Per diem rates in Germany 2026: domestic, abroad, three-month rule

In Germany, the per diem rates for meals (Verpflegungsmehraufwand) for 2026 are the same as in 2025: 14 euros for a day on which you are away for more than 8 hours, and 28 euros for every full day with 24 hours of absence. The arrival and departure days of a trip with an overnight stay bring 14 euros each, no matter how many hours. You do not need a receipt for your meals, because only the flat rate is deductible, not the restaurant bill. Abroad, separate amounts apply for each country, and after three months at the same place of work, the entitlement ends.

Contents

• The 2026 domestic rates
• Example: a three-day installation job
• Does this also apply to the self-employed?
• Hotel breakfast: when things change
• The three-month rule
• Trips abroad: 2026 rates for neighbouring countries
• Which records you need, and VAT
• Paying allowances to employees
• Where the amount goes in the EÜR
• Frequently asked questions

The 2026 domestic rates

Which amount applies depends only on how long you are away from your home and your business premises. What you actually eat makes no difference.

The amounts are set out in Section 9 (4a) of the German Income Tax Act (Einkommensteuergesetz, EStG). What counts is the time during which you are neither at home nor at your own business premises. If you first drive to your workshop in the morning and from there to a client, the clock starts when you leave the workshop.

The law contains two finer points:

• Exactly 8 hours is not enough. It has to be more than 8 hours. If you leave at 8 a.m. and are back at 4 p.m., you get nothing.
• A day trip past midnight without an overnight stay brings 14 euros once. It counts for the calendar day on which you were away for the most hours.

There is no minimum distance. A long client appointment in your own town also counts, as long as you are working outside your home and business premises and the hours add up.

Example: a three-day installation job

An electrician leaves at 6 a.m. on Monday for a construction site in another town, stays two nights at a hotel and is back at 6 p.m. on Wednesday.

He deducts these 56 euros, even if he spent only 30 euros or as much as 90 euros on food over the three days. If breakfast was included in the hotel price, something changes, but it depends on whether he booked himself or his employer did. The section Hotel breakfast explains this.

Does this also apply to the self-employed?

Yes. Sole traders, freelancers and business owners are subject to the same amounts and the same hour thresholds as employees. Section 4 (5) sentence 1 no. 5 EStG refers directly to the rule for employees.

The difference lies in the effect. Employees deduct the flat rate as income-related expenses (Werbungskosten) in their tax return. For you as a self-employed person, it is a business expense (Betriebsausgabe) and reduces your profit, and with it your income tax and, where applicable, your trade tax (Gewerbesteuer).

What matters is that you are working temporarily outside your home and your business premises. The Federal Ministry of Finance calls the business premises the "first place of business" (erste Betriebsstätte). For most people, that is the workshop, the office or the shop. If you work from a home office, the time counts from the moment you leave your home.

You may not deduct your actual meal costs in addition to or instead of the flat rate. The Federal Ministry of Finance makes this clear in its letter of 23 December 2014: a restaurant bill of 25 euros on a day trip still only gets you the flat rate of 14 euros.

Hotel breakfast: when things change

If you book yourself as a self-employed person, you keep your full flat rate. In return, you may not deduct the breakfast as part of the hotel bill. If, on the other hand, an employer pays for an employee's breakfast, the employee's flat rate is reduced.

Self-employed people who pay for the hotel themselves. Breakfast is a meal, and meals are covered by the flat rate. If it is listed separately on the bill, leave that amount out when you deduct the costs. If the bill only shows a total price, subtract 20 percent of the full daily rate for breakfast, which is 5.60 euros in Germany, and claim the rest as accommodation costs. This is stated in margin number 11 of the letter of 23 December 2014.

Example: the hotel bill shows 110 euros for "room with breakfast". You deduct 104.40 euros as accommodation costs. The rates for the arrival and departure days remain at 14 euros each.

Employers who pay for employees. If the employer provides a meal, the employee's flat rate for that day goes down. This is governed by Section 9 (4a) sentence 8 EStG.

The reduction is always based on the amount for a full day, even on the arrival or departure day. On a departure day with a hotel breakfast, that leaves 14 minus 5.60, which is 8.40 euros. It cannot go below zero. If the employee pays something towards the meal, the reduction goes down by that amount.

Business meals with clients. If, as a self-employed person, you invite a client to a meal while travelling, your flat rate is not reduced for it (margin number 12 of the letter). The meal itself counts as business entertainment with its own rules, which the article Filling in a business meal receipt correctly explains.

The three-month rule

If you work at the same place for more than three months, there is no flat rate from the fourth month onwards. This mainly affects long construction projects and assignments with a single client. The time limit is set out in Section 9 (4a) sentence 6 EStG.

• It counts per place of work. If you are at different clients every day, you never reach the limit.
• A break of at least four weeks resets it. After that, three new months begin. The law does not name any particular reason for the break, only its length.
• Shorter breaks do not reset it. After two weeks of holiday, the old time limit continues.

Example: from 2 March, a tiler works every working day on the same large construction site. Until 1 June, she gets 14 euros for every day with more than 8 hours of absence. From 2 June, that ends, even if she keeps working there until August. Her travel costs to the site remain deductible, only the meals do not.

