In the Czech Republic, employees who are sent on business trips are entitled to per diems (daily allowance) to cover meal expenses incurred while away from their regular workplace. These allowances are governed by government decrees and are considered non-taxable income, as long as they stay within the prescribed limits and meet the required eligibility criteria.
To qualify for per diems, employees must:
Be traveling for work outside of their usual place of employment.
Be on a business trip that lasts more than five hours within a single calendar day.
Per diem eligibility is determined based on the total duration of travel during a calendar day, calculated from midnight onward.
In the Czech Republic, per diem expenses are calculated using hourly-based rates.
Domestic trips
For business trips within the Czech Republic, employees are entitled to daily allowances to cover expenses.
For example, an employee is traveling from Prague to Brno in the Czech Republic 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. Czech Republic
Destination code. CZE-Brno
Currency. CZK
5-12 hours. 177
12-18 hours. 271
24 hours. 422
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 126,6. 274,3. 316,5.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
24 hours: 422 CZK will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 24 hours from July 30, 08:00 AM until July 31, 08:00 AM.
12-18 hours: 271 CZK will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 12 hours from July 31, 08:00 AM until July 31, 08:00 PM.
Breakfast: 126,6 CZK will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 274,3 CZK will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 316,5 CZK will be calculated and included in 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 Prague, Czech Republic to Brussels, Belgium 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. Belgium
Destination code. BEL-Brussels
Currency. EUR
5-12 hours. 17
12-18 hours. 33
24 hours. 50
Breakfast. Lunch. Dinner. 15. 32,5. 37,5.
In this case, the system calculates the rates in the following way:
24 hours: 50 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 24 hours from July 25, 09:00 AM until July 26, 09:00 AM.
5-12 hours: 17 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount, as the employee spent 11 hours from July 26, 09:00 AM until July 26, 08:00 PM.
Breakfast: 15 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount.
Lunch: 32,5 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount.
Dinner: 37,5 EUR will be calculated and included in the per diem expense amount.