What are the features of the daily allowance for Mobilexpense?

Mobilexpense offers customisable per diem calculations, with a standard template or tailored rules. Our in-house compliance team keeps country rates current and legally compliant. Users enter trip details, including multi-stop itineraries, and allowances are calculated automatically. Companies can configure meal or other deductions. Totals are easy to review and the calculated allowance is added to an expense report for approval, streamlining entry, policy control and reporting.

What are the benefits of the daily allowance module?

Daily allowances simplify administration by reducing detailed receipt submissions, saving time for employees and controllers. They improve cost control by limiting documentation while maintaining policy oversight. Fixed per diem rates support better budgeting and predictability for finance teams. Employees benefit from a clear, straightforward reimbursement process that increases transparency and convenience, helping them understand what they can claim and accelerating approvals.

Per diem amounts depend on parameters such as country and city. For meal per diems, employees receive the full allowance only when they cover all meals themselves. If meals are provided, deductions are required to remain compliant. This includes situations where meals are included in hotel rates, covered during events, or paid by a customer or supplier, ensuring the per diem accurately reflects out-of-pocket costs.

How does Mobilexpense ensure compliance with German per diems?

Mobilexpense maintains up-to-date national and local German per diem rates and other country-specific rules, proactively managed by our Compliance team. Users enter trip details in the web or mobile app and the correct per diem is calculated automatically. If a separate meal claim is added, the system applies the appropriate deduction. Per diems and related expenses are submitted in a report for approval, with compliance checks and warnings for any deviations.

Per Diem Software: Automate Daily Allowances

Q: What is a daily allowance?

A daily allowance, also known as per diem, is the limited amount of money an employee receives from their organisation to cover work-related expenses. Examples include transportation or meals while travelling for business.

reduction in time on credit card reconciliation

less admin related to a trip

visibility into spend

Automatic calculation, country by country

Calculate daily allowances based on up-to-date local and international regulations.

In-house compliance team

Controllers can sit back and relax, knowing compliance is taken care of.

Multi-destination trips, handled

Users can enter the departure point, date, and time of travel. They can also add multiple destinations and trips.

Review and export in a few clicks

Users can review the total trip calculation with a few clicks. Our user-friendly mobile expense app makes it easy.

Custom rules per role or country

Different rates for European offices, field teams or specific roles. Implement layered rules with no spreadsheets.

Set policies for specific deductions

For example, breakfast may be deducted if included in the hotel price.

Manual process

Mobilexpense automation

Per diem rate lookup

Manual entry and frequent updates

Automatically maintained and applied

Meal deduction adjustments

Manual % or guesswork

Auto-adjusted based on user input

Eligibility enforcement

Post-review by finance

Instant at the point of entry

Multi-country rules

Difficult to manage

Built-in with flexible configurations

Export-ready data

Manual reconciliation

Instant, clean, and audit-ready

Take back control of your business travel costs

Per diems minus the hours of manual checks

Configure your policies and eligible countries, globally or across Europe.
Employees submit per diem requests via app or desktop.
The system calculates allowances, deductions, and generates compliant reports.
Approve and reimburse with confidence.

Dashboard showing corporate expense compliance overview

Per diems that flow straight into your accounting and payroll

No more checking per diem rates per country manually.

Here’s what to expect:

Your existing tools and expense data sync so daily allowances are applied correctly from the start.
Stop calculating per diems in Excel and re-entering them in Exact or Datev. Rates are applied automatically and flow straight into accounting.
One system calculates the right per diem for every country. No more switching tools to figure out what someone is actually allowed to claim.

No more wasting hours searching

In the past, your team spent precious time digging through country rules, PDFs, and policies.

Stop calculating manually

Excel sheets, half days, deductions… and still double-checking if it’s correct.

Rates applied automatically

Mobilexpense automatically applies the correct per diem based on location and dates.

100% compliant and audit-ready

Now, every calculation is stored with full logic, maintained by our in-house compliance team

Expense management

Real-time visibility and configure custom approval workflows.

Business credit cards

Bring your own or use our cards. You get granular control over employee spend.

CO₂ tracking

Get the tools to generate clear, auditable emissions data

Travel management

Give travelling teams a simple and reliable way to manage expenses on the go.

