Per Diem Rates from the U.S. General Services Administration

Search by city, state or ZIP code, or by clicking on the map. You can also use the new per diem tool to calculate trip allowances

Rates are set by fiscal year, effective October 1 each year. Find current rates in the continental United States ("CONUS Rates").

Per Diem Rates

2024 Tax Season to Start January 29

The IRS announced that Monday, Jan. 29, 2024 will be the official start date of the 2024 tax season and will begin accepting and processing 2023 tax returns on that date.

While the IRS will not begin accepting and processing tax returns until Jan. 29, people can begin working on their taxes before that date if they're using tax software or tax professionals.

Most software companies accept electronic submissions and then hold them until the IRS is ready to begin processing, beginning January 29. In addition, IRS Free File will also be available on IRS.gov starting Jan. 12 before the filing season opens.

IRS Improvements

"As our transformation efforts take hold, taxpayers will continue to see marked improvement in IRS operations in the upcoming filing season," said IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel.

Some of the new and expanded tools and resources include:

• Expanded in-person service that meets taxpayers where they are by opening or reopening Taxpayer Assistance Centers (TACs). The IRS will also offer extended hours at many TACs nationwide.
• Increased help available on the toll-free line and an expanded customer call back feature designed to significantly reduce wait times.
• Improvements to the Where's My Refund? tool. Updates to this tool will allow taxpayers to see more detailed refund status messages in plain language. Taxpayers will see clearer and more detailed updates, including whether the IRS needs them to respond to a letter requesting additional information.
• Enhanced paperless processing that will enable taxpayers to submit all correspondence, non-tax forms, and responses to notices digitally and will be able to e-File 20 additional tax forms.
• An enhanced IRS Individual Online Account that includes chat, the option to schedule and cancel future payments, revise payment plans and validate and save bank accounts.
• A new, pilot tax filing service called Direct File that gives eligible taxpayers a new choice to file their 2023 federal tax returns online, for free, directly with the IRS. It will be rolled out in phases and is expected to be widely available in mid-March. Find more about Direct File pilot eligibility, scope and the participating states on Direct File.

April 15 tax filing deadline

For most taxpayers, April 15, 2024 is the filing deadline to file personal federal tax returns and pay taxes owed or request a filing extension.

Taxpayers living in Maine or Massachusetts have until April 17, 2024, due to the Patriot's Day and Emancipation Day holidays. If a taxpayer resides in a federally declared disaster area, they also may have additional time to file.

IRS Free File Opens January 12

IRS Free File will open Jan. 12, 2024, when participating software companies will accept completed tax returns and hold them until they can be filed electronically with the IRS.

IRS Free File Guided Tax Software, available only at IRS.gov, is available to any taxpayer or family with Adjusted Gross Income of $79,000 or less in 2023.

Beginning Jan. 29, 2024, Free File Fillable forms, a part of this effort, is available at no cost to any income level and provides electronic forms that people can fill out and e-file themselves also at no cost.

Most Refunds Issued in Less Than 21 Days

Many different factors can affect the timing of a refund after the IRS receives a return. Although the IRS issues most refunds in less than 21 days, the IRS cautions taxpayers not to rely on receiving a refund by a certain date, especially when making major purchases or paying bills. Some returns may require additional review and may take longer. The easiest way to check a refund's status is by using Where's My Refund? on IRS.gov or the IRS2Go app.

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) Refunds

The IRS expects most EITC/ACTC related refunds to be available in taxpayer bank accounts or on debit cards by February 27 if they chose direct deposit and there are no other issues with their tax return.

Under the federal Protecting Americans from Tax Hikes (PATH) Act, the IRS cannot issue Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Additional Child Tax Credit (ACTC) refunds before mid-February.

 Where's My Refund? should show an updated status by February 17 for most early EITC/ACTC filers.

2023 Earned Income Credit

For 2023 the maximum credit amount is $3,995 for one qualifying child, $6,604 for two qualifying children, $7,430 for three or more qualifying children, and $560 for taxpayers who have no qualifying child. The phaseout ranges for the credit have been adjusted for inflation. The excessive investment income limit is $11,000.

