travelers never look at until it costs them money. Everyone knows the daily total. Few know how it splits across breakfast, lunch, dinner, and incidentals, and that split is exactly what the government uses when it deducts provided meals from your reimbursement. Here is the full table and how to use it.

M&IE stands for meals and incidental expenses. It is the daily allowance for food plus the small costs of being on the road: tips to hotel staff, baggage fees, the odd taxi tip between the hotel and the restaurant. It is separate from lodging, and unlike lodging, it is a flat allowance. You do not need receipts for it, and you keep whatever you do not spend.

The GSA M&IE rates breakdown by tier

GSA sets five M&IE tiers. Your locality's tier decides your daily total, and the breakdown below decides each meal's deduction value. The tiers were last revised for FY 2025 and held flat through FY 2027.

The $68 tier is the CONUS standard rate, used wherever no locality rate is set. Big cities like Washington DC and Philadelphia sit at $92. Copy this table into your trip notes; it is the reference your voucher examiner uses.

When the breakdown actually matters

Three situations pull the breakdown out of the appendix and into your wallet.

Meals provided by the government or included in a conference fee get deducted. If the conference registration includes lunch, you subtract the lunch value for your tier from that day's M&IE. At the $80 tier, a provided lunch costs you $22 of allowance. Provided breakfast and dinner come off the same way. This is the single most common M&IE surprise on travel vouchers.

Complimentary hotel breakfasts and airline meals do not. A meal from a common carrier or a free hotel breakfast does not reduce your allowance. The deduction applies to meals furnished by the government or bundled into a registration fee you paid, not to freebies.

First and last travel days pay 75%. At the $68 standard tier that is $51.00, not $68. The meal deductions still apply on top if meals were provided, which can make a travel day's M&IE surprisingly small.

What the $5 incidentals cover

Incidentals are the tips and fees you pay as part of traveling: hotel housekeeping gratuities, bellhop and porter tips, baggage handling, tips on transportation between lodging and meals. It is a flat $5 at every tier, which tells you something about how the tiers were built: the meal costs vary by locality, but a tip is a tip.

You cannot claim incidentals separately on top of M&IE. They are inside the total. If your agency's policy is generous about actual expenses, that is a different reimbursement method entirely, and it requires receipts for everything.

How to read your locality's line

Every GSA per diem page lists localities with defined rates and ends with the standard rate: the fallback for everywhere without a listed rate. If your destination is not named, you get the standard $110 lodging and $68 M&IE for FY 2026. Do not assume a small city has its own rate; check the lookup, because the defined localities change every fiscal year and towns move in and out of the list.

Rates run on the federal fiscal year, October 1 through September 30, and the new rates publish in mid-August. A trip that straddles September 30 can have two different lodging caps on either side of the line, while the M&IE tier for your locality usually carries over. For multi-week TDY travel, pull the rates for both fiscal years before you book, not after you file the voucher.

Frequently asked questions

Related: GSA Per Diem Partial Travel Days: The 75% Rule Explained · GSA Per Diem: The Deduction When Meals Are Provided · FY 2027 GSA Per Diem Rates: What Changed

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