A daily allowance, which is also known as per diem, is the limited amount of money an employee receives from their organisation to cover work-related expenses. Some examples of expenses include transportation or meals while traveling for business.

Customisable calculation: Companies can choose to follow our standard allowance calculation, or modify the rules to their unique needs.
In-house compliance team: When using the standard allowance template, our compliance team ensures that the rates meet the latest legal requirements for each country. Controllers can sit back and relax, knowing compliance is taken care of.
Easy trip entry: Users can enter the departure point, date, and time of travel. For multi-location trips, users can add multiple destinations and trips.
Automatic calculation: The daily allowance is automatically calculated based on the entered trip details.
Deductions: Companies can set policies for specific deductions from the original allowance. For example, breakfast may be deducted if included in the hotel price.
Quick review and reporting: Users can review the total trip calculation with a few clicks. The calculated allowance can be easily added to an expense report for approval.

Ease of administration: Employees receive daily allowances without submitting detailed expense reports. This simplifies reimbursement and saves time for both employees and controllers.
Increased cost control: Daily allowances reduce the need for extensive documentation, allowing controllers to maintain better oversight and ensure compliance with company policies.
Better cost predictability: Finance teams can predict and budget for expenses more accurately with fixed daily allowances, providing financial stability for the organisation.
Higher employee satisfaction: Daily allowances streamline the reimbursement process and provide transparency, making it convenient and clear for employees to understand their allowances.

Declaree by Mobilexpense supports per diem calculations across multiple European countries, including Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria, and Finland, with support for both domestic and international per diem rules.

Our coverage continues to expand across Europe to meet local compliance and business travel requirements. If you would like to confirm support for a specific country or understand how per diem calculations work for your organisation, feel free to speak with your sales representative for more detailed information.

Multi-day, multi-destination or multi-country trips are added in the same way as a normal journey in Declaree by Mobilexpense.

The main difference is that you will need to add each individual journey separately. A journey refers to travel from point A to point B, typically within one day. Any stopovers should also be included as separate journeys, and if no work is carried out during a stop, you can mark that journey as ‘Transit’. For example, if you are flying from Munich to New York with a layover in London, the London stop should be marked as a transit journey.

Based on the given parameters, a per diem may vary. The rates differ between countries, and even cities. In the case of a per diem for food, the employee will only receive the full allowance if they have paid for all their meals themselves. If not, deductions must be made for the per diem to be compliant. This can happen for example if the meals are included in the cost of the lodging, or if the employee’s meal is paid for in another fashion (e.g. as part of an event, by a customer/supplier, etc.).

Declaree by Mobilexpense stays aligned with European per diems by using built-in logic and official tax rules for daily allowances (per diems). When you enter a business trip in Declaree, the system can automatically calculate the correct per diem based on the destination and applicable local rules, including deductions (e.g. meals provided) and different rates for domestic vs international travel. These calculations are based on current official per diem tables and can be activated in your Allowances settings if available.

You can find per diem rates and guidelines in a few places:

1. Mobilexpense Compliance Centre
The Compliance Centre provides clear, up-to-date local compliance information for European countries, including:

VAT rates
Daily allowances (per diems)
Mileage allowances
Electronic archiving and retention requirements
Simply select the country you want to review.

2. Declaree Help Centre per diem pages
For specific detailed tables by country (e.g., Germany or the Netherlands), the Declaree Help Centre publishes the official 2025 per diem rates that match local tax authority rules and can be applied within the tool.

Employees just have to input exact hours into Declaree by Mobilexpense and it will calculate based on company policy or latest country legal requirements.

When using the standard allowance template in Declaree by Mobilexpense, our in-house compliance team ensures that the rates meet the latest legal requirements for each country. Controllers can sit back and relax, knowing compliance is taken care of.

According to the the Defense Travel Management Office: “Per diem is a set allowance for lodging, meal and incidental costs” incurred while on travel for business.

Expense reimbursement, meanwhile, is the repayment of money spent by an employee for business purposes. In a business context, employers may either reimburse actual travel expenses or provide a per diem (daily allowance), depending on company policy and local regulations.

By company size

By region

By product

Per diems and daily allowances, applied automatically

Calculate, localise, and reimburse per diems across all your team’s locations - with built-in European compliance.

Trusted by 3,000+ European companies to manage spend

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