Per diem calculator: get accurate travel allowances in minutes

Per diem (Latin for "per day") is a fixed daily allowance an employer pays an employee to cover meals, accommodation and incidentals during business travel. Instead of collecting receipts for every coffee and sandwich, the company pays a flat rate set against the trip's destination and duration. For finance teams, per diem is a way to control travel cost, simplify expense admin and stay tax-compliant, all in one policy.

Per diem is calculated against the country’s official rates and the trip’s duration. The UK uses HMRC benchmark scale rates tied to journey length: £5 for 5+ hours, £10 for 10+ hours, £25 for 15+ hours that continue past 8pm. Germany uses a two-tier BMF system (Verpflegungspauschale): €14 for absences over 8 hours including arrival and departure days, and €28 for full 24-hour absences. The Netherlands applies fixed flat amounts for domestic travel and hourly incidentals at 1.5% of the country rate for international trips. Our calculator runs the right rules for each country automatically, so your finance team doesn’t have to interpret the legislation trip by trip.

Per diem typically covers meals, accommodation and incidental costs during business travel. The exact coverage varies by country: in Germany and the Netherlands, it covers meals and overnight stays; in the UK, HMRC benchmark scale rates cover subsistence based on journey duration. HMRC does not set a benchmark for accommodation, so employers either agree a bespoke rate or reimburse actual cost. Per diem does not cover transport or client entertainment, which sit on a separate line in most travel policies.

Per diem is tax-free for both the employer and the employee as long as the payment stays within the official rates set by the relevant tax authority. In Germany, the BMF sets domestic rates at €28 for 24-hour absences and €14 for 8+ hour absences. In the UK, HMRC publishes benchmark scale rates (a type of Scale Rate Payment) that are tax-free without the need for receipts. In the Netherlands, the CAO Rijk benchmarks serve as the tax-free threshold. Anything paid above these official rates becomes taxable income for the employee and has to be reported through payroll.

Current 2026 domestic per diem rates by country:

• Germany: €28 for 24h+ absences, €14 for 8h+ absences including arrival and departure days (BMF, Verpflegungspauschale).
• United Kingdom: £5 for 5+ hour journeys, £10 for 10+ hours, £25 for 15+ hours past 8pm. £5 early-start breakfast for departures before 6am (HMRC benchmark scale rates).
• Austria: €30 per day plus €17 per overnight stay for domestic trips. Foreign rates sit in Rz 1405 of the BMF Lohnsteuerrichtlinien.
• Netherlands: €7.35 daily and €21.92 evening flat amounts for domestic trips. International: hourly incidentals at 1.5% of the country rate (CAO Rijk benchmarks).

International per diem rates are higher and vary by destination. A German employee travelling to Paris, for example, receives €58 per full day.

Each country has its own tax authority that publishes official per diem rates:

• Germany: The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) publishes annual rates under EStG 9. The German per diem system is known locally as Verpflegungsmehraufwand or Verpflegungspauschale.
• United Kingdom: HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) sets benchmark Scale Rate Payments.
• Austria: The BMF issues guidelines in the Lohnsteuerrichtlinien. Rz 1405 covers foreign travel rates.
• Netherlands: Rates follow the CAO Rijk (government employee collective agreement), used as benchmarks by the wider market.

These figures are updated regularly. Working from outdated rates is one of the most common per diem compliance mistakes, which is why our calculator is kept current with the latest 2026 figures.

From the company’s perspective, the unspent difference normally stays with the employee. Per diem is a flat daily allowance, not an expense reimbursement, so there’s no requirement to claw back the unspent portion. As long as the per diem itself sits within official BMF, HMRC or CAO Rijk limits, the unspent amount remains tax-free and there’s nothing to report through payroll. This is one of the key differences between per diem and expense reimbursement: there are no receipts to collect and no bookkeeping overhead for leftover amounts.

Per diem and expense reimbursement are two different ways to handle business travel cost. Per diem pays a fixed daily allowance regardless of actual spend, with no receipts to collect and no per-line review. Expense reimbursement pays the exact amount on the receipt, after the employee has paid out of pocket. Per diem cuts admin and speeds up month-end close; expense reimbursement is tighter on cost when actual spend is consistently lower than the flat rate. Most European finance teams settle on a hybrid: per diem for meals and incidentals, actual cost for accommodation and transport.

Per diem rates vary a lot, both for domestic and international travel. A German employee on a 24-hour domestic trip receives €28; the same employee travelling to Paris receives €58 per full day. The UK uses HMRC benchmark scale rates by journey duration (£5 for 5+ hours, £10 for 10+ hours, £25 for 15+ hours). The Netherlands uses fixed flat amounts for domestic trips and hourly incidentals for international trips. Austria requires the employee to travel at least 25 km from their workplace and be away for 3+ hours before any allowance applies. Our calculator covers 30+ international destinations so finance teams always work from the right figure.

Manual per diem means spreadsheets, rate lookups and back-and-forth with employees about meal deductions. Spend management platforms like Moss remove that work by calculating the allowance against the right country rules, applying the meal deductions, and exporting numbers ready for pre-accounting and payroll. Your team enters trip details once, the system handles the compliance logic, and finance signs off in minutes instead of hours.