2023 Child Tax Credit

For 2023, the maximum child tax credit for a child under age 17 is $2,000. The credit begins to phase out when modified adjustment gross income ((MAGI) exceeds $400,000 on a joint return or $200,000 for all other filers.

There is an additional child tax credit that can be claimed if the child tax credit otherwise allowed is limited by tax liability; the refundable amount may not exceed $1,600 per qualifying child.

The credit for other dependents is unchanged (i.e. not refundable and limited to $500 per dependent).

• Business Travel:
  • 65.5 cents per mile
• Medical and moving for active military personnel:
  • 22 cents per mile
    • NOTE: This deduction only applies to members of the U.S. Armed Forces on active duty who move pursuant to a military order and incident to a permanent change of station.
• Charitable volunteers: 14 cents per mile (no change; set by statute)

Before the Tax Cut and Jobs Act (TCJA) of 2017, employees were able to claim a tax deduction for mileage between job locations and unreimbursed expenses. This deduction is no longer available. However, there are certain persons that may still claim a mileage deduction.

Here’s who may still claim a mileage deduction:

1. Small business owners.
2. Self-employed taxpayers who file Schedule C or Schedule F.
3. Independent contractors.
   1. For rideshare service providers, mileage from home to pick up the first passenger and the drive home after the last drop off are not deductible. Only the trips between the first business stop and the subsequent stops can be used for a claiming mileage deduction.
      However, if you have a home office that is your principal place of business, the miles from your home office to other business locations are deductible and miles from business locations back to your home office are deductible.
   2. Your principal place of business is where you either see customers, clients or where you maintain your books and records and do administrative work for your business (i.e. bookkeeping, filing papers, making sales calls, making business appointments, preparing business financial statements, etc.).
4. Certain types of employees, such as qualified performing artists, reservists in the armed forces, and fee-based government officials are eligible to claim mileage.
5. Individuals traveling for volunteer work or for medical appointments.

2023 First-year expensing (Section 179) and Bonus Depreciation

For qualifying property placed in service in 2023, first-year expensing is allowed up to a limit of $1,160,000. The limit begins to phase out if the total cost of qualifying property exceeds $2,890,000.

Section 179 Deduction Phase-out:

If the cost of qualifying property placed in service in 2023 exceeds $2,890,000, reduce the $1,160,000 expensing limit dollar-for-dollar for each dollar the cost of qualifying property exceeds $2,890,000 (but not below zero).

Example:, You place machinery in service during 2023 costing $2,950,000, the $1,160,000 deduction limit is reduced by $60,000 ($2,950,000 - $2,890,000) which is entered on Form 4562 in Part 1, line 5 (Dollar limitation for tax year).

If the cost of the property was $4,050,000 or more, no first-year expensing deduction would be allowed for 2023 because it would be completely phased out ($4,050,000 - 2,890,000) = $1,160,000 expensing limit.

2023 Bonus Depreciation (Section 168(k):

Bonus depreciation is an additional first-year depreciation allowance equal to a set percentage of the adjusted basis of eligible property. The percentage for bonus depreciation for 2023 is 80%. Bonus depreciation is fully deductible for alternative minimum tax purposes; no adjustment is required.

Bonus depreciation cannot be claimed for property that must be depreciated under the ADS straight line method (i.e. listed property used 50% or less for business must be depreciated under ADS). (ADS stands for Alternative Depreciation System.)

Bonus depreciation is also called a Section 168(k) allowance and a special depreciation allowance and can be claimed in addition to any first-year-expensing, depending on the cost of the property. In figuring adjusted basis for purposes of bonus depreciation, any first-year expensing deduction is taken into account first. Then, you figure bonus depreciation on the depreciable cost (business portion) of the property minus the first-year expensing allowance.

You're not required to use bonus depreciation and have the option of electing out of its use. The election is made on a per-asset-class basis. For example, you can opt out of bonus depreciation for all five-year property while claiming it for seven-year property. To elect out of using bonus depreciation, attach a statement to your return specifying the class of property for which the election not to claim additional depreciation is being made.