Travel

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Military members who travel on official duty (either temporary duty travel, or permament change of station), can request a mileage reimbursement for their travel by personally owned conveyance (POC), in lieu of a government purchased airline ticket.

The rules and rates for temporary duty (TDY) travel and permament change of station (PCS) travel are different.

Temporary Duty (TDY) Travel

For both uniformed

personnel as well as DoD civilian personnel, there are some rules dealing with POC use if travel by POC is not in the Government s interest (namely limits on payment). The best rule of thumb is that the method of travel needs to be specifically mentioned in your orders, if you wish to be assured of reimbursement.

Uniformed personnel may request (or commands may provide) actual expense reimbursement in lieu of the mileage for TDY travel. For more information please see JFTR, Vol 1, par. U3305-B. DoD civilians do not have this option because the law and governing GSA Federal Travel Regulation (FTR) do not provide for it.

By Federal Law, TDY mileage rates are based on cost data collected by General Services Administration (GSA) and even then, the TDY mileage rate can never be higher that the rate allowed by IRS, which currently is $0.485 per mile.

Below are the POC rates for temporary duty travel:

• Car -- $0.55 per mile
• Motorcycle -- $0.52 per mile
• Airplane -- $1.24 per mile

In addition to the

mileage rates, military personnel receive a per diem for each day of travel. Generally, when traveling by car or motorcycle, 1 day of travel time is allowed for each 350 miles of official distance of ordered travel. If the excess is 51 miles or more after dividing the total number of miles by 350, one additional day of travel time is allowed. When the total official distance is 400 miles or less, 1 day s travel time is allowed.

For travel by POC, per diem for the member is a flat $91 per day of travel. Per diem for the member when travel is by commercial means is computed under lodgings plus at the rate for the new permament duty station, or the rate for the delay point if the member stops overnight (See CONUS Per Diem Rates ).

Permament Change of Station (PCS) Travel

Rates for PCS travel, known as MALT (Monetary Allowance in Lieu of Transportation), are different (lower) than TDY travel. This is because TDY travel rates are specifically designed to reimburse the member for traveling on official duty, and MALT rates were never intended to reimburse the transportation costs for driving a car; they are based on commercial fares and are a payment instead of providing the member with Government procured transportation. The MALT/PCS mileage rates do not reflect the price of gasoline. TDY mileage rates on the other hand, are based on the costs to operate a vehicle (gasoline, insurance, etc.) and are intended to reimburse the expense of using a POC for the official government travel.

The rate is per car. used for the PCS travel:

• $0.24 per mile

Remember, the rate is per car, not per person. So, for example, if a military member and his/her spouse traveled to a new duty station in one car, the reimbursement rate would be $0.24 per mile (total) for both of them. However, if they traveled in separate cars, the reimbursement would be $0.24 cents per mile for each car.

If the military member traveled in one car, and his/her spouse and child traveled in another car, the member would be reimbursed at the rate of $0.24 per mile for the car he/she is driving, and $0.24 per mile for the car that his/her dependents were traveling in.

In addition to the mileage rates, military personnel and their dependents receive a per diem for each day of travel. Generally, 1 day of travel time is allowed for each 350 miles of official distance of ordered travel. If the excess is 51 miles or more after dividing the total number of miles by 350, one additional day of travel time is allowed. When the total official distance is 400 miles or less, 1 day s travel time is allowed.

For travel by POC, per diem for the member is a flat $109 per day of travel. Per diem for the member when travel is by commercial means is computed under lodgings plus at the rate for the new permament duty station, or the rate for the delay point if the member stops overnight (See CONUS Per Diem Rates ). Per diem for the dependents is 3/4 of the member’s applicable rate for each dependent 12 years old or older and 1/2 of the member’s rate for each dependent under 12 years.

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