Deployment pay 2026: HFP/IDP, the $300 FSA and hardship duty pay

The four pays at a glance

Hostile fire pay or imminent danger pay — never both

The Financial Management Regulation (FMR) describes two triggers for the same monthly pay:

• HFP is paid when your commander certifies that you were subjected to hostile fire, a hostile mine explosion or other hostile action, or were on duty in an area where such an event put you in grave danger, or were killed, injured or wounded by one. It is paid for the full month, even for a single event.
• IDP is paid for official duty in a designated imminent danger area. Since 2012 it is prorated by day.

A member can’t receive both in the same month (FMR 7A, ch. 10, 2.1).

The October 1, 2026 increase. A memo from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War (Manpower and Reserve Affairs), signed July 14, 2026 and posted October 1, says: “Effective October 1, 2026, the amounts for HFP and IDP are increased to $450 and $275 per month, respectively,” and that the $275 IDP “is prorated at $9.16 per day.” The Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS) page on the two pays, updated October 13, 2026, adds that a member in a qualifying area “for any complete month” gets the full $275. Before October, HFP was $225 a month and IDP $7.50 a day up to $225. The FMR chapter (Vol. 7A, ch. 10, dated October 2024) still shows the old amounts; the memo says it will be updated.

The FMR adds a detail about the 31st: for members on active duty for 30 days or more, the daily proration doesn’t apply to the 31st of a month. Its example: a member in an IDP area from March 31 through April 29 is paid IDP only for April 1 through 29.

The new amounts are the most the statute allows: 37 U.S.C. 351 caps hostile fire pay at $450 a month and imminent danger pay at $275. The statute also has an end date. As the law reads on October 13, 2026, no hazardous duty pay under section 351 may be paid after December 31, 2026, unless Congress extends the authority.

The family separation allowance is now $300

The FY2026 National Defense Authorization Act (Public Law 119-60, section 622) raised FSA in 37 U.S.C. 427 from $250 to $300 a month. DoD now uses the secondary name Department of War, and the Marine Corps message on the change, MARADMIN 150/26, cites an Office of the Assistant Secretary of War memo. It says that because the law set no other date, the new rate is “effective as of the date of enactment, 18 December 2025,” and that it covers all three types of FSA: FSA-R, FSA-S and FSA-T. DFAS lists the rate as $300 a month, prorated at $10 a day for less than a month.

One caution if you look the rule up yourself: the FMR chapter on FSA (Vol. 7A, ch. 27, dated October 2025) still shows the old $250 rate; that version predates the law change.

FSA is for members with dependents. DFAS lists the main cases:

1. Your dependents aren’t authorized to move to your permanent duty station at government expense and don’t live near it.
2. You’re on a ship away from home port continuously for more than 30 days.
3. You’re on temporary duty away from your permanent station continuously for more than 30 days, and your dependents don’t live at or near the temporary station.
4. You chose an unaccompanied tour because a dependent can’t accompany you for certified medical reasons.

DFAS also covers dependents evacuated to a safe haven. You apply by giving your personnel office a completed DD Form 1561.

Hardship duty pay – location, and the $100 rule

HDP-L recognizes places where living conditions are well below those in the continental United States. DFAS’s location table assigns each designated place a monthly rate of $50, $100 or $150 (some listed places are $0). Under FMR 7A, ch. 17, members permanently assigned there are paid from the day they arrive; members on temporary duty or deployed must be there more than 30 consecutive days.

The cap is where HDP-L meets HFP and IDP. From October 1, 2026 the same memo says that, with HFP or IDP, “the monthly HDP-L rate will be reduced from $150 to $100 per month,” so a $150 location pays $100 in any month with either pay, and $50 and $100 locations pay their full rate. The FMR’s older wording (3.1) also limits HDP-L plus HFP or IDP to $325 a month — a total written for the $225 rates, which the new $450 HFP alone already exceeds — so from October 2026 our calculator applies only the $100 limit.

For January through September 2026 the $325 total still applies. DFAS’s table note words that rule slightly differently: HDP-L drops to $100 when you’re authorized a concurrent $225 HFP or IDP. In a full month the two readings agree; in a month with only a few days of IDP they don’t, and for those months our calculator shows HDP-L as a range rather than picking one reading.

Two worked months for an E-5

Both months use an E-5 with more than 4 years of service ($3,946.80 basic pay in 2026), computed with the deployment pay calculator on this site for October 2026, at the new rates.

In Month 1, the $150 location rate is cut by $50, to $100, because HFP is paid. Without HFP or IDP the same location would pay the full $150. If the member in Month 2 had also been at a $150 HDP-L location, HDP-L for that month would be $100, so special pays would total $329.92. The same two months in September 2026, at the old rates, came to $625.00 and $210.00.

Taxes, and what a calculator can’t show

Whether these pays are taxed depends mostly on whether the month qualifies for the combat zone tax exclusion. For enlisted members and warrant officers, all military pay for a qualifying month is excluded; commissioned officers have a monthly cap, which rose with HFP on October 1. That has its own guide: the combat zone tax exclusion and the 2026 officer cap.

A few deployment items aren’t in our calculator: the Savings Deposit Program, per diem, family separation housing, and FSA for December 2025, when the rate changed in the middle of the month. HFP and IDP for months after December 2026 also show as “Not modeled” until an extension of 37 U.S.C. 351 is law.

Next step

Enter your grade, the month, your HFP or IDP days, FSA and HDP-L tier in the deployment pay calculator to see the month’s special pays and, for a combat zone month, the excluded amount. For basic pay, the Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) and the Basic Allowance for Subsistence (BAS), use the military pay calculator.

This is general information, not financial or tax advice. Your Leave and Earnings Statement and your finance office are the final word on your pay.