(2024) New meal and accommodation allowances 2024

The Federal Ministry of Finance has published new meal and accommodation allowances for business-related foreign travel for 2024. These affect how employees and employers handle tax deductions and reimbursements.

For business-related foreign travel and double housekeeping abroad, the Federal Ministry of Finance announces country-specific meal and accommodation allowances each year.

• Employees can deduct the meal allowances as business expenses, or employers can reimburse them tax-free. It is not possible to claim the actual costs as business expenses.
• The accommodation allowances cannot be deducted as business expenses, but the employer may reimburse them tax-free. Only the actual and proven accommodation costs are deductible.

The Federal Ministry of Finance has recently announced changed travel expense rates for a number of countries for 2024, i.e., meal and accommodation allowances (BMF letter dated 21.11.2023).

The tax-free payment of the accommodation allowance by the employer is also permitted if you have incurred lower or no accommodation costs, for example, when staying with friends. However, if the actual accommodation costs are higher, you can deduct the difference as business expenses.

New meal and accommodation allowances will apply from 2024 for the following countries:

Equatorial Guinea, Australia, Barbados, Brazil, Hong Kong, Dominican Republic, Djibouti, Fiji, Finland, Georgia, Guinea, Italy, Cameroon, Canada, Cuba, Lebanon, Madagascar, Morocco, Mauritius, Mongolia, Mozambique, New Zealand, Norway, Paraguay, Philippines, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sri Lanka, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, Chad, Tunisia, Vatican City, Central African Republic