Travel expenses

Travel expenses
from one sentence

Tell the agent “4 May 15:00 to 10 May 16:00 Munich, 1 lunch provided on 5 May” — and you get a finished travel expense report with the correct German meal per-diem as a PDF. Backdated trips work too, and so do several travellers.

In Germany, the meal per-diem (Verpflegungsmehraufwand) is a statutory allowance for the extra cost of meals on a business trip. For domestic trips in 2026 the rates are €28 for a full day away (24 hours) and €14 for arrival and departure days, and for absences of more than 8 hours (section 9 (4a) EStG).

How it works

A finished report in three steps

1

Send the details

Place, departure and return with the time, the occasion, how you travelled — one sentence in Telegram, or a voice message, is enough.

2

The agent calculates

Meal allowances for arrival, departure and full days, meal reductions, several travellers and foreign rates are calculated automatically.

3

PDF for your accountant

A finished travel expense report as a PDF — hotel invoice, tickets and notes merged into one document if you want.

Checklist

What belongs on the report,
and what does not

Trip details

  • Departure, return, destination and business purpose
  • Meals provided: breakfast, lunch or dinner
  • Foreign currency, hotel, rail, flight or taxi as attachments
  • Company car instead of the mileage allowance, when that applies

Several travellers

  • Several colleagues can be named in one message
  • Each person gets their own per-diems and meal reductions
  • A companion with no business expense stays off the report
  • Finished PDF, including receipt attachments, for your accountant

In chat

One sentence is enough —
the report comes back

Features

Everything the tax office
expects — automatically

Per-diems, calculated

German meal allowances for arrival, departure and full days at the current statutory rates — no table to keep in your head.

Meals reduced

A provided breakfast, lunch or dinner is deducted from that day's allowance for each traveller (20% / 40%).

Several travellers

Two people on the same trip? Each person gets their own report, with their own meal reductions.

Foreign rates and company cars

A destination abroad uses the BMF foreign rates. A company car is kept apart from the €0.30/km allowance. An overnight allowance is optional.

Attachments such as the hotel invoice, rail or flight tickets and the trip notes are referenced and, if you want, merged into a single PDF. The three-month rule for a recurring place of work is taken into account.

Worked example

A customer wrote: “4 May, 15:00 to 10 May, 16:00, I was in Munich, one lunch provided on 5 May.”

  • Arrival day 4 May: €14.00
  • 5 May, full day with lunch deducted: €16.80
  • 6–9 May, four full days: €112.00
  • Departure day 10 May: €14.00 → €156.80 total, as a PDF

As of 2026 · German domestic rates under section 9 (4a) EStG (€28 / €14), confirmed by the Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 5 December 2025. Later adjustments are picked up automatically.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

What is the German meal per-diem in 2026?

Domestically, €28 for a full calendar day (24 hours away) and €14 for arrival and departure days, and for absences of more than 8 hours (section 9 (4a) EStG). Trips abroad use country-specific Federal Ministry of Finance rates. belege.ai picks the applicable rate automatically.

How are provided meals deducted?

The daily allowance is reduced by 20% for breakfast and 40% each for lunch or dinner — measured against the full domestic rate of €28, so €5.60 and €11.20. belege.ai deducts that per day and per traveller.

Can I create a report after the trip?

Yes. Send the trip details whenever you have them — belege.ai builds the report for past trips too, using the rates that applied at the time.

Does this work for several travellers?

Yes. Name several colleagues in one message; each person gets their own report with their own meal reductions.

Are foreign trips and company cars covered?

Yes. Foreign trips use the country-specific Federal Ministry of Finance rates. A company car is kept apart from the €0.30-per-kilometre allowance, and an overnight allowance is available if you want it.

Will the tax office accept the report?

Yes. The PDF carries the correct meal per-diem for your accountant, is stored in line with GoBD, and the servers are in Germany.

The next business trip, without the spreadsheet

Send the trip details as one message — the report comes back as a PDF. No credit card to start.

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