For qualifying business trips within Germany, the 2026 meal allowance is €14 for a single-day absence of more than eight hours and for arrival or departure days with an overnight stay away from home. A full calendar day of 24 hours away qualifies for €28. Foreign trips use the destination rates in the BMF table effective from 1 January 2026.
Use the day-by-day calculator to select each day's applicable destination, deduct provided meals and download your calculation as a CSV. It includes a searchable selection of foreign rates and city exceptions. The result is an estimate to review with payroll, not an automatic decision on your tax entitlement.
Rates and calculation rules checked against the official BMF table and § 9 EStG on 6 September 2026.
What Is the Verpflegungsmehraufwand?
Germany's meal allowance is a fixed amount for qualifying business travel away from home and your first workplace. The trip determines the allowance; your food bill does not. See the employee rules in section 9(4a) of the German Income Tax Act.
Before calculating, establish:
- Whether the trip qualifies. Ordinary travel between home and the first workplace is not a business trip for this allowance.
- Which day type applies. A single-day trip must exceed eight hours. Arrival and departure days with an overnight stay have no minimum duration. A full day means 24 hours away in that calendar day.
- Whether meals were provided. Meals supplied by the employer, or arranged on its behalf, reduce the allowance. A meal the employee buys independently does not trigger that deduction.
The allowance is generally limited to the first three months at the same external workplace. An interruption of at least four weeks restarts that period. The calculator does not establish your first workplace or assess this restriction.
Verpflegungsmehraufwand 2026: Domestic Rates
| Day type | Meal allowance |
|---|
| Single-day trip of eight hours or less | €0 |
| Single-day trip of more than eight hours | €14 |
| Arrival day with an overnight stay away from home | €14 |
| Departure day after an overnight stay away from home | €14 |
| Full calendar day of 24 hours away | €28 |
A trip that crosses midnight without an overnight stay needs special handling. If the total absence exceeds eight hours, the €14 allowance applies once, to the day containing the larger share of the absence. Do not enter it as two arrival/departure days in the calculator.
Meal Reductions: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
Deductions use the applicable full-day rate, even when the starting allowance is only the smaller arrival, departure or single-day rate.
| Provided meal | Deduction | Germany |
|---|
| Breakfast | 20% of the full-day rate | €5.60 |
| Lunch | 40% of the full-day rate | €11.20 |
| Dinner | 40% of the full-day rate | €11.20 |
For a €14 domestic day with breakfast and lunch provided, the calculation is €14 − €5.60 − €11.20, floored at €0. A deduction never creates a negative allowance.
If you pay towards a provided meal, that payment reduces the deduction for that meal. The calculator assumes provided meals are free to you; employee contributions need a separate adjustment with payroll. Abroad, use the full-day rate applicable to that travel day, even if the meal was served in a different country.
Worked Example: Three-Day Business Trip Within Germany
A technician leaves on Monday, stays two nights in an employer-booked hotel with breakfast included, and returns on Wednesday:
| Day | Starting allowance | Provided meal deduction | Remaining allowance |
|---|
| Monday: arrival | €14.00 | — | €14.00 |
| Tuesday: full day | €28.00 | Breakfast: €5.60 | €22.40 |
| Wednesday: departure | €14.00 | Breakfast: €5.60 | €8.40 |
| Total | €56.00 | €11.20 | €44.80 |
Choose Try a three-day example in the calculator to load these inputs. Keep the actual trip dates, destination, business purpose, departure and return times with the exported estimate. No food receipts are needed for the flat allowance itself.
Foreign Per Diem Rates 2026: Selected European Destinations
The BMF letter of 5 December 2025 sets the foreign rates from 1 January 2026. The smaller meal rate applies to qualifying arrival, departure and single-day absences of more than eight hours. All amounts below are in euros.
| Destination | Full day | Smaller meal rate | Overnight flat rate* |
|---|
| Austria | €50 | €33 | €117 |
| Belgium | €59 | €40 | €141 |
| Czech Republic | €32 | €21 | €77 |
| Denmark | €75 | €50 | €183 |
| France: Paris and departments 77, 78, 91–95 | €58 | €39 | €159 |
| France: other destinations | €53 | €36 | €105 |
| Italy: Rome | €48 | €32 | €150 |
| Italy: Milan | €42 | €28 | €191 |
| Italy: other destinations | €42 | €28 | €150 |
| Luxembourg | €63 | €42 | €139 |
| Netherlands | €58 | €39 | €167 |
| Poland: Warsaw | €40 | €27 | €143 |
| Poland: other destinations, including Wrocław | €34 | €23 | €124 |
| Portugal | €32 | €21 | €111 |
| Spain: Madrid | €42 | €28 | €131 |
| Spain: Barcelona | €34 | €23 | €144 |
| Spain: Canary Islands | €36 | €24 | €103 |
| Spain: Palma de Mallorca | €44 | €29 | €142 |
| Spain: other destinations | €34 | €23 | €103 |
| Sweden | €66 | €44 | €140 |
| Switzerland: Bern | €82 | €55 | €195 |
| Switzerland: Geneva | €70 | €47 | €197 |
| Switzerland: other destinations | €70 | €47 | €195 |
| United Kingdom: London | €66 | €44 | €163 |
| United Kingdom: other destinations | €52 | €35 | €99 |
* Overnight flat rates are separate from meal allowances and are not included in the calculator. They are for eligible employer reimbursement; employees claiming a deduction use actual accommodation costs. Check the official rules for any exclusions.
