Subsistence on Day of Travel From Foreign Country to United States

An agency official requested an advance decision concerning the appropriate method of computing an employee's subsistence expenses on the day he returned from a temporary duty assignment overseas. The agency reimbursed the employee under the actual expense mode in the Federal Travel Regulations. According to these regulations, reimbursement for the day of return shall be on an actual subsistence expense basis, and if per diem is authorized for the first day of travel, per diem shall also be authorized for the day of return home. However, the employee contended that the section of the travel regulations used by the agency did not apply to foreign travel. GAO found that the agency had applied the correct section of the travel regulations to this case. In view of this, GAO held that the voucher could not be certified for payment.