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Meals and accommodation are two separate pots, with different rules and different time limits.
Two pots
For work away from home abroad, meals are covered by fixed rates per country, set anew each year by the German federal finance ministry. The Swiss rates are among the highest in Europe. Accommodation, by contrast, is normally settled at actual cost as long as there is a receipt.
A full day and a travel day are treated differently. If the employer provides meals, the allowance is reduced. What counts is the ministry circular for that particular year, not last year's.
The employer can reimburse the actual cost tax free or carry it directly. A flat rate only comes into play where there is no evidence, and on longer assignments it is almost always below the real cost.
The meal allowance is limited to three months at the same place of work away from home. A break of at least four weeks resets the clock. This limit does not apply to accommodation costs.
Invoicing
We always invoice the company, never individual employees. One monthly invoice listing people and nights is a business expense and is not taxable pay for the employee. Handing out cash and collecting receipts instead means doing the same work ten times over.
The invoice states the period, the number of people and the nights, plus the address of the accommodation. That is exactly what your payroll department needs, and exactly what an audit asks for.
Cleaning is a separate line item, as a rule every one to two weeks. That keeps the lodging share per person and night clearly visible instead of disappearing into one total.
The Swiss side
Anyone posting into Switzerland from abroad owes Swiss minimum working conditions. The generally binding collective agreements, in construction the LMV, contain their own rules on accommodation and meals. German expense logic and the Swiss minimum are two separate layers, and whichever is better for the employee applies.
The accommodation requirement behind this is set out under Standards and compliance, the notification itself under the eight day notification rule. Binding amounts are in the current German finance ministry circular on foreign travel costs. This text is a practical overview, not tax advice. What your tax adviser says is what counts.
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