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France daily allowance 2026: 80 euros for trips from Finland

Karma Accounts · Published 10 November 2026

The France daily allowance 2026 (Ranskan päiväraha 2026) for a qualifying business trip (työmatka) from Finland is at most 80 euros tax-free per travel day, up from 79 euros in 2025. Paris has no rate of its own: the 80 euros apply in all of mainland France and Corsica. The French rate needs a trip of at least 10 hours; a shorter one is paid under the domestic rules, at most 25 euros if it lasts over 6 hours. Two free meals in a travel day halve the 80 euros to 40.

This page covers France only. What makes a trip a business trip, the rules shared by every country and the rates for other destinations are in our article on the foreign daily allowance 2026.

France daily allowance 2026 at a glance

The amounts are from sections 12 and 13 of the Tax Administration's decisions on tax-free travel allowances for 2026 and 2025. They are tax-free ceilings: they do not decide what the employer must pay under the employment contract or a collective agreement. Anything paid above them is taxable salary. The decision for 2027, issued on 23 October 2026, raises the French maximum to 82 euros for travel made from 1 January 2027.

Paris, Corsica and the overseas territories

The decision lists France with a single amount, so a trade fair in Paris has the same 80-euro maximum as a meeting in Lyon. Its attachment on regions defines France as mainland France, Corsica and the islands close to them. French territories further away are treated differently:

The rate follows the place where the travel day ends, not where you work. If you work in Nice but sleep in Monaco, the travel days that end while you are in Monaco get 92 euros.

How the French rate is decided

• At least 10 hours. The French rate needs a trip abroad of at least 10 hours in total, from leaving home or the workplace to getting back. Under 10 hours, the domestic rules and amounts apply. A trip of at least 10 but under 24 hours gets the rate of the destination country, France.
• 24-hour travel days. Longer trips run in 24-hour travel days from the moment you leave. They are counted in the time of the country you left, so the hour's difference to French time changes nothing.
• Where the day ends. Each travel day gets the rate of the country where it ends. If it ends on a plane, the rate is that of the country the plane last left, or, on the way out of Finland, the country it first arrives in. A 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 in France, or on a plane that left France, half the French rate may be paid; more than 10 hours, the full rate.

Example 1: three days in Paris by plane

You leave home in Helsinki on Monday at 05.30 for the morning flight to Paris, work at a trade fair until Wednesday, fly back that evening and are home at 22.30. The hotel price includes breakfast; flights and hotel are reimbursed separately against receipts. Times are Finnish time, with no free meals unless stated.

• Day 1, Monday 05.30 to Tuesday 05.30: ends in Paris, 80 euros.
• Day 2, Tuesday 05.30 to Wednesday 05.30: ends in Paris, 80 euros.
• Wednesday 05.30 to 22.30 is 17 hours past the last full day, which ended in France: more than 10, so the French rate again, 80 euros.

Tax-free maximum: 3 × 80 = 240 euros.

• Meals in the fair package. Lunch is included on each fair day, and the fair dinner is on Tuesday evening. Day 1 has one free meal, which changes nothing. Tuesday's lunch and dinner both fall in day 2, which halves to 40 euros. Wednesday's lunch is a single meal: 80 + 40 + 80 = 200 euros.
• An earlier flight, home at 15.00. The return part is 9.5 hours, more than 2 but not more than 10, so half the French rate: 80 + 80 + 40 = 200 euros. With the fair meals as well: 80 + 40 + 40 = 160 euros. The half rate of the return part is not halved again for a free meal.

Example 2: a day trip to Paris

You leave home at 05.00, fly to Paris for a client meeting and are home at 21.00, Finnish time. The trip lasts 16 hours, at least 10, so the French rate applies: 80 euros.

• The client gives you lunch. One free meal does not reduce a foreign per diem: still 80 euros.
• Lunch from the client and a meal included in your flight ticket. Two free meals, so the per diem halves: 40 euros.
• The whole trip under 10 hours. The domestic partial per diem applies: at most 25 euros for over 6 hours, halved to 12.50 euros by one free meal.

