Employers in Ireland have the option to either reimburse employees for the actual travel expenses incurred or provide a fixed daily travel allowance (per diem).
Specifics
Employers in Ireland can choose between these two methods for reimbursing employees for travel expenses:
Actual expense reimbursement - If the employer opts to reimburse actual travel expenses, the following conditions must be fulfilled:
The expenses were incurred wholly, exclusively, and necessarily in the performance of the employee’s duties.
Reimbursement is based on vouched receipts.
Fixed daily allowance (per diem) - If the employer chooses to provide a per diem, they can apply the Civil Service rates, which are published on the official government website. In such case, per diem expenses are calculated using hourly-based rates.
Domestic trips
In Ireland, different rates apply during a domestic business trip depending on the duration of the travel.
For example, an employee is traveling from Dublin to Galway in Ireland and has filled in the following trip details:
In the Payhawk template, based on the data entered by the employee, the corresponding columns will be populated in the following way:
Destination. Ireland
Destination code. IRL-Galway
Currency. EUR
5-10 hours. 19,25
Full day (10+ hours). 46,17
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 0. 0. 0.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
Full day (10+ hours): 46,17 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 24 hours from July 03 08:00 AM until July 04 08:00 AM.
5-10 hours: 19,25 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 5 hours from July 04 08:00 AM until July 04 01:00 PM.
Breakfast: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Trips abroad
When employees travel internationally, different rates apply. The per diem allowance depends on the specific destination country.
For example, an employee is traveling from Dublin, Ireland to Berlin, Germany and has filled in the following trip details:
In the Payhawk template, based on the data entered by the employee, the corresponding columns will be populated in the following way:
Destination. Germany
Destination code. DEU-Berlin
Currency. EUR
5-10 hours. 39,92
Full day (10+ hours). 79,83
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 0. 0. 0.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
Full day (10+ hours): 79,83 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 24 hours from July 07 09:00 AM until July 08 10:00 AM.
5-10 hours: 39,92 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 10 hours from July 08 10:00 AM - July 08 09:00 PM.
Breakfast: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 0 EUR will be calculated for the per diem expense amount.