Reisekosten & Verpflegungsmehraufwand 2026 richtig absetzen

A train to Berlin, two nights in a hotel, a quick currywurst at the station along the way – and suddenly you wonder: which of that can you actually deduct? Self-employed people who travel for business often leave real money on the table when it comes to travel expenses and the per diem meal allowance (Verpflegungsmehraufwand). Yet the rules for 2026 are quite manageable. Here's the complete overview: travel costs, meal allowances, accommodation, the infamous three-month rule, and the receipts you really need.

🧳 What actually counts as a business trip?

A tax-relevant business trip – in the law this is called an off-site activity (Auswärtstätigkeit) – exists when you work in a professional capacity away from both your home and your primary place of work (Erste Tätigkeitsstätte, i.e. your fixed business premises or office). The client meeting in the neighboring town, the trade fair in Munich, the photo shoot at the client's site: all of these are off-site activities (Auswärtstätigkeiten).

For the self-employed, this runs through business expenses (Betriebsausgaben). Anything professionally occasioned by the trip reduces your profit – and thus your tax burden. The only crucial point is a clean separation: the private evening stroll through town after the meeting doesn't belong here.

Travel costs are made up of four building blocks, which we'll now go through one by one:

• 🚗 Travel costs (mileage allowance or actual costs)
• 🍽️ Per diem meal allowance (Verpflegungsmehraufwand, fixed rates)
• 🏨 Accommodation costs
• 🧾 Incidental travel costs (parking, tolls, luggage, etc.)

🚗 Travel costs: €0.30 per kilometer

If you use your private car for a business trip, you can claim the mileage allowance of €0.30 as a business expense (Betriebsausgabe) for every kilometer driven. This flat rate applies unchanged in 2026 and covers all car costs – fuel, wear and tear, insurance, depreciation. So you don't need to collect fuel receipts; a clean trip log with date, destination, purpose and kilometers is enough.

A few details worth knowing:

• The kilometers actually driven are counted – so both the outbound and the return trip.
• If you take a business partner along in your own car, an extra €0.02 per kilometer is added for each passenger.
• The €0.30 rule also applies to motorcycles and scooters (the previously lower rates for other vehicles have been abolished).

Alternatively, instead of the flat rate you can claim the actual per-kilometer costs. This pays off with an expensive vehicle – but it requires you to work out all annual costs of your car once and divide them by your annual mileage. For train, flight, taxi or rental car, the rule is simple anyway: you just claim the actual, documented costs.

💡 Tip: If you run a company vehicle as part of your business assets (Betriebsvermögen), the car costs are already recorded as a business expense. In that case you may not additionally claim the mileage allowance for business trips – that would be double-counting.

🍽️ Per diem meal allowance 2026 (Verpflegungsmehraufwand): €14 and €28

The classic – and the item where the most money is left on the table. For the extra cost of eating while traveling there are fixed flat rates, with no restaurant receipt required. All you need to prove is how long and where you were away. The domestic rates have been stable for years and also apply in 2026:

Situation	Time away	Flat rate
Single-day trip	more than 8 hours	€14
Multi-day trip (full day)	24 hours	€28
Day of departure and arrival	no minimum time	€14 each

The handy thing about the departure and arrival days: no minimum time away is required here. So if you set off on Monday evening and return on Wednesday morning, you get €14 (Monday) + €28 (Tuesday as a full day) + €14 (Wednesday) = €56 – purely as a flat rate, without a single meal receipt.

For absences of less than 8 hours there is unfortunately no meal allowance (Verpflegungsmehraufwand). And: the flat rate is per person and caps itself – you cannot claim higher actual meal costs instead.

Reduction for provided meals

If breakfast is included in the hotel price or a client takes you out to lunch, you have to reduce the flat rate – calculated from the full daily rate (€28):

• 🥐 Breakfast: – €5.60 (20%)
• 🍝 Lunch: – €11.20 (40%)
• 🍷 Dinner: – €11.20 (40%)

🏨 Accommodation: actual costs instead of a flat rate

For accommodation costs, a simple rule applies to the self-employed: claim the actual, documented costs – i.e. the hotel bill. The small tax-free accommodation flat rate of €20 per night is only intended for reimbursing employees, not for your own business expense deduction. As an entrepreneur, the receipt is what counts for you.

