Work out what Temporary Lodging Allowance pays while you wait for permanent quarters overseas. TLA is a percentage of the per diem rate DTMO publishes for your locality, and since 1 October 2020 lodging and meals carry different percentages: a member with no dependents draws the full lodging rate but 65% of the meals rate, a member and one dependent draw the full rate of both, and each additional dependent aged 12 or older adds 35% while each one under 12 adds 25%. Lodging pays your actual cost up to that ceiling and no further; meals pay as computed, against no receipts. Arrival at an overseas duty station is ordinarily authorized up to 60 days and departure up to the last 10, with anything beyond approved in increments of 10 days or fewer.
Rates last verified August 2026 against the published source tables.
TLA does not come from the JTR. TLE is JTR §0506; TLA is the DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 68, under 37 U.S.C. §405, and the percentages are its Table 68-11. Searching the JTR for TLA rules turns up cross-references and nothing else, which is why so many explanations of it are secondhand.
There is also no daily dollar cap on TLA. DTMO's fact sheet states there is no maximum ceiling for a daily payment other than the one the calculation itself produces, so the $290 daily limit that governs TLE does not follow you overseas. Your ceiling is the percentage of the locality lodging rate, which in an expensive locality is well above it. The other half of that trade is that TLA is authorized only for command-sponsored dependents: family members who accompany you without command sponsorship do not count toward the percentage at all.
Temporary Lodging Allowance pays for lodging and meals at an overseas station while you wait for permanent quarters — up to 60 days on arrival and 10 days before departure. Only command-sponsored dependents count toward the percentage; a family that arrives without command sponsorship is not in the calculation, however many of them are in the room.
Approval is in increments, not a lump. TLA past the initial period is approved in 10-day increments by the housing office, each one requiring evidence that you are actively looking for permanent quarters. It is not a 60-day entitlement you draw down at your own pace.
It is the overseas counterpart of TLE, not an addition to it. TLE covers the CONUS end of the same move; TLA takes over on arrival overseas. A member can be paid both across one PCS, but never for the same night.
A member arriving at Ramstein Air Base, Germany with a spouse and one child under 12 draws 125% of the locality lodging rate and 125% of its meals rate. DTMO publishes $229 lodging and $133 meals and incidentals there, effective 1 September 2026 — so the nightly lodging ceiling is $286.25 and meals pay $166.25 a day.
A room at $150 a night is reimbursed in full, and the day pays $316.25. Thirty days is $9,487.50. Because lodging is reimbursement up to a ceiling, a cheaper room saves the government money rather than paying you the difference — but the meals figure is paid as computed either way.
A member alone draws the two percentages that differ. Alone, lodging is 100% but meals and incidentals are only 65%. Every other household draws the same percentage for both. It is the one asymmetry in Table 68-11 and the one that surprises single members on arrival.
TLA is not in the JTR. It is the DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 68, under 37 U.S.C. §405, and the percentages are its Table 68-11: 100% lodging and 65% meals for a member alone, 100% of both for a member and one dependent, then an increment per further dependent that depends on whether they are 12 or older. Members who go looking for TLA in the JTR find TLE instead and take away the wrong rules.
There is no $290 cap. DTMO states there is no maximum daily payment for TLA beyond what the calculation itself produces. The $290 figure belongs to TLE, and applying it overseas understates the ceiling — which means booking worse lodging than the allowance would have covered.
The locality rates come from DTMO's published OCONUS per diem table, which this site holds as the publisher's own file and rebuilds from monthly. Rates move on the 1st; the page says which edition it is showing.
Not documenting the housing search. Each extension is approved on evidence that you are actively seeking permanent quarters. Members who stop attending housing appointments, or who decline offers without recording why, lose the extension rather than the argument — and the days already used are not refundable against the next phase.
Forgetting the departure phase. The 10 days before you leave the overseas station are a separate authorization from the 60 on arrival. A member who used every arrival day still has the departure days, and they are commonly left unclaimed.
Once you have permanent quarters. TLA covers the gap before permanent housing, and it ends when the gap does — the day you move into quarters or a lease begins, whether or not the authorized days are used up. It is not a housing allowance and does not run alongside one.
Days past the authorization, without an approval. The ordinary authorization is 60 days on arrival. Beyond that TLA continues only in approved increments, each justified and approved separately — so a stay that runs long without that approval is a stay you are paying for.
A CONUS move. TLA is the overseas entitlement. A move between CONUS stations pays TLE instead, which is capped per day and limited to far fewer of them.
Through the housing office first. TLA runs through the housing office at the overseas installation rather than through your transportation office, and it is usually claimed in periods while the stay is still going on rather than once at the end. Ask on arrival what the local claim cycle is — it varies by installation more than most entitlements do.
Lodging receipts, and evidence you are looking. Keep the receipts, and keep a record of the housing you have viewed or applied for. Extensions turn on whether you are actively searching, and a member who can show the search gets them; a member who cannot, often does not.
