Is an office holder’s TA reduced when the agency books and pays for an office holder’s accommodation?

The Official Travel determination provides for the payment of an allowance to the office holder to cover reasonable expenses associated with official travel, i.e. accommodation, meals and incidentals, and it is a matter for the office holder as to how that allowance is to be used.  An office holder’s TA must be paid in full.

However, in the event that the cost of accommodation is met by an entity other than the office holder, only the meals and incidentals component of TA is payable. 

An example of this might include where an office holder attended a conference and the cost of accommodation was met by the Commonwealth as part of the conference package. This provision is not intended to cover a circumstance where a paying agency simply arranged and paid for an office holder’s accommodation on their behalf as if the office holder had paid for it themselves. If an office holder consents to their paying agency arranging and covering the cost of their accommodation directly, the office holder would be entitled to the balance of the applicable travel allowance rate less the cost of accommodation.

In applying the provisions of the Official Travel determination, office holders and agencies should have regard to the set of general principles included in that determination.