Claiming a daily allowance, the rules and the 2026 rates

What a daily allowance is

A daily allowance (päiväraha) is a tax-free payment compensating you for meals and incidental costs while you work away from your usual place.

It is not a deduction you claim the following spring. When the conditions are met, the allowance is paid to you with no tax withheld, which is why it is worth more than a deduction of the same size.

Example. You invoice 1 000 € and claim one full daily allowance. That part is paid to you tax-free, and tax is calculated only on the remaining taxable salary.

The two rules that decide it

Distance: more than 15 kilometres

The destination has to be more than 15 kilometres from the place where the trip begins: either your home or your regular workplace, whichever you set out from.

A café two streets away does not qualify, however much work you do there.

Duration: 6 hours or 10 hours

The clock runs from when you leave to when you return.

Rates come from the Tax Administration’s annual cost decision and change each January.

What we need before we can pay it tax-free

This is where an invoicing service differs from an employer, and it is not optional for either of us.

The Tax Administration’s guidance on invoicing service companies sets five conditions, all of which must hold:

1. The payment for the work is made as wages.
2. You and your client have agreed in writing which travel costs are covered and whether they are paid separately or inside the total fee.
3. We must be able to show what was agreed: which in practice means a written or electronic contract.
4. The amount stays within the cost decision’s limits.
5. Payment is based on a proper travel expense report, which we check.

Responsibility for getting this right sits with us the way it would with an employer. That is why we ask for the agreement and the report rather than taking your word for the trip.

The conditions in full, including what happens to the meal allowance, are on tax-free allowances.

Kilometre allowance, if you drove

If you made the trip in your own car, the kilometre allowance is 0,55 €/km in 2026, and it is separate from the daily allowance. You can have both on the same trip.

It needs a driving log or an equivalent account: date, route, kilometres, purpose.

Expenses are a different thing, and mostly not tax-free

Worth separating clearly, because the live version of this page ran the two together.

Tickets, accommodation and taxis on a work trip are reimbursed at actual cost against a receipt, tax-free, under the same five conditions above.

Things you bought: software, tools, professional literature, are not reimbursed tax-free through the invoice. They are deductions in your own taxation, and only above the automatic 750 € allowance every wage earner gets without receipts. How that works is on deductions.

Our service fee reduces your taxable wage automatically. You do not need to claim it.

How to claim, step by step

1. Agree in writing with your client which travel costs are covered, before the trip.
2. Check eligibility. Over 15 km from where you started? Over 6 or 10 hours?
3. Keep the receipts for tickets and accommodation.
4. Fill in the travel report: dates, times, destination, kilometres, purpose.
5. Attach it to the invoice in the service.

If a condition is not met, we tell you before the payment rather than after. An allowance marked tax-free that isn’t is a problem that only gets worse with time.

If your own trip is a borderline case, get in touch before the invoice goes out.

Sources

• Tax Administration decision on tax-exempt allowances for travel expenses in 2026 (vero.fi, checked 22.9.2026)
• Tax Administration guidance: travel expense reimbursements paid by invoicing service companies (vero.fi, checked 22.9.2026)