Per diem meal allowance

What is a per diem meal allowance?

As a benefit, the per diem meal allowance is usually understood to mean that a company pays the statutory meal allowances for work-related activities away from the regular workplace. From the perspective of the official system, the topic falls under travel expenses; Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German pension insurance) explicitly lists additional meal expenses as a component of travel expenses, and the German Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) describes them as additional expenses that can be taken into account on a flat-rate basis, not as an individual reimbursement based on receipts.

For those working with this topic for the first time, one thing is especially important: it is not about general meals during the working day, but about additional expenses that can arise from work assignments outside the usual place of work. Whether and to what extent these can be taken into account depends, among other things, on whether the activity qualifies as work away from the regular workplace, which primary place of work (erste Tätigkeitsstätte) applies, and how long an assignment at the same location lasts.

Why do companies use this benefit?

Companies use the per diem meal allowance primarily because it allows mobile work to be transferred into a transparent, standardized settlement process. Instead of reviewing individual meal costs in detail, the system works with flat rates and clear principles. This simplifies internal workflows in HR, finance, and payroll and creates a uniform framework for travel activities.

The benefit is also relevant in practice because it makes the additional burden on travel days visible without automatically turning into a general meal subsidy for all employees. Especially for roles with external appointments, changing work locations, or project-related travel, this allows an appropriate and plannable solution to be implemented. That the topic becomes particularly relevant for work away from the regular workplace, multiple places of work, or assignments at customer sites can be inferred from the case groups described by the BMF.

In addition, the benefit can be embedded well into existing travel expense policies. This allows companies to design rules on approval, documentation, settlement, and interfaces to payroll consistently. Deutsche Rentenversicherung (DRV) also points out that travel expense reports must be added to the payroll records, which underscores the organizational nature of the topic.

Benefits at a glance

In practice

In practice, the per diem meal allowance is particularly relevant where employees do not work permanently at just one fixed place of work. Typical situations include field service, service and installation teams, project-related assignments, branch structures, or on-site work at customers' premises. This assessment follows from the official examples and principles on the primary place of work and on work away from the regular workplace.

What to keep in mind

The specific design depends on several framework conditions: the assignment to a primary place of work under employment law or organizational rules, the duration of the assignment at the same location, any meals provided by the employer, and, for trips abroad, the applicable country-specific flat rates. The per diem meal allowance should therefore never be viewed in isolation as a “simple benefit” but always together with the travel expense process, payroll, and the tax requirements. The specific implementation should be reviewed together with tax advisors, payroll, or other professional contacts.

Sources & further information

• German Federal Ministry of Finance – Additional meal expenses (glossary)
• Gesetze im Internet – German Income Tax Act (Section 9 EStG)
• Gesetze im Internet – German Income Tax Act (Section 3 EStG)
• German Federal Ministry of Finance – Payroll tax guidelines on travel expenses
• Deutsche Rentenversicherung (German pension insurance) – Travel expenses (employer glossary)