2016 Per Diem Rate
For 2016, the Per Diem Rate is $275 (High-cost locality), $185 (Other locality within CONUS), $5 (Incidental expenses only) and 5 more figures below.
| Item | High-cost locality | Other locality | CONUS | OCONUS |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meals portion | $68 | $57 | - | - |
| Transportation industry M&IE | - | - | $63 | $68 |
A dash is a figure this site has not published for that row, not an amount of zero.
Effective 2015-10-01Source: Notice 2015-63 (IRS)Verified 2026-08-31
Localities the document lists
45 localities in 18 states, each named as the document prints it.
14 rows name no portion of the year, and the table reads all of the calendar year for them.
| Locality | State | Portion of the calendar year |
|---|---|---|
| Mammoth Lakes Mono | California | December 1-February 29 |
| Monterey Monterey | California | July 1-August 31 |
| Napa Napa | California | October 1-October 31 and May 1-September 30 |
| San Francisco San Francisco | California | All of the calendar year |
| San Mateo/Foster City/Belmont San Mateo | California | All of the calendar year |
| Santa Barbara Santa Barbara | California | All of the calendar year |
| Santa Monica City limits of Santa Monica | California | All of the calendar year |
| Sunnyvale/Palo Alto/San Jose Santa Clara | California | All of the calendar year |
| Aspen Pitkin | Colorado | December 1-March 31 and June 1-August 31 |
| Denver/Aurora Denver, Adams, Arapahoe, and Jefferson | Colorado | All of the calendar year |
| Grand Lake Grand | Colorado | December 1-March 31 |
| Silverthorne/Breckenridge Summit | Colorado | December 1-March 31 |
| Steamboat Springs Routt | Colorado | December 1-March 31 |
| Telluride San Miguel | Colorado | December 1-March 31 and June 1-August 31 |
| Vail Eagle | Colorado | December 1-March 31 and July 1-August 31 |
| Washington D.C. (also the cities of Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax, and the counties of Arlington and Fairfax, in Virginia; and the counties of Montgomery and Prince George's in Maryland) (See also Maryland and Virginia) | District of Columbia | All of the calendar year |
| Boca Raton/Delray Beach/Jupiter Palm Beach and Hendry | Florida | January 1-April 30 |
| Fort Lauderdale Broward | Florida | January 1-March 31 |
| Fort Walton Beach/De Funiak Springs Okaloosa and Walton | Florida | June 1-July 31 |
| Key West Monroe | Florida | All of the calendar year |
| Miami Miami-Dade | Florida | December 1-March 31 |
| Naples Collier | Florida | January 1-April 30 |
| Chicago Cook and Lake | Illinois | October 1-November 30 and March 1-September 30 |
| Bar Harbor Hancock | Maine | July 1-August 31 |
| Ocean City Worcester | Maryland | June 1-August 31 |
| Washington, DC Metro Area Montgomery and Prince George’s | Maryland | All of the calendar year |
| Boston/Cambridge Suffolk, City of Cambridge | Massachusetts | All of the calendar year |
| Falmouth City limits of Falmouth | Massachusetts | July 1-August 31 |
| Martha's Vineyard Dukes | Massachusetts | June 1-September 30 |
| Nantucket Nantucket | Massachusetts | October 1-December 31 and June 1-September 30 |
| Traverse City/Leland Grand Traverse/Leelanau | Michigan | July 1-August 31 |
| Lake Placid Essex | New York | July 1-August 31 |
| New York City Bronx, Kings, New York, Queens, and Richmond | New York | All of the calendar year |
| Saratoga Springs/Schenectady Saratoga and Schenectady | New York | July 1-August 31 |
| Hershey Hershey | Pennsylvania | June 1-August 31 |
| Philadelphia Philadelphia | Pennsylvania | October 1-November 30, March 1-June 30, and September 1-September 30 |
| Jamestown/Middletown/Newport Newport | Rhode Island | June 1-August 31 |
| Charleston Charleston, Berkeley and | South Carolina | October 1-November 30 and March 1-September 30 |
| Midland Midland | Texas | All of the calendar year |
| Park City Summit | Utah | December 1-March 31 |
| Virginia Beach City of Virginia Beach | Virginia | June 1-August 31 |
| Wallops Island Accomack | Virginia | July 1-August 31 |
| Washington, DC Metro Area Cities of Alexandria, Fairfax, and Falls Church; counties of Arlington and Fairfax | Virginia | All of the calendar year |
| Seattle King | Washington | All of the calendar year |
| Jackson/Pinedale Teton and Sublette | Wyoming | June 1-September 30 |
Who it applies to
Taxpayers who use the per diem method to deduct or receive reimbursement for travel expenses while away from home on business.