Meals are part of it, and are not receipted. The M&IE portion is a percentage of the locality rate rather than a reimbursement, so it needs no food receipts. It is also why the total does not fall when you cook — though a kitchen in the room does change the percentage at some installations.
| Who is in the lodging | Lodging | Meals and incidentals |
|---|---|---|
| Member alone | 100% | 65% |
| Member + 1 dependent aged 12 or older | 100% | 100% |
| Member + 1 dependent under 12 | 100% | 100% |
| Member + 2 dependents aged 12 or older | 135% | 135% |
| Member + 1 older + 1 younger dependent | 125% | 125% |
| Member + 2 dependents under 12 | 125% | 125% |
| Member + 3 dependents (1 older, 2 younger) | 150% | 150% |
| Rule | Lodging | Meals and incidentals |
|---|---|---|
| Member alone | 100% | 65% |
| Member and one dependent | 100% | 100% |
| Each further dependent aged 12 or older | +35% | +35% |
| Each further dependent under 12 | +25% | +25% |
| Station | Lodging ceiling (100%) | Meals and incidentals (65%) |
|---|---|---|
| Ramstein Air Base, Germany | $229 | $86 |
| Kaiserslautern, Germany | $229 | $86 |
| Stuttgart, Germany | $259 | $88 |
| Wiesbaden, Germany | $247 | $86 |
| Yokosuka Naval Base, Japan | $201 | $68 |
| Kadena Air Base, Japan | $333 | $78 |
| Yokota Air Base, Japan | $201 | $68 |
| Camp Humphreys, South Korea | $66 | $33 |
| Osan Air Base, South Korea | $62 | $27 |
| Aviano Air Base, Italy | $117 | $58 |
| Naval Support Activity Naples, Italy | $377 | $110 |
| RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom | $252 | $70 |
| Naval Station Rota, Spain | $246 | $95 |
| Naval Base Guam, Guam | $179 | $90 |
TLA is a percentage of the locality per diem rate for your overseas duty station, and since 1 October 2020 lodging and meals carry different percentages. A member with no dependents is paid 100% of the lodging rate but only 65% of the M&IE rate. A member and one dependent are paid 100% of both. Each additional dependent aged 12 or older adds 35% to both, and each one under 12 adds 25%. Lodging then pays your actual cost up to that ceiling and no more; meals pay as computed. If you have read that a single member gets 65% of everything, that is the table as it stood before 1 October 2020. It understates the lodging ceiling by more than a third.
They cover the same problem at opposite ends of a move. TLE is CONUS and comes from JTR §0506; TLA is OCONUS and comes from the DoD Financial Management Regulation, Volume 7A, Chapter 68 — a different regulation, which is why searching the JTR for TLA rules turns up nothing but cross-references. Three practical differences matter. TLA has no daily dollar cap, while TLE clamps every day at $290. TLA runs to 60 days on arrival against TLE's 21. And a member with no dependents is computed differently: 100% of lodging under TLA, 65% under TLE.
On arrival at an overseas duty station, DTMO's guidance is "a number of days deemed sufficient, but ordinarily, not more than 60 days" while you look for permanent quarters. Before you depart an overseas station, you should "not require TLA for more than the last 10 days" after giving up your quarters. Past that, TLA can continue — the fact sheet allows extensions "for an indefinite period when approved by the proper authority" for reasons such as delayed household goods — but it is granted in increments of 10 days or fewer, each of which has to be justified and approved. In tight overseas housing markets that is routine, and it is also the deadline families most often miss.
No. DTMO's TLA fact sheet is explicit: "There is no maximum ceiling for a daily TLA payment other than that based on the daily calculation." The $290 daily cap belongs to TLE and does not follow you overseas. Your effective ceiling is the percentage of the locality lodging rate, which in an expensive locality is far above $290 for a family.
The difference is yours. The lodging portion of TLA may never exceed either the ceiling or the actual cost you paid — booking under the ceiling does not pay you the difference, and booking over it does not raise the ceiling. Where lodging genuinely cannot be found within the rate — a special event, or a shortage of adequate temporary lodging — a higher rate called TLA Special (TLA-S) can be requested. It has to be approved in advance, at the OUSD(P&R) level, and never retroactively, so it is something to raise before you travel rather than after you have paid.
Yes. TLA is authorized only for service members and their command-sponsored dependents. Family members who accompany you overseas without command sponsorship do not count toward the percentage and their lodging is not payable, which is the single largest reason a TLA claim comes back smaller than the family expected.
Your reimbursement is limited to what the government quarters would have cost. If they are not available, written certification of that is required to support the claim — get it from the housing office at the time rather than reconstructing it later. This calculator computes the ordinary case, in which government quarters are unavailable and you are paying commercial lodging.