With Payhawk, you can create and reimburse per diem (daily allowance) expenses directly within the platform. The system offers an Excel template pre-filled with default per diem rates based on the regulations of the country where your company is registered. You can download and update this template to include your own rates for calculating per diem expenses and defining deduction amounts as needed.
Once you've configured the template, employees can submit per diem requests by entering their trip details, thus allowing the system to automatically calculate the per diem amount for the trip based on its duration, destination, and meals.
The suggested per diem rates in the default Excel template for each country are based on publicly available sources and provided as general guidance only. These suggestions do not constitute legal, tax, or financial advice. Companies remain solely responsible for reviewing and adapting policies to their specific context and must consult legal, tax, or HR advisors before relying on or implementing them.
Types of per diem policies
Depending on local country regulations, Payhawk uses daily or hourly types of per diem policies to calculate the expense amount.
Daily-based per diem calculations
The daily-based per diem policy calculates allowances based on full or half travel days, following the rules defined by local regulations in each supported country.
The template Excel file with daily per diem rates is based on the official rates in the corresponding countries, such as Germany, Spain, and France, and uses them as suggested default values.
For more information, see the article about daily-based rates for per diem calculations.
Hourly-based per diem calculations
The hourly-based per diem policy uses hourly-based per diem rates to calculate the per diem expense amount, based on hours spent in a location rather than fixed calendar days.
The template Excel file with hourly per diem rates is based on the official rates in the corresponding countries, such as the UK, Ireland, and Austria, set as default values.
The hourly-based per diem policy allows employees to submit a single per diem expense for extended trips, rather than create multiple expenses.
For more information, see the article about hourly-based rates for per diem calculations.