GSA Meals and Incidental Expenses

Specialties Travel

Published

Not sure if this has been answered and I apologize if it has.

According to the GSA (U.S. General Services Administration) federal/military travelers are given a per diem for meals and expenditures.

http://www.gsa.gov/Portal/gsa/ep/contentView.do?programId=9704&channelId=-15943&ooid=16365&contentId=16177&pageTypeId=8203&contentType=GSA_BASIC&programPage=%2Fep%2Fprogram%2FgsaBasic.jsp&P=MTT

This is showing that these employees can claim from $39 to $64 daily for meals and incidental expenses. I'm assuming this table is for any traveler, and if so, do travel companies figure this in when deciding your contract? I've heard from travelers who say they get a certain amount for food weekly and it's tax free.

My company is paying me $49/day as a untaxed stipend as part of my contract. That's on top of my hourly wages.

My company is paying me $49/day as a untaxed stipend as part of my contract. That's on top of my hourly wages.

The various GSA rates are $39 $44 $49 $54 $59 + $64.

I'm guessing you're company looked the state and county and used the rate found on the GSA site. Does your county and state correspond with the GSA rate?

Hello, according to my tax preparer the per diem only comes into play if you have a permanent tax residence. I must confess I love traveling but the taxes can get a little confusing. hope this helped some.

Specializes in Stepdown/Tele/MS.

Yes depending on the company some add it in and some don't. If they don't then you can claim the meals and incidentals at the end of the year and get a nice sum of money back from the IRS.

For example $65 a day x 3 days a week x13 weeks in contract = $2535 tax free at end of year.

So based on your tax situation you could be getting up to $900 back on taxes at end of year.(I am in highest tax bracket with me and my wife)

Hope that helps,

jeremy

Specializes in Hospice.

That tax thing is blowing my mind. Our companies are now going to the Tax Advantage program. I do hope it helps us at the end of the year. Right now I'm just sweatin' about tax time.

I did use http://www.paycheckcity.com to figure our pay, it lets you use whatever state you are going to work in to figure the taxes and see what your take home pay will be.

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