M&IE stands for Meals & Incidental Expenses — GSA’s daily allowance covering food plus a fixed $5/day for tips and small service fees. It isn’t one flat number: the standard FY2026 CONUS rate of $68/day is actually built from four separate pieces — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and incidentals — and that breakdown is exactly what determines your stipend on a partial travel day, when you only get 75% of the full rate.
Key takeaways
- The FY2026 standard CONUS M&IE rate is $68/day, split into Breakfast $16, Lunch $19, Dinner $28, and Incidentals $5.
- Incidentals is a fixed $5/day everywhere in the continental US, regardless of how expensive the city is — only the meal amounts scale up in higher-cost locations.
- On a partial travel day — typically your first and last day of an assignment — the standard method pays 75% of the full M&IE rate, not the full amount.
- M&IE is a ceiling for tax-free treatment, not a guarantee — agencies aren’t required to pay it, and paying more than the GSA rate without an accountable plan can put the excess at risk of being treated as taxable wages.
What M&IE actually stands for
Meals & Incidental Expenses is the GSA’s daily reimbursement rate for food and small out-of-pocket costs incurred while working away from your tax home. It’s published alongside — but separately from — the lodging rate, and it’s what most travel nursing pay packages mean when they refer to a "meals stipend."
The standard $68 M&IE breakdown
The FY2026 standard CONUS rate (the default for any city not specifically listed by GSA) breaks down as:
- Breakfast — $16
- Lunch — $19
- Dinner — $28
- Incidentals — $5
Higher-cost locations get a higher total M&IE rate — up to $92/day in the priciest CONUS cities — but the same four-piece structure, with dinner consistently making up the largest single share. See the full city-by-city GSA lookup in Travel Nurse Per Diem Rates 2026.
Why the breakdown matters: partial travel days
You don’t get the full M&IE rate on a day you’re only partially traveling — typically the first and last day of an assignment. The standard method pays 75% of the full daily rate on those two days, rather than the full amount — on the standard $68 rate, that’s $51 instead of $68. This is exactly why your first and last paycheck of an assignment often shows a smaller stipend than every week in between, and it’s not an error. The same proration logic extends to missed shifts and call-offs — covered in full in Per Diem Clawbacks.
The $5/day incidentals piece, explained
Incidentals covers small, hard-to-receipt costs — tips for hotel staff, baggage handling, and similar service fees — not meals themselves. It’s fixed at $5/day regardless of city, which is why a $68 standard-rate day and a $92 high-cost-city day both include the same $5 incidentals piece; the entire difference between those rates comes from the meal amounts.
How M&IE affects your tax-free stipend
The GSA M&IE rate functions as a practical ceiling for the meals portion of a tax-free stipend under an accountable plan — agencies commonly benchmark their per diem offer against it, though they aren’t legally required to match it. A stipend paid up to the GSA rate for your specific city is generally treated as a reasonable, non-taxable reimbursement; how the full taxable-versus-nontaxable split works is covered in Travel Nurse Contract Pay: What’s Taxable and What’s Not. Compare your agency’s actual meals offer against the current GSA rate for your assignment city with the Per Diem Checker.
FAQ
What does M&IE stand for?
Meals & Incidental Expenses — the GSA’s combined daily allowance for food and small incidental costs like tips and baggage fees while traveling for work.
What is the standard M&IE rate for FY2026?
The standard CONUS rate is $68/day, broken into Breakfast $16, Lunch $19, Dinner $28, and Incidentals $5. Specific high-cost cities have their own, higher published rates.
Do I get the full M&IE rate on my first and last day of an assignment?
No. The standard method pays 75% of the full daily M&IE rate on partial travel days, which typically means the first and last day of the assignment.
Does the $5 incidentals amount change by city?
No. Incidentals stays fixed at $5/day everywhere in the continental US. Only the meal components (breakfast, lunch, dinner) scale up in higher-cost locations.
Is my agency required to pay me the full GSA M&IE rate?
No. Agencies set their own stipend amounts, and GSA rates are a benchmark, not a legal requirement. A stipend below the GSA rate is common and simply means less tax-free money in that specific package — worth checking against the current rate before signing.