Per diem rates in Europe: the 2025 guide

Most finance teams at NGOs and trade unions handle per diem the same way. Someone found a rate in 2019, put it in a shared spreadsheet, and it gets copied every year. The problem is that European per diem rates change, sometimes significantly, and the consequences of using an outdated figure range from awkward conversations to formal audit findings.

This guide covers where the rates actually come from, how they differ across the countries where European associations work most, and what you need to document to survive a review.

There is no single "European per diem rate"

That's the first thing to understand. Per diem in Europe is not a unified system. Each country sets its own rates through its own legal mechanism, and those mechanisms are different enough that you cannot simply transfer logic from one country to another.

For organisations working across borders, this means you may be applying four different sources in the same expense report. That's not unusual. What's unusual is when those sources haven't been checked recently.

Belgium: ONSS rates

In Belgium, the reference for domestic per diem is the ONSS (Office National de Sécurité Sociale). The ONSS publishes allowance thresholds that determine whether a travel indemnity is exempt from social contributions. These aren't just accounting numbers: they define what your organisation can reimburse tax-free per day of travel.

The ONSS rates cover meal allowances and accommodation separately. They apply when the employee is away from their usual workplace for a minimum number of hours and nights. The thresholds are updated periodically — not on a fixed annual schedule, which is partly why they're easy to miss.

For Belgian missions and travel departing from Belgium, you can check the current ONSS rates on the Belgium per diem page.

France: URSSAF rates

France operates through URSSAF, which sets ceiling amounts for professional travel expenses exempt from social contributions. The French system distinguishes between travel to a temporary work location and travel for a business trip, and the rates differ accordingly.

URSSAF updates its reference amounts each year. The 2025 rates were published in early 2025 and apply to expenses incurred from 1 January 2025. Using the 2024 rates for 2025 missions is technically an error — one that may not cause problems until an inspection.

Current rates for France are on the France per diem page.

Germany: BRKG rates

Germany uses the Bundesreisekostengesetz (BRKG) — the Federal Travel Expenses Act — which sets the official rates for domestic German travel. These apply to public sector employees directly and serve as the reference for private-sector and NGO reimbursement as well. The BRKG distinguishes between absences of 8 hours or more and full-day absences, with different rates for each band.

German rates have been stable for some years but were revised upward in 2024. If your spreadsheet predates that revision, the figures are wrong.

See the Germany per diem page for current amounts.

The Netherlands: Dutch tax authority rates

The Netherlands uses a different structure. The Belastingdienst (Dutch Tax and Customs Administration) publishes the amounts that employers can pay tax-free for travel and accommodation. The Dutch approach often involves a blanket daily amount covering both meals and accommodation, which simplifies the calculation but requires careful documentation of actual travel conditions.

Current Netherlands rates: Netherlands per diem page.

EU projects: European Commission rates

Organisations running EU-funded projects — Horizon Europe, Erasmus+, ESF, and others — use a different source entirely: the European Commission's own per diem table, published as an annex to the Financial Regulation and updated at least once a year.

The Commission rates cover 181 countries. They apply directly to travel expenses claimed under EU grants and define the maximum daily subsistence allowance (DSA) that can be charged to a project. Claiming above the Commission rate, even if your national rules would allow it, creates an ineligible cost that needs to be reimbursed.

There's a separate guide on this: Per diem in Horizon Europe projects.

When do the rates change?

Not always on 1 January. That's a common assumption that leads to errors.

ONSS updates happen when the Belgian government decides to adjust the reference amounts — which can be mid-year. URSSAF publishes annually but sometimes issues corrections. The Commission per diem table is usually updated in the spring, after the previous year's data is available. Germany's BRKG changes require parliamentary action, so updates are infrequent but significant.

The practical consequence: if you check rates once a year in December, you may miss mid-year updates. The more cautious approach is to verify before each major mission or to use a tool that checks against live data.

What auditors look at

For EU-funded projects, the audit trail is specific. Auditors will want the date of travel, the destination country, the rate applied, and the source document proving that rate was in force on that date. A spreadsheet that says "Brussels 2025 rate: 134 EUR" with no reference to where that number came from does not satisfy this requirement.

For Belgian ONSS compliance, the question is simpler but the stakes are similar: if your organisation reimburses above the ONSS ceiling without treating the excess as salary, you have a social contribution exposure.

The documentation discipline is the same in both cases. Record the rate, record the source, and record the date of application.

Country pages on Viatic

The rates in the table below are sourced from official publications and updated weekly by Viatic. Click any country for the current rate, the applicable rule, and the source document.

• Belgium (ONSS)
• France (URSSAF)
• Germany (BRKG)
• Netherlands (Belastingdienst)
• Luxembourg
• Austria
• Spain
• Italy
• Poland
• Sweden

All 208 countries in the EU Commission table are covered. If you're calculating per diem for a mission to a country not in the list above, use the search on the calculator or browse all countries via the rate pages.