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Foreign daily allowance 2026: Finland's per diem by country

Karma Accounts · Published 13 October 2026

The tax-free maximum foreign daily allowance (ulkomaan päiväraha) in 2026 depends on the country where each 24-hour travel day ends: 78 euros in Germany, 70 in Sweden, 82 in Estonia, and 52 euros in any country the Tax Administration's decision does not list. The trip must last at least 10 hours; a shorter one is paid under the domestic rules. Two free meals in a travel day halve the rate, but a breakfast included in the hotel price does not count.

Trips inside Finland, mileage and a travel claim template are in our article on domestic per diems and mileage.

2026 rates for common destinations

The maximums in section 13 of the Tax Administration's decision for 2026:

How the rate is chosen

• At least 10 hours. A foreign per diem may be paid tax-free at the country rate if the trip abroad lasts at least 10 hours. Under 10 hours in total, the domestic rules and amounts apply instead: a 9-hour trip to Sweden, for example, can get the domestic partial allowance, up to 25 euros, not the Swedish rate.
• 24-hour travel days. The allowance is counted per travel day (matkavuorokausi): 24 hours from leaving home or the workplace, not calendar days. Time zones do not move them: they run on the time of the country you left from.
• Where the day ends. Each travel day gets the rate of the country, region or city where it ends, even if the work is elsewhere. If it ends on a plane or a ship, the rate is that of the country it last left, or, on the way out of Finland, where it first arrives. A technical stopover or change of planes without leaving the terminal does not count.
• Coming home. If the trip runs more than 2 hours past the last full travel day that ended abroad, or on a plane or ship that left from abroad, you may be paid half of that day's foreign rate; more than 10 hours, the full rate. If the trip continues in Finland after you are back, a travel day or part of one that begins after your return follows the domestic rules.
• Business-trip time. The allowance covers the work plus the journeys there and back. Days you stay because the work requires it, or because the employer tells you to, count; days you add for your own leisure do not.

Free meals and the hotel breakfast

If you receive free meals, or meals included in the price of a ticket or a hotel room, the foreign per diem is reduced by 50 %. For a foreign per diem, "free meals" means two meals in a travel day; one does not reduce it.

A free meal is one arranged or paid for by the employer at a client meeting, training or similar event, a meal a client offers you, or a lunch or dinner included in a flight ticket. A meal you buy yourself and the company reimburses is not a free meal, but the company cannot pay both tax-free: either the meal is taxable salary or only the per diem less the meal is tax-free. A hotel breakfast is not a meal, so breakfast and a client lunch do not halve the rate. The half rate for the return part need not be halved even if you get a free meal then.

If breakfast is not in the room price and the company pays it separately, its price comes off the tax-free per diem; pay both in full and the breakfast becomes taxable salary.

Worked example: three days in Berlin

You leave home in Helsinki on Monday at 07.00, work in Berlin and are home on Wednesday at 21.00. The hotel price includes breakfast; flights and hotel are reimbursed separately against receipts.

• Day 1: Monday 07.00 to Tuesday 07.00, ends in Berlin: 78 euros.
• Day 2: Tuesday 07.00 to Wednesday 07.00, ends in Berlin: 78 euros.
• Wednesday 07.00 to 21.00 is 14 hours past the last full travel day that ended abroad, more than 10: the German rate again, 78 euros.
• The hotel breakfast is not a meal, so nothing is halved.

Tax-free maximum: 3 × 78 = 234 euros.

Two changes:

• Home at 15.00 instead. That is 8 hours past the last full day, more than 2 but not more than 10, so half the German rate: 78 + 78 + 39 = 195 euros.
• The client gives you lunch and dinner on Tuesday. Both fall in day 2, which is halved to 39 euros: 78 + 39 + 78 = 195 euros.

Who can be paid it tax-free

Under the Income Tax Act (TVL 71 §), travel allowances are tax-free when an employer pays them to an employee for a business trip: a temporary trip to a special place of work outside the regular workplace (decision § 3). A per diem also requires that place to be more than 15 km from the regular workplace or home, whichever the trip starts from, and more than 5 km from both (§ 11). The allowances can also be paid to you as an Oy owner working for your company, even in a year without salary (see salary or dividends), if each trip meets the conditions. Anything paid above the maximum is taxable.

A sole trader (toiminimi) cannot pay themselves a per diem. Flights and hotels are business expenses. For a temporary trip outside your usual area of business you may also claim an additional deduction (lisävähennys, EVL 55 §) for increased living costs: at most the foreign rate, less living costs already booked. If actual costs exceed the maximum, you deduct those instead. The return shows the days claimed at the full, partial and foreign rates. More in deductions a sole trader forgets.

Records and the Incomes Register

Tax-free treatment needs the employee's travel claim (matkalasku) under the Prepayment Decree (EPA 17 §). For a trip abroad it shows the purpose and destination with an address, the route where needed, the means of travel, the start and end dates and times, and the country or region where each travel day ended. Attach the hotel bill and tickets (for an e-ticket, the booking confirmation showing the price); receipts and record keeping says how long to keep them.

Although tax-free, the per diems are reported to the Incomes Register (tulorekisteri) with income type Daily allowance (331), by the fifth day of the month after payment. One report a month is enough, dated with the month's last payment date. Any part above the maximum is salary, reported as Other compensation (216) within five days of the payment date. Hotel costs, and tickets reimbursed against the carrier's receipt, are not reported.

What we do

We check travel claims against these rules, report the allowances with the payroll and claim a sole trader's additional deduction. Payroll is 15 euros per payslip; limited company accounting is 199 euros a month up to 240 000 euros of turnover and 249 euros above; sole trader accounting from 69 euros a month; all plus VAT 25.5 %, with software and year-end included and no limit on receipts. We are based in Helsinki and work online across Finland. If your company sends people abroad, book an introduction.

Sources

• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt allowances for travel expenses in 2026, sections 13 and 15, with the country list (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: tax-exempt allowances in 2026 for business travel (English translation)
• Tax Administration: reimbursements of travel expenses, detailed guidance, chapters 8.1, 8.3, 8.4 and 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: reporting reimbursements of expenses to the Incomes Register
• Tax Administration: temporary work trips and the additional deduction
• Tax Administration: travel expense deductions of sole traders, detailed guidance, chapter 4 (in Finnish)

Please note: this is general information about Finnish rules, not advice for your own situation, and the rules change. Ask us before you act on it.

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