For 2026, the official per diem a German-based business traveller claims is €58 per full day in the Netherlands and in Paris, €53 in the rest of France, €42 in Madrid and Milan, €48 in Rome and €34 in the rest of Spain (BMF foreign-rates table, letter of 5 December 2025). On top of the per diem, the VAT inside foreign hotel bills is refundable to businesses through the EU's electronic VAT-refund procedure — claim via your home tax portal by 30 September of the following year. Hotel VAT in 2026: Germany 7%, France 10%, Spain 10%, Italy 10%, and the Netherlands 21% (raised from 9% on 1 January 2026).
Cross-border work trips create two pots of money back: the daily meal allowance, set by official tables, and the foreign VAT embedded in hotel and conference invoices, which most small businesses never reclaim. This guide puts both on one page. It uses the German BMF table — the reference most of our readers' employers and tax filings run on — and explains where other countries' systems differ. Travelling only inside Germany? Start with Business Travel in Germany 2026 for the domestic €28/€14 rates and the hotel-VAT rules in detail.
Per diem by country: the BMF 2026 table
Germany's Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) publishes the per diem for every destination each December; the 2026 table applies from 1 January 2026. The rate that counts for each day is the place you are in last before midnight, local time.
| Destination | Full day (24h) | Arrival / departure day | Overnight flat rate* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Netherlands (incl. Amsterdam) | €58 | €39 | €167 |
| France — Paris (and nearby départements) | €58 | €39 | €159 |
| France — rest of country | €53 | €36 | €105 |
| Spain — Madrid | €42 | €28 | €131 |
| Spain — Barcelona | €34 | €23 | €144 |
| Spain — rest of country | €34 | €23 | €103 |
| Italy — Milan | €42 | €28 | €191 |
| Italy — Rome | €48 | €32 | €150 |
| Italy — rest of country | €42 | €28 | €150 |
| Germany (domestic, for comparison) | €28 | €14 | — actual costs |
*The overnight flat rate (Übernachtungspauschale) is an employer-reimbursement figure only: an employer may reimburse up to that amount tax-free without a hotel invoice. For the tax deduction itself, actual invoiced hotel costs are what count — for employees and freelancers alike. Provided meals reduce the per diem abroad exactly as at home: 20% of the full-day rate for breakfast, 40% each for lunch and dinner.
Whose table is this? A necessary warning
The BMF table is the rate set for travellers taxed in Germany — German employees claiming from German employers, and German freelancers deducting trip costs. Every country also runs its own domestic system for its own employers: France reimburses against official scales published for French payroll, Spain sets tax-free per diem ceilings in Spanish law, Italy uses its own flat-rate indemnity logic, and Dutch employers work within Netherlands wage-tax rules and their own travel policies. The amounts differ — sometimes by a lot. If your employer or your tax residence is in one of those countries, use that country's official table for your claim and treat the BMF column here as the comparison benchmark it is.
The second pot: reclaiming foreign hotel VAT
Every hotel bill on a European business trip contains VAT — and a VAT-registered business can usually get it back, even abroad:
| Country | Hotel VAT 2026 | What €300 of hotel bills contains |
|---|---|---|
| Germany | 7% | €19.63 VAT |
| France | 10% | €27.27 VAT |
| Spain | 10% | €27.27 VAT |
| Italy | 10% | €27.27 VAT |
| Netherlands | 21% (was 9% until 31 Dec 2025) | €52.07 VAT |
- How EU businesses claim: electronically, through your home country's portal (for German businesses, the BZSt online portal), which forwards the claim to the country that charged the VAT. Deadline: 30 September of the year after the invoice. Minimum claims: €50 for a full year, €400 for a quarter (3–12 month periods).
- Conference and trade-fair fees: admission is taxed where the event takes place, so a German company at a Paris conference is charged French VAT — refundable through the same procedure. Most other cross-border B2B services are reverse-charged instead, meaning no foreign VAT appears on the invoice at all.
- The invoice decides: it must be addressed to the business (not the traveller privately) and show the VAT separately. Ask at reception before checkout, not after.
- Non-EU businesses use a separate paper-based refund route with a 30 June deadline — slower, same principle.
- The Dutch rise to 21% makes Amsterdam suddenly the most valuable refund on this page: a €150/night room now carries about €26 of reclaimable VAT per night.
Paying trip costs in euros across all five countries is simplest from one multi-currency account — our multi-currency account comparison and the Revolut vs Wise test cover the business-friendly options.
Open Wise Account → Open Revolut Account →
Worked example: 4 days in Paris for a Munich consultancy
| Claim line | Calculation | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Per diem, Paris | €39 (arrive) + €58 + €58 (full days) + €39 (depart) | €194.00 |
| Hotel, 3 nights | 3 × €170, French VAT at 10% included | €510.00 |
| Flight Munich–Paris | Actual fare, invoice kept | €189.00 |
| Total trip cost | €893.00 | |
| of which VAT refundable | €510 × 10/110, claimed via BZSt by 30 Sep 2027 | €46.36 back |
Run the same trip to Amsterdam after the Dutch VAT rise and the refund line grows: three nights at €170 contains about €88 of Dutch VAT at 21% — worth more than a day's per diem, and the amount most often left unclaimed.
🛡 Business trips need travel cover too.
A cancelled flight is an expense problem; a hospital visit abroad is a financial one. Many employees and most freelancers travel for work with no travel-medical cover at all — check your employer's policy first, and cover the gap if there is one. This page contains an affiliate link: if you buy through it we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.
Expense-tracking habits that protect both claims
- Photograph every receipt the day you get it. Thermal paper fades; the per diem needs no receipts, but fares, hotels and incidentals do.
- One card for the whole trip. A dedicated business or multi-currency card makes the statement itself the expense log — and avoids personal-card FX fees on non-euro legs.
- Write the business reason on the day. "Client workshop, Paris" noted in the calendar is the evidence that turns a trip into a deductible trip.
- File quarterly, not yearly. VAT-refund claims have minimum thresholds (€400 per quarter) — batching a quarter's trips usually clears them; a single small trip may only qualify in the annual €50 claim.
- Keep boarding passes. For flights, the pass — not just the booking — proves the trip actually happened.
How we compared
Per diem and overnight figures are the BMF's official foreign travel rates for 2026 (letter of 5 December 2025, ref. IV C 5 – S 2353/00094/007/012), cross-checked against two independent German payroll publications. Hotel VAT rates are the statutory accommodation rates for 2026, including the Netherlands' increase from 9% to 21% on 1 January 2026 (Dutch Chamber of Commerce guidance). The refund procedure described is the EU electronic VAT-refund scheme (Directive 2008/9/EC) with its 30 September deadline and €50/€400 minimums. This page is educational content, not tax advice — rates and eligibility are fact-specific; verify with your tax adviser before filing. We did not accept payment for placement.
Business Travel Costs in Europe FAQ 2026
For a traveller taxed in Germany, the BMF rate for the Netherlands is €58 for a full 24-hour day and €39 for arrival and departure days, with an employer overnight flat rate of €167. Dutch employers use their own national arrangements, which can differ.
No. Each country sets its own table for its own taxpayers, and even within the German BMF table the 2026 full-day rate runs from €34 (most of Spain) to €58 (Netherlands, Paris). Always claim against the table of the country where you are taxed.
Yes, in most cases. EU businesses claim electronically through their home tax portal — the BZSt portal for German businesses — by 30 September of the following year. The hotel invoice must be addressed to the business and show the VAT; minimum claims are €50 per year or €400 per quarter.
Usually yes. Admission to conferences and trade fairs is taxed where the event takes place, so the foreign VAT on the ticket is refundable through the same EU procedure. Most other B2B services are reverse-charged, so no foreign VAT appears on those invoices in the first place.
Under the BMF rules, the rate of the place you are in last before midnight local time. Fly from Madrid to Amsterdam in the evening and that day counts at the Netherlands rate of €58 (full day) — not the Spanish one.
The Netherlands raised VAT on overnight accommodation from 9% to 21% on 1 January 2026. For business travellers the silver lining is a bigger reclaim: a €170 room night now contains about €29.50 of VAT instead of about €14.
It is the maximum an employer may reimburse tax-free for a night's accommodation without a hotel invoice. For your tax deduction, accommodation is always claimed at actual invoiced cost — the flat rate is a payroll shortcut, not a deduction.
Yes — German freelancers and the self-employed deduct the same BMF per diem amounts as business expenses, claim hotels at actual cost, and recover foreign VAT through the same refund procedure as companies.