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American Payroll Association (APA) Basic Guide to Payroll, 2013 Edition
It's more important than ever to be in compliance with payroll laws and regulations! How do you stay in compliance and avoid penalties? The APA Basic Guide to Payroll is written to make understanding the laws and regulations as easy as possible. And this single-volume guide is filled with tools to help you apply the law and make proper calculations – with ease!

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CCH® PAYROLL — 9/11/12

CONUS per diem rates to remain the same for FY 2013

The Continental United States (CONUS) per diem rates will remain the same for fiscal year 2013. The Government Services Agency (GSA) establishes the per diem rates for the United States, which are the maximum allowances that federal employees are reimbursed for expense incurred while on official travel. The CONUS per diem rate for an area is actually three allowances: the lodging allowance, the meals allowance and the incidental expense allowance. Most of the CONUS (approximately 2600 counties) are covered by the standard CONUS per diem rate of $123 ($77 lodging, $46 meals and incidental expenses). In fiscal year (FY) 2013, there continue to be about 400 Non-Standard Areas (NSAs) that have per diem rates higher than the standard CONUS rate. Since FY 2005, NSA rates have been based on Average Daily Rate (ADR) data from the lodging industry, which GSA obtains through a contract with a leading provider of lodging industry data. All current non-standard area (NSA) lodging rates will remain at FY 2012 levels for FY 2013. The meals and incidental expense tiers also remain unchanged for FY 2013 and range from $46-$71. The GSA has identified 10 new non-standard areas: Bakersfield/Ridgecrest, CA; Stockton, CA; Hancock and Pearl Counties, MS; Sidney/Glendive, MT; Dickinson/Beulah, ND; Minot, ND; Williston, ND; Carlsbad, NM; Watertown, NY; and Pasco, WA. The per diems will be reproduced in a future report at ¶795.(FTR Bulletin 13-01, August 27, 2013.)

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