On the hotel bill, watch out for two things:

• If breakfast is itemized separately, it reduces your meal allowance by €5.60 (see above).
• The overnight stay itself is charged 7% VAT, while breakfast and extras are usually charged 19%. If you are entitled to deduct input VAT (Vorsteuer), recover the input VAT via a correct invoice.

💡 Tip: If you book through a platform, make sure the invoice is issued to your company name and shows the VAT – otherwise the input VAT (Vorsteuer) deduction gets tricky.

⏳ The three-month rule – the most common pitfall

One point many overlook: the meal allowance (Verpflegungsmehraufwand) is time-limited. If you work for more than three months at the same off-site location, the meal allowance is dropped entirely after that. The legislator assumes that you've grown accustomed to the catering situation and no longer have any genuine extra cost.

This affects, for example, consultants or IT freelancers who sit on-site at the same client for months. Important to know:

• The rule applies only to the meal allowance – you can still deduct travel and accommodation costs.
• An interruption of at least four weeks resets the clock – regardless of the reason for the break (vacation, illness, another project).
• If you regularly switch between locations and aren't at any one location at least three times a week, the clock doesn't even start.

🌍 Foreign trips: higher flat rates per country

The same principles apply to business trips abroad, but with country-specific flat rates. Each year the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesfinanzministerium) publishes a table with its own rates for meals and accommodation per country (sometimes even per city). New York, Zurich or Tokyo are well above the domestic rates.

As a rule, the decisive location is the one you last reach before midnight local time. Rather than memorizing amounts, it's best to take a look at the current BMF table for the travel year for the specific trip – or leave the correct allocation to your bookkeeping altogether.

🧾 Receipts and records: what you have to keep

Even though many amounts run as flat rates, in a tax audit (Betriebsprüfung) you won't want to have to explain anything you haven't documented. Record the following for each trip:

• 📅 Date as well as the time of departure and return (for the 8- or 24-hour threshold)
• 📍 Destination and business purpose (client, meeting, trade fair)
• 🚗 Kilometers driven when using a car
• 🧾 All receipts for train, flight, hotel, parking, tolls, taxi

Keep the receipts in an audit-proof manner – a clean digital scan is sufficient with proper filing. The statutory retention period for invoices remains several years, so don't throw them away prematurely.

🦸 Travel expenses without the stress, with Buchführungsheld

Trip logs, meal allowances, reductions for hotel breakfast, keeping an eye on the three-month rule – that's exactly the kind of fiddly detail that gets left undone in the evening. With Buchführungsheld you simply upload your travel receipts via the app, real bookkeepers allocate them correctly and apply the right flat rates. At a fixed price, including the advance VAT return (Umsatzsteuervoranmeldung). If you want to know how this looks for your situation, book a free preliminary consultation.

Frequently asked questions

As a self-employed person, can I deduct the meal allowance without a receipt?

Yes. The meal allowance (Verpflegungsmehraufwand) runs entirely on flat rates (€14 or €28). You don't need any restaurant receipts – just proof of how long and where you were traveling. Actual meal costs play no role here.

Which is cheaper: the mileage allowance or actual car costs?

The flat rate of €0.30/km is simple and suits most people. If you drive an expensive vehicle with high running costs and low mileage, the actual costs per kilometer can be higher – but that requires a one-time full-cost calculation for your car.

Does the meal allowance also apply to a single-day appointment?

Only if you're away from your home and business premises for more than 8 hours on that day. In that case you get €14. Under 8 hours, there is no meal allowance.

What happens after the three months at the same client?

After three months at the same off-site location, the meal allowance is dropped. You can still deduct travel and accommodation costs. A break of at least four weeks makes the three-month rule start over.