Amount of standard meal allowance.
The standard meal allowance is the federal M&IE rate. For travel in 2017, the rate for most small localities in the United States is $51 a day. Most major cities and many other localities in the United States are designated as high-cost areas, qualifying for higher standard meal allowances.

You can find this information (organized by state) at GSA.gov/Perdiem. Enter a zip code or select a city and state for the per diem rates for the current fiscal year. Per diem rates for prior fiscal years are available by using the drop-down menu.

If you travel to more than one location in one day, use the rate in effect for the area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you work in the transportation industry, however, see Special rate for transportation workers, later.

Federal government's fiscal year. Per diem rates are listed by the federal government's fiscal year which runs from October 1 to September 30. You can choose to use the rates from the 2017 fiscal year per diem tables or the rates from the 2018 fiscal year tables, but you must consistently use the same tables for all travel you are reporting on your income tax return
for the year. See Transition Rules, later. Standard meal allowance for areas outside the continental United States. The standard meal allowance rates above don’t apply to travel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any other location outside the continental United States.

The Department of Defense establishes per diem rates for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Midway, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wake Island, and other non-foreign areas outside the continental United States. The Department of State establishes per diem rates for all other foreign areas. You can access per diem rates for non-foreign areas outside the continental United States at
Per Diem Rates Query. You can access all other foreign per diem rates at State.gov/travel/. Click on “Travel Per Diem Allowances for Foreign Areas” under “Foreign Per Diem Rates” to obtain the latest foreign per diem rates.

Special rate for transportation workers.
You can use a special standard meal allowance if you work in the transportation industry. You are in the transportation industry if your work:

• Directly involves moving people or goods by airplane, barge, bus, ship, train, or truck; and

• Regularly requires you to travel away from home and, during any single trip, usually involves travel to areas eligible for different standard meal allowance rates.

If this applies, you can claim a standard meal allowance of $63 a day ($68 for travel outside the continental United States) for travel in 2017.

Using the special rate for transportation workers eliminates the need for you to determine the standard meal allowance for every area where you stop for sleep or rest. If you choose to use the special rate for any trip, you must use the special rate (and not use the regular standard meal allowance rates) for all trips you take that year.

Travel for days you depart and return.
For both the day you depart for and the day you return 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.
Method 2: You can prorate using any method that you consistently apply and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice.

Example. Jen is employed in New Orleans as a convention planner. In March, her employer sent her on a 3-day trip to Washington, DC, to attend a planning seminar. She left her home in New Orleans at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and arrived in Washington, DC, at 5:30 p.m. After spending 2 nights there, she flew back to New Orleans on Friday and arrived back home at 8 p.m. Jen's employer gave her a flat amount
to cover her expenses and included it with her wages.
Under Method 1, Jen can claim 2 1/2 days of the standard meal allowance for Washington, DC: 3/4 of the daily rate for Wednesday and Friday (the days she departed and returned), and the full daily rate for Thursday.
Under Method 2, Jen could also use any method that she applies consistently and that is in accordance with reasonable business practice.
For example, she could claim 3 days of the standard meal allowance even though a federal employee would have to use Method 1 and be limited to only 2 1/2 days.

See Part of Trip Outside the United States, later.