The Department of State (DoS) is the agency responsible for establishing the 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 (OCONUS). The per diem rates established are used for tax purposes in helping truck drivers and owner operators calculate their per diem deduction using the city-by-city method found in IRS Publication 463.  Generally truck drivers will rarely (if ever) use the OCONUS per diem rates, except for cases where they drive in Mexico, Canada, Central America, South America, Hawaii, or Alaska.

The OCONUS per diem rates (along with the CONUS per diem rates established by the GSA) can be used in lieu of using the special rate for transportation workers.