Sweden daily allowance 2026: 70 euros for business travel from Finland
For a qualifying business trip (työmatka) from Finland to Sweden, the tax-free maximum daily allowance (Ruotsin päiväraha) in 2026 is 70 euros per travel day, up from 68 euros in 2025. It is one rate for the whole of Sweden, Stockholm included, and the Swedish rate needs a trip of at least 10 hours; a shorter trip, such as a 9-hour day in Stockholm, is paid under the domestic rules, at most 25 euros. Two free meals in a travel day halve the 70 euros to 35.
This page covers Sweden 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.
Sweden daily allowance 2026 at a glance
| Situation | Tax-free maximum 2026 |
|---|---|
| Travel day ending in Sweden | 70 euros |
| Same day with two free meals | 35 euros |
| Return, more than 2 and at most 10 hours past the last full day | 35 euros |
| Return, more than 10 hours past the last full day | 70 euros |
| Whole trip under 10 hours | domestic rules (§ 12): 25 euros if over 6 hours |
| For comparison, 2025 | 68 euros |
The Swedish 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 Sweden
The decision lists Sweden with a single amount: there is no separate rate for Stockholm, Gothenburg or Malmö, unlike London or New York. The Tax Administration's attachment on regions defines Sweden as mainland Sweden, Gotland, Öland and the other islands close to Sweden, so a trip to Visby has the same 70-euro maximum.
How the Swedish rate is decided
- At least 10 hours. The country rate needs a trip abroad of at least 10 hours in total, journeys included. The Tax Administration's own example: a 9-hour work trip to Sweden cannot be paid the Swedish per diem tax-free, but the domestic partial per diem can.
- 24-hour travel days. The allowance runs in 24-hour travel days from the moment you leave home or the workplace. They are counted in the time of the country you left, so the hour's difference to Swedish 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.
- Coming home. If the trip runs more than 2 hours past the last full travel day that ended in Sweden, or on a ship or plane that left Sweden, half the Swedish 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: Stockholm by overnight ship
You leave home in Helsinki on Monday at 16.00 for the evening ship, arrive in Stockholm on Tuesday morning, meet clients and board the return ship on Tuesday afternoon. You are home on Wednesday at 11.00. The company pays the tickets and a cabin against receipts, and you buy your own meals. Times are Finnish time, and no free meals are received unless stated.
- Day 1, Monday 16.00 to Tuesday 16.00: it ends in Stockholm, or on a ship that has just left Sweden. Either way, 70 euros.
- Tuesday 16.00 to Wednesday 11.00 is 19 hours past the last full day, which ended in Sweden: more than 10, so the Swedish rate again, 70 euros.
Tax-free maximum: 140 euros. The trip lasted 43 hours, but there is only one full travel day; the rest is the return part.
With meals. If the dinner buffet on Monday is included in the ticket price and the client buys you lunch on Tuesday, both fall in day 1, which halves to 35 euros: 35 + 70 = 105 euros.
The night travel allowance (yömatkaraha, up to 16 euros) needs at least 4 hours of a travel day between 21.00 and 07.00, and it cannot be paid tax-free when the employer pays the accommodation, a cabin or a berth. With a company-paid cabin there is none.
Example 2: a day in Stockholm by plane
You leave home at 05.30, fly to Stockholm, spend the day at a client and are home at 19.30, Finnish time, with no free meals. The trip lasts 14 hours, at least 10, so the Swedish rate applies: 70 euros, even though no travel day was completed. For a trip under 24 hours the rate is that of the destination country.
If you are home at 15.00 instead, the trip lasts 9.5 hours. That is under 10, so the domestic rules apply: over 6 hours gives the partial per diem, at most 25 euros. Under the domestic rules one free meal halves a partial per diem, so a client lunch brings it to 12.50 euros.
Free meals and breakfast on a Swedish 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, training or similar event, a meal a client gives you, or a meal included in the ticket price, such as a ship's buffet or 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. If breakfast is not included and 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 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 Swedish trip
The tax-free treatment rests on the employee's travel claim (matkalasku), as the Prepayment Decree (EPA 17 §) requires. For a trip to Sweden it shows:
- the purpose and destination, with the address in Sweden
- the route where needed and the means of travel, for example the ship Helsinki–Stockholm
- the start and end dates and times
- the country where each travel day ended; for a day that ended on the ship, the country that sets its rate
- free meals received, which the employee records because the employer may not know of them
Attach the ship ticket and cabin receipt or the flight confirmation showing the price, and the hotel bill; 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. Domestic trips and mileage are in per diems and mileage 2026.
Other countries
Under the same 2026 decision (section 13), the maximum is 78 euros a travel day in Germany: see the Germany daily allowance 2026. Estonia's 82 euros, and the Tallinn day trip, are 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 Sweden daily allowance in 2026?
For a qualifying business trip, the tax-free maximum is 70 euros for each travel day that ends in Sweden, the same for Stockholm and the rest of the country. It was 68 euros in 2025. Two free meals in a travel day halve it to 35 euros.
Does a ferry trip to Stockholm get the Swedish per diem?
It can, if it is a business trip and lasts at least 10 hours. A travel day that ends on the ship gets the rate of the country the ship last left, or, on the way out of Finland, the country it first arrives in. Write the ship's times on the travel claim so the country of each day can be checked.
What per diem applies to a business trip to Sweden under 10 hours?
The domestic per diem: up to 25 euros if the trip lasts over 6 hours, halved to 12.50 euros by one free meal. If the trip is too short for any per diem, a meal allowance of up to 13.50 euros may be paid when work keeps you from your usual eating place.
Sources
- Tax Administration: decision on tax-exempt allowances for travel expenses in 2026, sections 6, 12, 13 and 17 (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: reimbursements of travel expenses, detailed guidance, chapters 8.3, 8.4, 8.7.2 and 13, example 63 (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.
Payroll from the first hire
Payslips, the Incomes Register report within five days and the amounts to pay by the 12th worked out, for 15 € a payslip plus VAT. See payroll services.
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