Per diem rates in the UK: a brief guide (2024)

Per diem meal expenses

HMRC meal allowance rates for domestic travel

Subsistence expenses for international travel

Managing per diem rates for UK business travel

Per diem allowances for business travel

Per diem payments cover business expenses, such as lodging and meals, for employees travelling for business. As part of our comprehensive guide on per diem rates, this article explores per diem meal allowances in the UK. It explains where to find the latest updates on per diem rates for meals and how to ensure your employees’ per diem reimbursement is classified as tax-free income.

Per diem for meal expenses in the UK: HMRC meal allowance rates for domestic travel

The benchmark rate for per diem payments in the UK is as follows:

£5 for qualifying travel of 5 hours or more

£10 for qualifying travel of 10 hours or more

£25 for qualifying travel of 15 hours or more and where the travel is ongoing after 8 pm

An additional meal allowance not exceeding £10 per day may be paid if an allowance under (1) or (2) is paid, and the business trip is ongoing at 8 pm.

This covers meal costs, but it doesn’t cover other costs such as accommodation—you’ll need to arrange a lodging rate if there’s an overnight stay involved for business purposes (i.e., participating in a conference the next morning).

Use the benchmark, fixed amount for quick and easy tax-deductible daily allowances to cover your employees’ business travel expenses. If these don’t suffice, you can agree on a bespoke rate with HMRC. However, this involves past receipts and expense reports.

The bespoke rate form can be filled out online. It requires you to have business information on hand—such as PAYE information and business address.

Source

To agree on a bespoke daily rate, you must prove to HMRC that your travel expenses are typically higher than allowed. Once a bespoke rate is agreed upon, employees can continue to use it without having to reapply every time.

As per the Travel Regulations Finance Act of 2019, employees don’t need to compile expense reports if expenses don’t exceed the benchmark rates. If the rate is bespoke, a regime of verifying and checking receipts must be put in place. For the specifics, head to the HMRC guidelines on checking systems.

Per diem for meal expenses in the UK: Subsistence expenses for international travel

For travel outside of the UK, you can find the full list of benchmark scale rate expenses for accommodation and subsistence allowances on the UK government website.

International destinations are ordered alphabetically, so you can easily find your per diem allowances. Here's an example of how international per diem rates are broken down for Atlanta, USA. The table contains the employee expenses covered by the per diem allowance for meals, drinks, accommodation, and transportation.

screen capture of an international per diem rate

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Having these scale rate payments on hand can streamline expense management for travelling employees and your finance team alike.

Managing per diem rates for UK business travel

Keeping up with changing per diem allowances is a task in itself, but knowing where to go to find the information you need is essential for corporate business travel. Here’s a quick recap of where to go to find the per diem rates for your desired destination.

Go to the HMRC website for all the information on current per diem rates.

There you’ll find the online form to apply for a bespoke meals rate or lodging rate.

Make sure employees are using their per diem rate correctly by introducing checking systems.

Per diem allowances for meal expenses can be spent wherever the employee desires; however, they shouldn’t exceed the allotted budget. If a per diem rate goes over the standard or agreed amount it’s considered a taxable benefit to employees.

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Per diem rates in the UK: a brief guide (2024)

Per diem allowances for business travel

Per diem for meal expenses in the UK: HMRC meal allowance rates for domestic travel

Per diem for meal expenses in the UK: Subsistence expenses for international travel

Managing per diem rates for UK business travel

Make business travel simpler. Forever.

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