Policymakers m
ay debate the federal government’s overall spending habits, but federal employees have long had restrictions on how much they can be reimbursed for travel expenses, for example. And each year, the “per diem” travel reimbursement rates are adjusted. In fact, the feds have released per diem rates, adjusted for inflation, for fiscal year 2012, which begins Oct. 1.
The per diem rates cover reimbursements for lodging expenses and meals and incidental expenses, or incurred during business travel. Standard per diems, which apply to all locations within the continental United States (CONUS) that are not specifically listed as “non-standard areas,” or NSAs, remain unchanged at $77 per day for lodging and $46 daily for M&IE. About 400 areas are considered NSAs.
Non-standard Areas
The General Services Administration (GSA) sets the rates and adjusts them for inflation each year. The GSA added one new NSA: Alexandria/Leesville/Natchitoches, Louisiana. It reinstated eight localities it had dropped from the NSA list in fiscal 2011 and which were then covered by the standard rates.
The lodging rates moved up and down by locality; M&IE rates remained mostly unchanged.
The CONUS per diems the GSA issues each year are mandatory for federal government offices: they must apply them in reimbursing trips federal employees take on government business. Private-sector employers are not required to use the CONUS rates; nonetheless, they may find them useful. This is because the CONUS rates account for differences in price between places and also form the threshold above which reimbursements for business travel are taxable income.
For a full listing of NSAs and their per diems, go to the GSA’s website and select from the list of downloadable resources on the right-hand side of the screen.