How Are Travel Therapy Stipends Set in Alaska and Hawaii?
Alaska and Hawaii are outside the GSA tables, so the federal per diem rate that caps a tax-free stipend there is the one the Department of Defense sets for each location, which IRS Publication 463 points to. A stipend at or below that rate stays out of box 1 of your W-2 under the same tax home rules as anywhere else, and any part above it is taxed as wages.
Why does GSA publish no stipend rate for Alaska or Hawaii?
Because its tables stop at the contiguous states. GSA describes its job this way: “We establish the per diem rates that federal agencies use to reimburse their employees for lodging and meals and incidental expenses incurred while on official travel within the continental United States.” On the same page it says: “Rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions are set by the Department of Defense.”
Publication 463 says the same from the tax side: “The Department of Defense establishes per diem rates for Alaska, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, Midway, the Northern Mariana Islands, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Wake Island, and other non-foreign areas outside the continental United States.”
That is why the stipend calculator and the state pages for Alaska and Hawaii on this site show no figure for either state: there is no GSA number to show, and a contiguous-state rate would be the wrong one.
Where do you look up the Alaska or Hawaii per diem rate?
On the Defense Department’s lookup. Publication 463 gives the address: “You can access per diem rates for non-foreign areas outside the continental United States at Travel.dod.mil/Travel-Transportation-Rates/Per-Diem/Per-Diem-Rate-Lookup/.” The page is the Defense Travel Management Office per diem rate lookup.
Two rules from the same publication tell you which line to read. Rates are tied to a place and a year: “Per diem rates are listed by the federal government’s fiscal year.” And the place is where you sleep: “For per diem amounts, use the rate in effect for the locality where you stop for sleep or rest.” So a contract on one island with housing on another, or a clinic in a small town with housing in a city, takes the rate for where you sleep.
If you are weighing an Alaska or Hawaii contract and want every stipend line in writing, ask a ProTherapy recruiter: Find my next contract.
Do the standard and high-low shortcuts work in Alaska and Hawaii?
No. The IRS shortcuts for the contiguous states are written for those states only. On meals, Publication 463 says: “The standard meal allowance rates above don’t apply to travel in Alaska, Hawaii, or any other location outside the continental United States.” On the high-low method it says: “This is a simplified method of figuring the federal per diem rate for travel within the continental United States.”
So the standard meals rate this site quotes on its meals and incidentals page is not the Alaska or Hawaii number, and neither is any high-low figure. An offer for either state should name the Defense Department locality it used.
What happens if an agency pays more than the Defense rate?
The excess is taxed as wages, the same as anywhere else. Publication 463: “If your allowance is less than or equal to the federal rate, the allowance won’t be included in box 1 of your Form W-2.” And when it is higher: “your employer must include the allowance amount up to the federal rate under code L in box 12 of your Form W-2. This amount isn’t taxable. However, the excess allowance will be included in box 1 of your Form W-2.”
None of this replaces the tax home rules. A stipend is tax-free only while you keep a tax home and the assignment is temporary; the guide to stipends on your W-2 explains what box 1 and code L on your W-2 show, and TravelTherapyTax.com covers the tax home itself.
What should you ask before you sign an Alaska or Hawaii contract?
- Which Defense Department locality and which fiscal year the housing and meals lines were sized from.
- The weekly housing stipend and the weekly meals stipend as separate lines, in writing.
- Whether any part of either line sits above the federal rate, which would be taxed.
- How flights or shipping to get there are paid; the travel reimbursement guide covers when that payment is tax-free.
- Which license the contract needs; Alaska and Hawaii each have a licensing page on TravelTherapyLicensure.com.
If an offer quotes a contiguous-state figure for either state, ask where it came from before you plan around it.
Frequently asked questions
Does the GSA standard rate apply in Alaska or Hawaii?
No. GSA says its per diem rates cover official travel within the continental United States, and that rates for Alaska, Hawaii, and U.S. territories and possessions are set by the Department of Defense.
Is a housing stipend in Hawaii tax-free?
The same federal rules apply as anywhere else. Under Publication 463, an allowance at or below the federal rate is not included in box 1 of your Form W-2, and in Hawaii the federal rate is the Defense Department rate for the locality where you sleep. You also need a tax home and a temporary assignment.
Why does this site's stipend calculator leave out Alaska and Hawaii?
It is built on GSA's continental tables, and GSA publishes no rate for either state. Rather than show a contiguous-state number that does not apply, it leaves them out and points to the Defense Department lookup that Publication 463 names.
Sources
- GSA: Per diem rates, read October 22, 2026
- IRS Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, read October 22, 2026