Drive more than 100 miles to drill? You can deduct your travel — mileage, lodging, and meals.
See what you’re owed in under a minute — start below.
Enter the totals for the tax year. Amounts are capped at the federal per diem rate for your duty location — look yours up free at GSA.gov. Defaults below use the standard CONUS rate. We don't sell your data.
Meals are limited to 50% per IRS rules. Your actual savings depend on your full return. This is an estimate — see the disclaimer below.
MilitaryTaxBreak.com explains one federal deduction: the unreimbursed travel costs of National Guard and Reserve members who go more than 100 miles from home, overnight, for duty. Most visitors arrive with one of these six questions.
Not sure whether you qualify at all? Begin with who qualifies, or check which reserve components are covered.
Each guide names its IRS or agency sources and works through an invented example with the arithmetic shown. The full list is on the all guides page.
Checks the reserve-component, distance, travel and reimbursement tests one at a time, then applies them to four invented reservists so you can see where each one passes or fails.
Follows a reservist's receipts, miles and per diem limits through Form 2106 to Schedule 1, line 12, and explains why this deduction survived when most employee expenses did not.
Uses made-up 2026 trips to show mileage at both 2026 rates, lodging held to the per diem cap, meals at 50 percent and a reimbursement subtracted, ending at the total that reaches Schedule 1.
Lists what a usable log contains and shows how the July 2026 rate change splits the year, with a worked example. A log is what separates a deduction from an estimate.
Covers frequent errors, such as mixing up rates or deducting costs that were reimbursed, states what the IRS wording requires instead, and puts dollar amounts on three of them.
Explains how to file Form 1040-X if you missed the deduction in an earlier year, which years are still open for a refund claim, and how to rebuild drill records after the fact.
Shows how accountable plans, allowances and W-2 code L change the deduction, and why it survived the suspension of employee expenses, with a worked year in four setups.
Explains how the exclusion differs for officers and enlisted members, which areas count, and how the earned income credit election works, with an invented example.
Also useful: short answers to common questions, the glossary, the drill pay calculator and military finance news.
Your travel numbers go on Form 2106 and then Schedule 1 of your return. FreeTaxUSA is a filing service this site is an affiliate of, and the link in this box is an affiliate link, with the disclosure printed directly above it. You can file any way you like.
Free federal filing that supports Form 2106 / Schedule 1 adjustments. Budget-friendly for Guard and Reserve members. Source: the forms list on FreeTaxUSA's military page. Source: the forms list on FreeTaxUSA's military page.
Affiliate disclosure: MilitaryTaxBreak.com is an affiliate of FreeTaxUSA. If you file through this link we may earn a commission, at no extra cost to you. We only link to services we're actually partnered with.
Claim your deduction — free federal filing →The travel rules on this page trace to the Internal Revenue Code, Publication 3 and Publication 463 and the Form 2106 instructions. Mileage rates come from IRS notices, lodging and meal limits from GSA per diem files, and drill pay from DFAS pay tables. We read the source document rather than a summary and link it where the rule appears. See the sources page for the full list and the editorial policy for how pages are reviewed.
Last updated: October 21, 2026. Tax law and rates change, so confirm current figures with the IRS before you file.
Members of a reserve component of the Armed Forces (Army/Air/Navy/Marine/Coast Guard Reserve, the National Guard, and the Reserve Corps of the Public Health Service) can deduct unreimbursed travel expenses for reserve duties performed more than 100 miles from home. Unlike most employee business expenses — which the 2017 tax law suspended — this one survived and remains an above-the-line adjustment, meaning you claim it whether or not you itemize.
You generally qualify if you are a member of a reserve component, you traveled more than 100 miles away from your home to perform your reserve duties, you were away from home overnight, and your employer/unit did not reimburse those expenses. If you were reimbursed, you can't also deduct that portion.
Your deduction is capped at the federal per diem rate for your duty location (lodging + meals & incidental expenses, from GSA.gov) for lodging and meals, plus the standard mileage rate for driving, plus parking fees, tolls, and ferry fees. Meals are subject to the 50% limit. The 2026 standard mileage rate is 76¢/mile (it was 72.5¢ before July 1, 2026); 2025 was 70¢/mile.
Calculate the expenses on Form 2106 (Employee Business Expenses), then carry the reserve-related amount to Schedule 1 (Form 1040), line 12. It reduces your adjusted gross income directly.
Keep your drill/orders showing dates and location, a mileage log (dates, destinations, miles), and lodging receipts. Good records are what protect the deduction if the IRS ever asks.
This is a federal deduction, so it is available to eligible Guard and Reserve members wherever they live or drill; how your own state treats drill pay and travel on a state return is a separate question, covered in our guide to state taxes and drill pay.