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Per diems and accommodation costs on foreign assignments.
Meals and accommodation are two separate pots, with different rules and different time limits.
Two pots
Meals are flat rate, accommodation is not
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.
Meals by country
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.
Accommodation against receipt
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.
Three months
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
Why the invoice goes to the company
One invoice, one receipt
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.
Breakdown per person
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 as its own line
Cleaning is a separate line item, as a rule every two weeks. That keeps the lodging share per person and night clearly visible instead of disappearing into one total.
The Swiss side
What the host country asks on top
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.
- Meal allowance
- Home country law
- Minimum conditions
- Host country
- Accommodation and invoice
- rheinblick
- Payroll
- Employer
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.
Questions
What payroll wants to know first
Can accommodation costs on an external assignment be reimbursed tax free?
On a business related assignment abroad the employer may reimburse the actual accommodation costs tax free against receipts, or pay them directly. If the invoice is made out to the company it is a business expense, and for the employee it is not taxable pay.
Why should the invoice be made out to the company and not to the employee?
Because the allocation is then unambiguous. An invoice to the company is a business expense; a payment to the employee has to be evidenced by them and carried correctly in the payroll. rheinblick therefore always invoices the company, never individual employees.
How long are meal allowances paid on a long assignment?
The meal allowance is limited to three months for extended work at the same external place of work. A break of at least four weeks starts the period again. This three month limit does not apply to accommodation costs.
How high are the allowances for Switzerland?
The foreign allowances for meals and overnight stays are set anew each year by the German federal ministry of finance, and the Swiss rates are among the highest in Europe. What counts is always the current ministry circular for the year in question.
A quote with a breakdown per person?
People, dates, job site. You get a calculated quote with availability and a fixed price, not a price list.
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