What changed this year, and why
The IRS published updated per diem rates for 2016 under the high-low substantiation method in Notice 2015-63. These rates are used by taxpayers to substantiate business expenses incurred while traveling away from home.
Common questions
- What is the per diem rate for a high-cost locality in 2016?
- The rate for travel to any high-cost locality within CONUS is $275 per day.
- What is the per diem rate for other localities in 2016?
- The rate for travel to any other locality within CONUS is $185 per day.
- What is the incidental expenses only rate for 2016?
- The rate for incidental expenses only is $5 per day for any CONUS or OCONUS locality.
What a per diem rate actually proves
This IRS notice gives taxpayers a shortcut for proving how much they spent on lodging, meals, and incidental expenses while on a business trip. Instead of collecting receipts for every hotel night and every meal, a taxpayer can point to the published per diem rates and have those amounts treated as substantiated ordinary and necessary business expenses under Section 274(d) of the Internal Revenue Code. The rates cover three separate items: special meal-and-incidental-expenses rates for workers in the transportation industry, a flat rate for incidental expenses only, and the high-low rates that distinguish high-cost localities from the rest of the continental United States. To use these amounts the taxpayer still has to meet the requirements of Rev. Proc. 2011-47, such as recording the time, place, and business purpose of the travel. The notice also reminds users that the federal definition of incidental expenses was narrowed in later regulations to cover only tips and fees for porters, baggage carriers, and similar staff, so transportation and mailing costs must be handled separately.
This annual notice provides the 2015-2016 special per diem rates for taxpayers to use in substantiating the amount of ordinary and necessary business expenses incurred while traveling away from home, specifically (1) the special transportation industry meal and incidental expenses (M&IE) rates, (2) the rate for the incidental expenses only deduction, and (3) the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
What makes a city a high-cost locality
Under the high-low substantiation method a locality qualifies as a high-cost area only when its federal per diem rate reaches a specific floor. A city, county, or other defined location must have a combined federal per diem rate of $230 or more before it is placed on the high-cost list and becomes eligible for the $275 high rate rather than the $185 rate that applies to every other location in the continental United States. Some localities meet that floor for the entire calendar year, while others reach it only during a peak season identified in parentheses next to the key city name. For example, Mammoth Lakes, California, is on the list from December 1 through February 29, Monterey is on the list from July 1 through August 31, and Napa has two separate windows in the year. Taxpayers planning travel to a seasonal location therefore need to check whether their specific travel dates fall within the period the locality is classified as high-cost.
The following localities have a federal per diem rate of $230 or more, and are high-cost localities for all of the calendar year or the portion of the calendar year specified in parentheses under the key city name.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
What changed in the high-cost list since last year
The high-cost list is redrawn every year and this notice moves it three ways: places added, places whose high-cost months changed, and places dropped. Mammoth Lakes, Silverthorne/Breckenridge, Traverse City, Hershey and Wallops Island came on. Napa, Telluride, Miami, Nantucket and Charleston stayed on but changed the part of the year they count for. Santa Cruz, New Orleans, Baltimore City and Glens Falls came off. A locality that came off did not get cheaper by decree: its federal per diem rate stopped reaching the high-cost threshold, so travel there is substantiated at the other-locality rate from October 1.
