2468345 - Per Diem Rates for Meals - Germany is Calculated Differently

You have created an Expense Report for two days and you can see that the per diem rates for meals calculated is not correct.

This applies for companies based in Germany that have trips planned within and outside Germany. The per diem rates for meals varies according to country and duration of trip.

SAP Business ByDesign

1. Go to the Travel and expense work center.
2. Go to the Expense Reports view.
3. Search and select the Expense Report ABC (ABC is the ID of the Expense report).
4. Click Edit, then View All.
5. In expense report ABC, under Reimbursement and Expense Summary:
   Meals per Diem is equal to 62,00EUR (for example for country Switzerland).
   Start date of trip is DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM and end date is DD+1.MM.YYYY HH:MM.

The Per diem rates for meals for Germany is statutory (standard rates provided by SAP and according to German Law) and can be found in the Business configuration work center.

1. Go to the Business Configuration work center.
2. Select the Overview view.
3. Search and select the Activity: Per Diem Rates for Meals - Germany and click open.
4. Under Per diem rates for meals, click on the Edit per diem rates for meals link.
5. Navigate to the Statutory Rates tab under Available Per Diem Rates for Meals.
6. In country version DE01 - German settlement:

For example, for country Switzerland, for Duration 5- Upto 24hours, the applicable per diem rates for FIRST - First day is 41,00EUR, LAST - Last day is 41,00EUR and OTHER - All days (except for the first/last day) is 62,00EUR.

This is currently valid from 01.01.2016 and is valid till unlimited.

This is the expected system behavior.

For business trips which start on day one and end on day two, we have to differentiate between two scenarios:

1. The business trip which starts on day one and ends on day two with Lodging. In this case the allowances are as follows: the journey start day = 12,00€, journey end day = 12,00€ and in between days = 24,00€ (these are the per diem rates for meals for trips within Germany for Duration 5- Upto 24hours.).
2. The business trip which starts on day one and ends on day two without lodging. In this case the absence time of two days are calculated together. After the calculation of the absence, if there is more than 8 hours, a rate of  12,00 € is considered (Handbuch Reisekostenrecht 2017; Kapitel 3.1.1.2; Seite 55)
   Per diem rate for meal of an amount  24 ,00 € is only considered if the whole activity was performed over night or the activity on corresponding calendar date takes 24 hours (please refer to http://www.bundesfinanzministerium.de/Content/DE/Downloads/BMF_Schreiben/Steuerarten/Lohnsteuer/2014-10-24-ergaenztes-bmf-schreiben-reform-steuerliches-reisekostenrecht.html PDF: Ergänztes BMF-Schreiben zur Reform des steuerlichen Reisekostenrechts ab 1.1.2014, Seite 25).

Please note that the rates mentioned here are the rates for trips within Germany. But the scenario can also be applied in cases for Foreign trips rates (41,00 € and 62,00€, example Switzerland).

As in here the mentioned trip for business without lodging (Scenario 2) and the calculated Absence is more than 24 hours, the rates considered/ derived is 62,00€.

The system is set up as follows:

The system can recognize a Lodging with an activated Lodging- rate or a created hotel bill/ receipt.

The much more unexpected case, where a lodging exists but no activation of lodging -rate or hotel receipt is available, the creation of a hotel bill with 0,00 € is required.

As mentioned before, for the much more unexpected case, where a lodging exists but no activation of lodging -rate or hotel receipt is available, the creation of a hotel bill with 0,00 € is required.

1. Go to the Travel and expense work center.
2. Go to the Expense Reports view.
3. Search and select the expense report ABC.
4. Click Edit, then View All.
5. In expense report ABC,  under Reimbursement and Expense Summary:
   Meals per Diem is equal to 62,00EUR.
   Start date of trip is DD.MM.YYYY HH:MM and end date is DD+1.MM.YYYY HH:MM.
6. Navigate to the Expenses tab.
7. Click on the Add Row button.
8. Select the Expense Type as Hotel from the drop down menu and enter Expense Amount as 0,00 €.
9. Click Save.
10. Click the Simulate button to simulate a journal entry.
11. In the simulated journal entry, you can see the correct Per Diem Rates for Meals.

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