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Germany daily allowance 2026: 78 euros for business travel from Finland

Karma Accounts · Published 20 October 2026

For a qualifying business trip (työmatka) from Finland to Germany, the tax-free maximum daily allowance (Saksan päiväraha) in 2026 is 78 euros per travel day, up from 77 euros in 2025. The same maximum applies in Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and everywhere else in Germany, and the German rate needs a trip of at least 10 hours. Two free meals in a travel day halve it to 39 euros.

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

Germany daily allowance 2026 at a glance

The German amounts are from section 13 of the Tax Administration's decision on tax-free travel allowances for 2026, the domestic amount from section 12, and the 2025 figure from the decision for 2025. These 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.

One rate for all of Germany

The decision lists Germany with a single amount. Unlike the United Kingdom, where London and Edinburgh have 89 euros against the country's 84, no German city has a rate of its own, so a trade fair in Frankfurt, Cologne or Düsseldorf has the same 78-euro tax-free maximum as a meeting in Berlin.

How the German rate is decided

• At least 10 hours. The country rate needs a trip abroad of at least 10 hours in total, journeys included. A same-day return flight to Germany can fall short of that; then the domestic rules apply: up to 25 euros for over 6 hours, halved to 12.50 euros by one free meal.
• Trips under 24 hours. If the trip lasts at least 10 hours but under 24, the rate is that of the destination country, Germany, although no travel day is completed and you are back in Finland the same day.
• 24-hour travel days. Longer trips run in 24-hour travel days from the moment you leave home or the workplace, counted in the time of the country you left, so the hour's difference to German time changes nothing.
• Where the day ends. Each travel day gets the rate of the country where it ends. If it ends on a ship or a plane, the rate is that of the country the ship or plane last left, or, on the way out of Finland, the country it first arrives in.
• Connecting flights. A technical stopover or a change of planes without leaving the terminal does not count. A day that ends while you wait in the Frankfurt or Munich terminal for a flight onwards does not become a German day; in the Tax Administration's example, a day that ended during a stopover in Bangkok on the way to Australia got the Australian rate.
• Coming home. If the trip runs more than 2 hours past the last full travel day that ended in Germany, or on a ship or plane that left Germany, half the German rate may be paid; more than 10 hours, the full rate. A travel day, or part of one, that begins after you are back in Finland follows the domestic rules.

Example 1: the Tax Administration's own Germany example

The detailed guidance uses this trip. An employee leaves home in Joensuu on Sunday at 17.00 for Germany and is home again on Wednesday at 20.00. The trip lasts 75 hours. Times are Finnish time, with no free meals.

• Days 1 and 2 end in Germany on Monday and Tuesday at 17.00: the German rate for both.
• The last travel day that ended abroad finished on Tuesday at 17.00, and the trip ran on more than 10 hours past it, so the third day also gets the German rate, although it ended in Finland on Wednesday at 17.00.
• The trip ran 3 hours past that last full day, which ended in Finland. Time past a full day that ended in Finland is paid under the domestic rules: at least 2 hours gives the domestic partial rate.

With the 2026 amounts the tax-free maximum is 3 × 78 + 25 = 259 euros.

Example 2: by ferry to Travemünde, home by plane

You leave home in Helsinki on Monday at 15.00 for the evening car ferry to Travemünde. Suppose the ship arrives late on Tuesday; you work at a trade fair in Hamburg on Wednesday and Thursday, fly home on Thursday evening and are home at 22.00. The times are Finnish time and for illustration only; use your own sailing. No free meals unless stated.

• Day 1, Monday 15.00 to Tuesday 15.00: it ends at sea. On the way out of Finland the ship's rate is that of the country it first arrives in, Germany: 78 euros.
• Day 2, to Wednesday 15.00, and day 3, to Thursday 15.00: both end in Hamburg, 78 euros each.
• Thursday 15.00 to 22.00 is 7 hours past the last full day, more than 2 but not more than 10: half the German rate, 39 euros.

Tax-free maximum: 3 × 78 + 39 = 273 euros. The ferry ticket, cabin and flight are reimbursed separately against receipts.

Meals count by travel day, not by date. If the company's client dinner is on Wednesday evening and a client gives you lunch on Thursday, both fall in day 3 (Wednesday 15.00 to Thursday 15.00), which halves to 39 euros: 78 + 78 + 39 + 39 = 234 euros. A client lunch and a client dinner both on Wednesday would not halve anything: the lunch falls in day 2 and the dinner in day 3.

Free meals and breakfast on a German trip

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, training or similar event, a meal a client gives you, or a meal included in a course package or ticket, such as a lunch on a flight.

A hotel breakfast is not a meal for this rule. Breakfast included in the hotel room or ticket price does not reduce the allowance at all. Abroad, as the guidance notes, breakfast is not always included in the room price: if the company pays for it separately, its price comes off the tax-free per diem, and 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 the company cannot pay both tax-free: either the meal is taxable salary or only the per diem less the meal is tax-free. The half rate for the return part need not be halved again for a free meal.

What the employer needs for a German trip

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 Germany, the route where needed, the means of travel, the start and end dates and times, and the country where each travel day ended (for a day that ended on a ship or plane, the country that sets its rate). Record free meals on the claim; the employer may not know of a client's lunch. Attach the hotel bill and tickets, 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. Any part above the maximum is salary and is reported within five days of the payment date, like other pay.

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 an additional deduction; see the hub article. If you drive your own car, the kilometre allowance rules are in per diems and mileage 2026.

Other countries

Under the same 2026 decision (section 13), the maximum is 70 euros a travel day in Sweden, with the overnight Stockholm ship worked through in the Sweden daily allowance 2026, and 82 euros in Estonia, with the Tallinn day trip, in the Estonia daily allowance 2026.

What we do

Allowances paid with the salary go on the payslip and into the Incomes Register report in our payroll. Payroll is 15 euros per payslip plus VAT 25.5 %, charged only in months when payroll is actually run. For allowances paid without salary, for example to an owner who draws none, ask us for a quote. Our other prices are on the price list.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Germany daily allowance in 2026?

For a qualifying business trip, the tax-free maximum is 78 euros for each travel day that ends in Germany, the same in every German city. It was 77 euros in 2025. Two free meals in a travel day halve it to 39 euros.

Is there a separate per diem for Berlin or Munich?

No. The Tax Administration's decision for 2026 gives Germany one maximum, 78 euros, with no separate city or region.

How is the per diem calculated on the return day from Germany?

If the trip runs more than 2 hours past the last full travel day that ended in Germany, half the German rate, 39 euros, may be paid tax-free; more than 10 hours, the full 78 euros. Time after a full travel day that ended in Finland follows the domestic rules.

Sources

• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt allowances for travel expenses in 2026, sections 6, 12 and 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: tax-exempt allowances in 2026 for business travel (English translation)
• Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt travel allowances for 2025, section 13 (in Finnish)
• Tax Administration: reimbursements of travel expenses, detailed guidance, chapters 8.3, 8.4 and 13, examples 61 and 62 (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)

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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