a. The following localities have been added to the list of high-cost localities: Mammoth Lakes, California; Grand Lake, Colorado; Silverthorne/Breckenridge, Colorado; Traverse City/Leland, Michigan; Hershey, Pennsylvania; Wallops Island, Virginia. b. The following localities have changed the portion of the year in which they are high-cost localities: Napa, California; Telluride, Colorado; Miami, Florida; Martha’s Vineyard, Massachusetts; Nantucket, Massachusetts; Jamestown/Middletown/Newport, Rhode Island; Charleston, South Carolina; Jackson/Pinedale, Wyoming. c. The following localities have been removed from the list of high-cost localities: Sedona, Arizona; Santa Cruz, California; New Orleans, Louisiana; Baltimore City, Maryland; Cambridge/St. Michaels, Maryland; Glendive/Sidney, Montana; Conway, New Hampshire; Glens Falls, New York; Tarrytown/White Plains/New Rochelle, New York; Kill Devil, North Carolina; Williston, North Carolina.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
How much of the rate counts as meals
Only part of the per diem rate counts as meals, because Internal Revenue Code section 274(n) limits how much of a meal expense a taxpayer may deduct. The notice breaks out the meal portion separately: of the $275 high-cost rate, $68 is treated as paid for meals, and of the $185 other-CONUS rate, $57 is treated as paid for meals. Those meal amounts also serve as the meal-and-incidental-expenses-only substantiation rates for the high-low method. Knowing the meal split matters at tax time because the 274(n) limitation applies only to the meal portion, not to the lodging or incidental-expense portion of the per diem.
The amount of the $275 high rate and $185 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $68 for travel to any high- cost locality and $57 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
How much of the meals portion you can actually deduct
A per diem rate is not a deduction. It is the ceiling on what can be treated as substantiated, and the meals part of it is then cut again before it reaches a tax return: whichever method you use, you can generally deduct only 50% of the unreimbursed cost of your meals. On the high-low method the meals part is the figure this page publishes above, $68 a day in a high-cost locality and $57 a day anywhere else in CONUS, so it is half of that amount, not the whole rate, that survives the limit. The lodging part of the rate is not touched by it, and neither is the incidental-expenses-only amount.
Both of these methods are explained below. But, regardless of the method you use, you generally can deduct only 50% of the unreim- bursed cost of your meals.
Publication 463 (2016), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Drivers and crews get their own M&IE rate
Taxpayers who work in the transportation industry do not have to use the regular high-low rates. Instead, the notice gives them a single flat meal-and-incidental-expenses rate for travel anywhere in the continental United States and a separate flat rate for travel outside it. For 2015-2016, those rates are $63 for any CONUS locality and $68 for any OCONUS locality. The special rates are found in section 4.04 of Revenue Procedure 2011-47, which sets the underlying rules. A transportation-industry taxpayer may use these rates to substantiate meals and incidental expenses without tracking actual costs or consulting the high-cost-locality list.
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $63 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $68 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
The rates change on October 1, not January 1
The rates in this notice do not follow the calendar year. They take effect for per diem allowances paid to employees on or after October 1, 2015, for travel on or after that date, and they remain in force through September 30 of the following year. The same October 1 start date applies to the meal-and-incidental-expenses and incidental-expenses-only deductions. Revenue Procedure 2011-47 contains transition rules for the last three months of calendar year 2015, which let employers and employees continue using the prior notice's rates for part of that period while switching over to the new ones.
This notice is effective for per diem allowances for lodging, meal and incidental expenses, or for meal and incidental expenses only, that are paid to any employee on or after October 1, 2015, for travel away from home on or after October 1, 2015.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
The first and last day of a trip are not full days
A trip that starts at lunchtime and ends at breakfast does not buy two full days of meals. For the day you leave and the day you come back, the M&IE rate has to be prorated, and Publication 463 gives two ways to do it: claim 3/4 of the standard meal allowance for each of those days, or prorate by any method you apply consistently and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice. Only the meals and incidental side is prorated. Lodging is not, because a night away from home is either bought or it is not. An employer reimbursing under the high-low method prorates the meals part the same way, which is why the per diem paid for a departure day is smaller than the daily rate printed above.