This is a selection, not the full BMF table. Countries absent from our selection may have their own published rate. Only countries not covered by the official BMF table use its Luxembourg fallback, subject to the table's specific territorial rules.
Which Country's Rate Applies on a Cross-Border Day?
Select the applicable destination for each day before calculating:
- One-day foreign trip: use the last foreign place of work.
- Outward journey without working that day: generally use the place reached before midnight local time.
- Return journey: use the last place of work. Returning from work in Amsterdam to Cologne uses the Dutch smaller rate of €39.
- Full intermediate days: generally use the place reached before midnight local time.
If one business trip ends and another begins on the same day, use only the higher applicable allowance. Flights, ship travel and complex itineraries have additional rules in the BMF guidance; the calculator does not infer them from your route.
For example, a qualifying arrival day in Denmark starts at €50. If breakfast is provided, deduct €15 — 20% of Denmark's €75 full-day rate — leaving €35. Using Germany's €5.60 breakfast deduction would be incorrect.
The Separate €9 Flat Rate for Vehicle-Cab Overnight Costs
§ 9 Abs. 1 Satz 3 Nr. 5b EStG provides a €9 daily flat rate as an alternative to qualifying actual incidental costs connected with overnight stays in the employer's vehicle. The choice between actual qualifying costs and the flat rate is applied consistently across the calendar year.
This is separate from the meal allowance. Which days qualify depends on the statutory conditions; do not simply add €9 to every day in a journey or assume hotel overnight rates apply to sleeping in the cab. The calculator excludes these costs so payroll can assess them separately.
Employer Reimbursement and Your Tax Return
A calculated meal allowance is not a tax refund. Your employer's travel policy determines reimbursement arrangements, while tax rules determine the eligible amount and treatment. An employment agreement or collective agreement may also matter.
Keep any reimbursements already received with your calculation. Under § 9 Abs. 4a EStG, amounts covered by tax-free meal reimbursements cannot also be deducted as income-related expenses. If you are self-employed, check the business-expense treatment for your circumstances with your tax adviser.
The calculator estimates meal rates and deductions for the inputs you choose. It does not determine your taxable income, the amount of a refund, or what your employer owes you.
Keep the Trip Record and the Receipts Together
For a meal allowance, record the destination, business purpose, travel dates and times, provided meals and any payments towards them. Use the travel expense template to organise the trip record alongside your calculation.
Other trip costs still need their own evidence. Fuel, tolls, parking, accommodation and customer purchases do not become meal allowances: each one is a real payment with a supplier document behind it.
How Rally Helps With the Rest of the Trip
The meal allowance is a flat rate that payroll settles from the trip record; use the calculator above for an estimate. Rally's cards and expense agents do not calculate or decide the allowance. They help with the paid costs around it, so the travel expense report (Reisekostenabrechnung) only has to carry the allowance and any private-car mileage.
- Before the trip: give each traveller a prepaid Visa company card with a limit that fits the job. You top up the balance by bank transfer and keep your existing business bank. The prepaid route needs business and representative verification, but no refundable security deposit or personal credit check.
- On the road: the card pays for approved trip costs such as fuel, tolls, parking and, where your policy allows, accommodation, subject to Visa acceptance and the card's settings. The employee sends each receipt or invoice through WhatsApp, without installing a separate expense app, and the WhatsApp agent helps collect missing details such as the business purpose.
- Back in the office: AutoMatch uses the document and transaction details to match receipts to card payments. Finance then reviews the matched records in the platform and prepares the accounting export.
On a driving trip, fuel is usually the largest paid cost. With Rally's business fuel cards, drivers pay the price shown at the pump, with no Rally markup on the litre, at Visa-accepting stations, so they are not tied to one network when choosing a station with a lower live price on their route. The station's receipt remains the document for VAT; the driver sends it on WhatsApp and AutoMatch matches it to the payment. Teams that only need fuel can start with a prepaid fuel card.
If you are still choosing how to pay for fuel, the fuel card comparison explains the card types and costs to check. For drivers within Germany, our guide When is fuel cheapest in Germany? shows how the time of day and the choice of station change the cost per litre.
See how the receipt workflow runs in Rally's AI expense management. For businesses working in several countries, our cross-border expense guide explains how to keep currencies, supporting documents and review steps connected.
Sources
General information, not individual tax advice. Review eligibility, reimbursements and exceptional cases with payroll or your tax adviser before using an estimate in a claim.
