The IRS in Notice 2015-63 provided updated special per diem effective for the period from October 1, 2015 to September 30, 2016.  These special rates include the rate for the special transportation industry meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) rate, the rate for the incidentals-only deduction and the rates and list of high-cost localities for purposes of the high-low substantiation method.

The special transportation industry rates for 2015-2016 are $63 for any locality of travel in the continental United States and $68 for any locality of travel outside the continental United States.  The general rules for qualifying to use these rates and how to use them are found in Section 4.04 of Revenue Procedure 2011-47.

The incidentals only rate for 2015-2016 is set at $5.  The provisions applicable to using this rate are found in Section 4.05 of Revenue Procedure 2011-47.

The high-low rates for 2015-2016, to be used in lieu of the rates described in Notice 2014-57, are $275 for any high-cost locality and $185 for travel to any other locality within the continental United States.  The portion of the above amounts treated as paid for meals are $68 for travel to a high-cost locality and $57 for any other location within the continental United States.

Section 5.2 of the notice provides the 2015-2016 list of high-cost localities.  Some localities are high-cost only for a portion of the year, with this fact noted in the listing. Section 5.3 provides a list of localities that were added and removed from the high cost list.