Travel expenses are often sent to payroll as one total. German payroll treatment is more specific. Business travel can involve transport, additional meal expenses and accommodation, each with its own requirements. Employers get more reliable results when they first establish whether the employee was working away from home and their first place of work, then provide payroll with complete, approved travel facts.
Business travel is different from the ordinary commute
An employee is on an external professional assignment when working away from both their home and first place of work. The first place of work is normally the fixed business facility to which the employee is permanently assigned. Each employment relationship has no more than one first place of work.
Travel between home and that first place of work follows a different tax framework. A diary entry or the label business trip does not settle the question. Employers should record assignment, destination and business purpose so that the payroll treatment can be traced.
Keep transport, meals and accommodation separate
Transport costs, additional meal expenses and accommodation costs are different categories. They should not be reduced to one undifferentiated travel-expense amount. Payroll needs travel dates and times, destinations, business purpose, transport, overnight stays, employer-provided meals, costs and approvals.
This matters when a hotel invoice includes breakfast, accommodation is paid directly by the employer, or a reimbursement reaches payroll after the cut-off. A consistent travel-expense form makes the facts clear before payroll prepares the result.
Domestic German meal allowances in 2026
For domestic German business travel, the 2026 meal allowance is 28 euros for a full calendar day with 24 hours away from home and the first place of work. It is 14 euros for the arrival and departure day of a multi-day trip involving an overnight stay.
A 14-euro allowance can also apply to a one-day trip without an overnight stay where the employee is away for more than eight hours. Complete, plausible absence times are operational payroll data, not an optional note.
- 24-hour absence: 28 euros
- Arrival or departure day with an overnight stay: 14 euros
- One-day trip of more than eight hours without an overnight stay: 14 euros
- Keep absence time and overnight evidence for each trip
Provided meals reduce the allowance
Where the employer, or a third party at the employer's request, provides a meal during an external assignment, the meal allowance is reduced on a daily basis. The reference is the full-day allowance. For domestic travel in 2026, this means 5.60 euros for breakfast and 11.20 euros for lunch or dinner.
The reduction cannot exceed the allowance calculated for that travel day. If the employee pays for the meal, the payment reduces the relevant reduction amount. Hotel invoices and event bookings should therefore state clearly when a meal is included.
Accommodation: evidence and reimbursement route matter
For an external assignment, actual accommodation costs are generally relevant for the employee's deduction. For an employer reimbursement in Germany, an employer may reimburse a flat 20 euros per domestic overnight stay tax-free without individual evidence.
For travel outside Germany, the Federal Ministry of Finance publishes country- and, in some cases, city-specific accommodation allowances for employer reimbursements. The treatment changes where accommodation or meals are provided free of charge or at a reduced price. Payroll needs the location, service and reimbursement route, rather than a single combined figure.
Foreign travel: use the 2026 BMF schedule for the actual destination
Germany's 2026 foreign travel schedule sets different meal and accommodation allowances by country and, for some countries, by city. It applies from 1 January 2026. For arrival and departure days, and for days with more than eight hours away, the lower foreign amount usually applies; the legally relevant location depends on the itinerary.
There is no universal international daily rate. For trips across several countries, the location for arrival, departure and intermediate days needs to be determined separately. Foreign accommodation allowances are intended only for employer reimbursement; actual costs are generally relevant for an employee's deduction.
Tax-free reimbursement follows documented facts
An employer outside the public sector may reimburse travel expenses tax-free only to the extent that the corresponding expenses would be deductible under section 9 of the German Income Tax Act. This is not a blanket tax exemption for any expense labelled travel.
Before payment, employers should ensure that the business purpose, cost category and evidence match the reimbursement. Where the conditions are unclear, resolve the tax treatment before the payroll run instead of relying on a later correction.
Give payroll an approved data set
Payroll cannot reconstruct the right treatment from an unstructured collection of receipts. The approved input should identify the employee, trip dates, destination, purpose, absence time, transport, accommodation, meals, prior reimbursements and cost centre. The exact destination is particularly important for foreign travel.
The employer decides its travel policy, approval process and employment-law rules. Northwind Payroll uses the complete, current and approved data within the agreed service scope to process German payroll and statutory reporting.
Employer checklist for the monthly process
This checklist does not replace tax or employment-law advice for the individual case. It helps employers provide payroll with the facts needed for operational processing.
- Confirm external travel rather than the ordinary commute
- Record dates, times, destinations and overnight stays
- Keep transport, meal and accommodation costs separate
- Identify employer-provided meals on hotel and event documents
- Apply the BMF 2026 foreign schedule to the actual destination
- Submit evidence and approvals before the payroll cut-off
- Resolve open tax or employment-law questions before reimbursement
Official sources
The regulatory references in this article were reviewed against these official sources: