When employees travel for business, the easiest way to reimburse them for travel expenses is with a per diem rate. Understanding per diem rates for Greek employees doesn’t just make expense reporting and business travel easier — it’s actually the law! Per diem rates are required for employees staying overnight in another location.
What are per diem rates?
Per diem meaning “per day” refers to a daily allowance given to employees to cover basic expenses, such as food and incidentals, during business travel. In some cases, per diem rates may cover accommodation or local transport as well. These lump sum payments are intended to cover expenses of business travel without requiring your employees to track and report every expense. This requires much less administrative work from your entire team, from travelling employees to finance teams.
How are per diem rates calculated in Greece?
For Greek employees, per diem rates are simple. Instead of being calculated based on trip duration or city, all employers must provide a per diem allowance based on the minimum daily wage in Greece. Per diem must be paid any time the employee stays overnight on business travel.
What’s covered by per diem rates in Greece
Per diem rates in Greece may cover: Per diem rates are not intended to cover travel to and from the destination.
- food (meals and drinks)
- accommodation at the place of travel
- local transportation
- incidentals
What are per diem rates in Greece?
Per diem rates in Greece are set by the Labour Law Code. For every night an employee is away from home, they must be paid a per diem of at least: This rule does not change based on: These rates can be adjusted depending on what is covered.
- one day of the minimum daily wage (€37.07 per day), or
- 1/25th of the minimum monthly wage for salaried workers (€33.2 per day)
- the employee’s individual wage
- the city or country of destination
- the duration of the business trip day
Incurred expenses
Adjustment
Per Diem Allowance
If the employer provides food and accommodation…
provide only ¼ of the daily allowance
€9.3
If food is provided, but not accommodation…
provide ½ of the daily allowance
€18.53
If accommodation is provided, but not food…
provide ⅘ of the daily allowance
€29.65
Per diem rates for international business travel
Greek employment law doesn’t set specific rates for individual countries. Instead, the Greek per diem law for domestic travel still applies. Of course, employers may choose to pay more than the minimum, especially for
international travel
. In this case, the per diem rates set by the EU can serve as a helpful guide for employers: Country
EU-Set Per Diem Rate
Albania
€151
Austria
€228
Belgium
€239
Bosnia and Herzegovina
€155
Croatia
€179
Cyprus
€208
Denmark
€282
Estonia
€187
Finland
€259
France
€268
Georgia
€214
Germany
€216
Hungary
€169
Iceland
€275
Israel
€292
Italy
€212
Malta
€229
Macedonia
€145
Montenegro
€158
Morocco
€204
Netherlands
€236
Norway
€225
Poland
€170
Portugal
€192
Slovenia
€197
Spain
€205
Sweden
€275
Switzerland
€258
United Kingdom
€276
United States
€343
The full list can be consulted from the
EU’s current per diem rates
. FAQs on Greece Per Diem Rates
Do you need to keep receipts for per diem rates in Greece?
Are per diem payments taxed in Greece?
How are per diem rates paid in Greece?
Making business travel management easy
Per diem rates can make travel expense management much easier. There aren’t any receipts to track, no varying expenses to manage. Instead, there’s a single, fixed allowance that you can budget for and allocate. However, there are still many other travel logistics to manage, such as booking accommodations, managing travel itineraries for employees, planning flight or rail trips, and more. For these, a travel management tool like TravelPerk helps your team plan, book, and manage employees’ travel with ease. Plus, our integrations with third-party expense management providers allow you to easily connect and track business travel expenses.
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