§ 301-7.5 - General rules affecting entitlement to per diem.

(a) No allowance at official station. A per diem allowance shall not be allowed within the limits of the official station (see definition in § 301-1.3(c)(4)) or at, or within the vicinity of, the place of abode (home) from which the employee commutes daily to the official station. Agencies may define a radius or commuting area that is broader than the limits of the official station within which per diem will not be allowed for travel within 1 calendar day.

(b) No allowance for travel of 12 hours or less. A per diem allowance shall not be allowed for official travel of 12 hours or less. (This requirement also applies for travel incident to a change of official station.)

(c) Beginning and ending of entitlement. For computing per diem allowances, official travel begins when an employee leaves his/her home, office, or other authorized point of departure and ends when the traveler returns to his/her home, office, or other authorized point at the conclusion of the trip.

(d) International date line. In cases where the traveler crosses the international date line (180th meridian), the actual elapsed time in days shall be used to compute the per diem rather than calendar days.