Trips abroad: 2026 rates for neighbouring countries

Abroad, higher or lower amounts apply depending on the country, and some cities have their own rates. The Federal Ministry of Finance publishes them anew every year, for 2026 in its letter of 5 December 2025. The split into 24 hours and "more than 8 hours or arrival and departure day" stays the same.

Which country counts for a given day is decided by this rule:

• Day trip abroad: the rate of the last place abroad where you worked.
• Arrival day and the days in between: the rate of the place you reach before midnight local time.
• Return day: the rate of the last place of work abroad.

Abroad, the reduction for a breakfast paid for by the employer is calculated from the country's daily rate. In Austria, that is 20 percent of 50 euros, so 10 euros. For countries missing from the list, the rate for Luxembourg applies. The complete table with all countries is in the letter from the Federal Ministry of Finance, linked in the sources.

The same letter also contains flat rates for overnight stays. These only apply when an employer reimburses them to an employee. As a self-employed person, you always claim the amount shown on the bill for the hotel.

Which records you need, and VAT

You do not need receipts for your meals. What you do need to prove is that the trip took place and how long you were away. For each trip, record:

• the date,
• the time of departure and return,
• the destination, such as the client, construction site or trade fair,
• the purpose of the trip.

A list in a spreadsheet, calendar entries or a travel expense report for each trip is enough. Hotel bills, fuel receipts or train tickets confirm the details and belong in your bookkeeping anyway. If you collect your receipts digitally, for example in accounting software, you will have the trip and the bill together more quickly later on.

VAT. There is no input tax on the flat rate itself, because there is no invoice for it. It is different with a restaurant receipt: you may deduct the VAT on it as input tax (Vorsteuer), provided you are not a small business (Kleinunternehmer). The ban on deduction in Section 15 (1a) of the German VAT Act (Umsatzsteuergesetz) does not cover meals while travelling. Up to 250 euros, a small-amount invoice without your name on it is enough, but it must state the tax rate and the tax amount (Section 33 of the German VAT Implementing Ordinance). Even so, the net amount of the meal remains non-deductible; only the flat rate is deducted.

Paying allowances to employees

Up to the amount of the flat rate, you can pay your employees meal allowances tax-free and without social security contributions. This is governed by Section 3 no. 16 EStG. For a trip with an overnight stay in Germany, that means up to 14 euros for the arrival and departure day and 28 euros for the full day.

If you pay more, there is a second tier. Up to twice the flat rate, you may tax the excess at a flat 25 percent (Section 40 (2) sentence 1 no. 4 EStG). This part also remains free of social security contributions (Section 1 of the German Social Insurance Remuneration Ordinance, Sozialversicherungsentgeltverordnung). Anything above that is normal wages.

Whatever you reimburse tax-free, the employee cannot deduct again in their own tax return. If you pay nothing at all, they deduct the flat rate themselves as income-related expenses. In both cases, the amount is reduced if you paid for a meal for them, as described in the section Hotel breakfast.

Where the amount goes in the EÜR

In the 2025 profit and loss form (Anlage EÜR), enter your own meal allowances in line 64. The other costs of a trip go elsewhere:

Line 64 exists specifically for these flat rates, and the official instructions repeat it there: only the flat rate is deductible, regardless of the actual expense. How the whole calculation is structured is shown in the article Doing your own EÜR.

Frequently asked questions

Has the Verpflegungsmehraufwand in Germany changed for 2026?

No. Within Germany, the rates remain 14 euros and 28 euros, as in the previous year. Some foreign rates changed on 1 January 2026.

Do I get the flat rate for less than 8 hours?

Without an overnight stay, no. With an overnight stay, you get 14 euros each on the arrival and departure day, even if you were only away for two hours that day.

Does the Verpflegungsmehraufwand apply to small businesses (Kleinunternehmer)?

Yes, the flat rate is a matter of income tax, not VAT. Small businesses deduct it in exactly the same way. The only thing they cannot claim is the input tax from a restaurant receipt.

Which rate applies to Austria and Switzerland in 2026?

Austria: 50 euros for a full day and 33 euros for the arrival and departure day. Switzerland: 70 and 47 euros, and in Bern 82 and 55 euros. Other countries are listed in the table in the section Trips abroad.

Do I have to deduct breakfast if I stay at a hotel as a business owner?

Not from the flat rate. You subtract it from the hotel bill: the amount shown or, if there is only a total price, 5.60 euros per breakfast in Germany.

Sources

• Section 9 EStG, income-related expenses (Werbungskosten), subsection 4a, meal allowances
• Section 4 EStG, definition of profit (Gewinnbegriff), subsection 5 sentence 1 no. 5
• Section 3 EStG, tax-free income (Steuerfreie Einnahmen), no. 16
• Section 40 EStG, flat-rate wage tax (Pauschalierung der Lohnsteuer), subsection 2 sentence 1 no. 4
• Section 1 SvEV, benefits not counted as remuneration
• Section 15 UStG, input tax deduction (Vorsteuerabzug), subsection 1a
• Section 33 UStDV, invoices for small amounts
• Federal Ministry of Finance: travel expenses for trips abroad from 1 January 2026, letter of 5 December 2025
• Federal Ministry of Finance: travel expenses in profit determination, letter of 23 December 2014 (copy from IHK Munich)
• Federal Ministry of Finance: Anlage EÜR 2025 with instructions

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