Staying on for a weekend in Paris

A per diem covers the work and the journeys there and back. Days you add in Paris for your own leisure get no tax-free per diem or hotel nights; days you stay because the work requires it, or the employer tells you to, count. The flights can still be reimbursed at actual cost, and if the longer stay costs the employer nothing extra, it is not a taxable benefit.

Free meals and breakfast in France

For the foreign per diem, "free meals" means two in a travel day; one does not reduce it. A free meal is one the employer arranges or pays for at a client meeting, trade fair or training, a meal a client gives you, or one included in a course package or ticket, such as a lunch on a flight.

A hotel breakfast is not a meal for this rule, and breakfast included in the room price does not reduce the allowance at all. Abroad, as the guidance notes, breakfast is not always in the room price. If the company pays for it separately, its price comes off the tax-free per diem; if the company pays both the full per diem and the breakfast, the breakfast is taxable salary.

A meal you pay for and the company reimburses is not a free meal, but it cannot be paid tax-free on top of the full per diem.

How the employer pays and reports it

The tax-free treatment rests on the employee's travel claim (matkalasku), as the Prepayment Decree (EPA 17 §) requires: the purpose and destination with the address in France, 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. Record free meals on the claim; the employer may not know of a client's lunch. Attach the hotel bill and, for an e-ticket, the confirmation showing the price; receipts and record keeping says how long to keep them.

Tax-free per diems are reported to the Incomes Register with income type Daily allowance (331) by the fifth day of the month after payment, or the next business day if the fifth falls on a weekend or public holiday: for allowances paid in November 2026, by Monday 7 December 2026. Any part above the maximum is salary, reported as Other compensation (216) within five days of the payment date. Hotel costs, and flights reimbursed against the carrier's receipt, are not reported. More on deadlines and corrections in Incomes Register reporting.

The same applies when you own the Oy and travel for it, even in a year without salary, as long as each trip qualifies and you write the claim.

A sole trader cannot pay themselves a per diem but can claim the same amounts as an additional deduction (lisävähennys, EVL 55 §) on the tax return: up to 80 euros a day for France, less any living costs already booked, for a temporary trip outside your usual area of business. The deduction is not booked in the accounts. More in deductions a sole trader forgets.

Other countries

Under the same 2026 decision, the maximum is 78 euros in the Germany daily allowance 2026, 70 euros in the Sweden daily allowance 2026 and 82 euros in the Estonia daily allowance 2026. Domestic trips and mileage are in per diems and mileage 2026.

What we do

Allowances paid with the salary go on the payslip and into the Incomes Register report in our payroll, and we check the travel claims against these rules. For allowances paid without salary, for example to an owner who draws none, ask us for a quote.

Frequently asked questions

What is the France daily allowance in 2026?

For a qualifying business trip, the tax-free maximum is 80 euros for each travel day that ends in France, the same in Paris and the rest of mainland France and Corsica. It was 79 euros in 2025. Two free meals in a travel day halve it to 40 euros.

Is there a separate per diem for Paris?

No. The Tax Administration's decision for 2026 gives France one maximum, 80 euros, with no separate rate for Paris or any other French city. Guadeloupe (55 euros) and Martinique (57 euros) have their own rates, and Monaco is listed as a separate country at 92 euros.

Does a day trip to Paris get the French per diem?

It can, if it is a business trip and the whole trip, from leaving home or work to getting back, lasts at least 10 hours. Under 10 hours, the domestic partial per diem of up to 25 euros applies if the trip lasts over 6 hours.

Sources

• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt allowances for travel expenses in 2026, sections 6, 12 and 13, with the country list (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: tax-exempt allowances in 2026 for business travel (English translation)
• Tax Administration: attachment on countries and regions for foreign per diems (PDF, in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt travel allowances for 2025, section 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt travel allowances for 2027, section 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: reimbursements of travel expenses, detailed guidance, chapters 8.1.1, 8.3, 8.4 and 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: reporting reimbursements of expenses to the Incomes Register (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: wages, reporting data to the Incomes Register, deadlines (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: travel expense deductions of sole traders, detailed guidance, chapters 3.3 and 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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