On business trips, travellers - whether employees or self-employed - must generally cover their own meal costs. This usually involves higher expenditure. These additional costs can be taken into account for tax purposes up to a certain limit. The legislature has created the so-called Verpflegungsmehraufwendungen (VMA) - additional meal expenses - for this purpose (§ 9(4a) EStG).
The deductibility of additional meal expenses requires that the traveller is engaged in an external professional activity and that one of the following conditions is met:
- an absence of 24 hours from their home and principal place of work, or
- a travel day to or from a location for a business trip, or
- a day of more than 8 hours away from their home and principal place of work without an overnight stay.
The amount that may be claimed for tax purposes depends on the duration of the absence. Since 1 January 2020, the following additional meal expense rates apply to travel within Germany:
- Absence > 24 hours: 28 € (previously 24 €)
- Travel day (departure or return) each: 14 € (previously 12 €)
- Absence > 8 hours: 14 € (previously 12 €)
Each country has its own additional meal expense rates. For travel to the Netherlands, for example, 47 € or 32 € respectively may be deducted for tax purposes.
It should further be noted that where meals are provided during or in connection with a business trip, the VMA must be reduced as follows:
- for breakfast: 20% of the full VMA (in Germany, e.g. 20% of 28 €)
- for lunch and dinner: 40% each
The employer may generally pay the additional meal expenses calculated in accordance with the above rules to the travelling employee free of income tax and social security contributions. Where the additional meal expenses are reimbursed by the employer in full, there is no further deduction as employment-related expenses in the employee's income tax return (§ 9(4a) sentence 11 EStG). Where only part of the additional meal expenses is reimbursed by the employer, the difference between the amount paid and the maximum amount calculated in accordance with the rules above may be claimed as employment-related expenses in the income tax return.
Self-employed persons may also take the VMA for their business trips into account for tax purposes at the rates described above, thereby effectively reducing their tax burden. It is important that the trips undertaken are documented so that evidence is available for the tax office (Finanzamt).
By Alexander Lakomek