The General Services Administration per diem for fiscal year
2018 will increase to $144 from $142. The new rate will go into effect on Oct.
1. It includes $93 for lodging, which accounted for the $2 year-over-year
increase, and $51 for meals and incidental expenses.
The GSA sets per diems annually for the 48 states and 2,600
counties in the continental U.S. Its lodging rates are based on local costs of
midprice hotels and constitute the maximum allowances that federal employees
can be reimbursed for expenses incurred while on official travel. The fiscal
year 2018 rates are based on average daily rate data generated from April 2016
and March 2017.
GSA allows for higher-than-standard per diems in
332 markets. For fiscal year 2018, GSA moved 14 markets from that group into
the standard rate category. Some of the altered markets include: Redding,
Calif.; Watertown, N.Y.; Youngstown, Ohio; Scranton, Pa.; Cedar Rapids, Iowa;
and Laredo, Texas.