Meal Per Diem and Incidental Policy (M&IE)

  • Only employees, students, volunteers, and candidates with departmental permission are eligible for M&IE allowance while in travel status.
  • Travelers will not receive meal per diem for hosted meals.
    • Hosted meals, regardless of name (breakfast/continental breakfast), include meals provided or prepaid along with a conference registration.
    • If the traveler has a business justification for skipping the provided meal, and was not hosted at another meeting, a note must be included as justification in the expense report.
  • Use the timeframe table below to determine when to start and end meal per diem allowances according to the travel time established by travel status.
    • UNLV does not utilize the first and last day at 75% in GSA guidelines.
    • Breakfast per diem will not be reimbursed for travelers with travel status that begins after 9 a.m.
    • Dinner per diem will not be reimbursed for travelers with travel status that ends before 5 p.m.
Meal Time
Breakfast 12:01 a.m.–10:00 a.m.
Lunch 10:01 a.m.–3:00 p.m.
Dinner 3:01 p.m.–12:00 a.m.

Incidentals

GSA travel regulations allow a per day per diem for "incidentals" to cover non-reimbursable items such as tips for porters, baggage carriers, or hotel staff.

Meal Per Diem and Incidental Breakdown

M&IE rates are set by GSA. The rates differ by travel location. View the per diem rate for your primary destination to determine which rates apply.

Back Country Camping Meal Per Diem Rate

The meal per diem rate is calculated at 70% of the GSA Standard CONUS meals rate