Travel for days you depart and return. For both the day you depart for and the day you re- turn from a business trip, you must prorate the standard meal allowance (figure a reduced amount for each day). You can do so by one of two methods. Method 1: You can claim 3 4 of the standard meal allowance.
Publication 463 (2016), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
An allowance paid above the federal rate is wages
Nothing stops an employer paying more than the federal rate. What it cannot do is call the extra a reimbursement. Where an accountable plan pays an allowance higher than the federal rate, the traveller does not have to return the difference, but the difference is reported as wages on the Form W-2 and is taxed and withheld on like any other pay. Only the part up to the federal rate stays out of income. That is what the rates on this page are for a reader who deducts nothing at all: the line above which an allowance stops being an expense reimbursement and becomes salary.
Per diem allowance more than federal rate. If your employer's accountable plan pays you an allowance that is higher than the federal rate, you don’t have to return the difference be- tween the two rates for the period you can prove business-related travel expenses. How- ever, the difference will be reported as wages on your Form W-2. This excess amount is con- sidered paid under a nonaccountable plan (dis- cussed later).
Publication 463 (2016), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
There is no per diem for lodging, only for meals
The standard meal allowance is open to anyone travelling on business, employee or self-employed, reimbursed or not. Lodging is not. There is no optional standard lodging amount, so the lodging deduction is the actual cost and nothing else, proved by the actual bill. That is the practical split for a self-employed traveller reading this page: the M&IE side of the notice can be used instead of meal receipts, and the full lodging-plus-meals rates above cannot, because they are written for a payor reimbursing an employee rather than for someone deducting their own hotel.
There is no optional standard lodging amount similar to the standard meal al lowance. Your allowable lodging ex pense deduction is your actual cost. Who can use the standard meal allowance. You can use the standard meal allowance whether you are an employee or self-employed, and whether or not you are reimbursed for your traveling expenses.
Publication 463 (2016), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
Who can deduct travel an employer did not reimburse
An employee who is not reimbursed claims travel on Form 2106 or 2106-EZ, and only by itemizing. Those expenses are a miscellaneous itemized deduction, so they count only to the extent the total clears the 2%-of-adjusted-gross-income floor, and the meal part is already halved by the 50% limit before the floor is applied. An employee who takes the standard deduction gets nothing at all from the rates on this page. A self-employed traveller is in a different position: the deduction goes on a business schedule, with no floor to clear and no itemizing required.
You must complete Form 2106 or 2106-EZ and itemize your deductions to deduct your ex- penses for travel, transportation, meals, or en- tertainment. Your meal and entertainment ex- penses will be subject to the 50% limit discussed in chapter 2. Also, your total expen- ses will be subject to the 2%-of-adjus- ted-gross-income limit that applies to most mis- cellaneous itemized deductions.
Publication 463 (2016), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses (IRS)
How each figure was verified
Each number below was read from a stored copy of the document named beside it, and checked to occur word for word in the quoted sentence. The digest is of that stored text.
Notice 2015-63 (IRS)
- High-cost locality
are $275 for travel to any high-cost locality and $185 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Other locality within CONUS
are $275 for travel to any high-cost locality and $185 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Incidental expenses only
The rate for any CONUS or OCONUS locality of travel for the incidental expenses only deduction is $5 per day.
- High-cost threshold
The following localities have a federal per diem rate of $230 or more, and are high-cost localities for all of the calendar year or the portion of the calendar year specified in parentheses under the key city name.
- Meals portion, high-cost locality
The amount of the $275 high rate and $185 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $68 for travel to any high- cost locality and $57 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Meals portion, other locality
The amount of the $275 high rate and $185 low rate that is treated as paid for meals for purposes of § 274(n) is $68 for travel to any high- cost locality and $57 for travel to any other locality within CONUS.
- Transportation industry M&IE, CONUS
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $63 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $68 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).
- Transportation industry M&IE, OCONUS
The special M&IE rates for taxpayers in the transportation industry are $63 for any locality of travel in the continental United States (CONUS) and $68 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States (OCONUS).