If you're employed by a company in Germany, you don't need to know the per diem rates or count the days. You enter where you went and when, tick the meals your company already paid for, and Factorial calculates your allowance with the official German rates.

Claim a per diem for your trip

Overview

Use it for any work trip, in Germany or abroad. Factorial works out each day's allowance from your times and destinations, takes off the meals your company paid for, and shows you the breakdown day by day.

How to use

On the mobile app

1. Go to Expenses, tap Add, then Per diem expense.
2. Enter Trip start, your destinations (tap Add stop for more) and Trip end.
3. Mark the meals and Overnight stay your company paid for.
4. Review the trip, tap Submit, then Send for approval or Save as draft.

On the web

1. Go to My spending > My expenses, click New expense and choose Per diem.
2. Trip details: enter the Start of trip (date and time you left), the Destination and the End of trip (date and time you got back). Click Add stop for every other place, each with its Arrival date and time. Check the Trip summary (days and nights) and click Next.
3. Company-paid expenses: mark the meals or overnight stays your company already paid for, such as a hotel breakfast. Click Breakfasts, Lunches, Dinners or Overnights to mark it for every day at once. Click Next.
4. Review and submit: give your trip a Trip name, add anything else your company asks for, and click View full breakdown to check each day.
5. Click Submit to send it for approval, or Save as draft to finish later.

Tips and Best Practices

Troubleshooting and FAQ

Troubleshooting

• I don't see Per diem. Per diems aren't turned on for your company. Ask your Expenses admin.
• I can't continue from Trip details. Enter the start, a destination and the end, each with a date and time.
• My total is 0. Trips of 8 hours or less don't qualify, and a day where company-paid meals cover the whole allowance is 0. Check your times and the meals you marked.
• I need to change a per diem I already sent. While it's Pending, click Reset to draft to take it back, fix it and send it again.

FAQ

1. I marked lunch and dinner on the same day, but the total didn't change. Why?

On the day you leave or come back you get the partial rate, and a lunch plus a dinner (40% + 40% of the full rate) is usually more than that. The day is already at zero and can't go lower, so the second meal changes nothing. If you can't mark a meal at all, contact our support team.

2. Where does the "Company supplement" come from?

Your company chose to pay more than the official rate. The extra appears on its own Company supplement line in the breakdown.

3. Can my approver see the stops on my trip?

The per diem summary shows dates and amounts, not each stop. If your stops matter for approval, list them in the description.

4. How is my German per diem calculated for each day?

Full days away get the full daily rate. The day you leave and the day you come back get the partial rate.

5. Does a short trip qualify for a German per diem?

Trips of 8 hours or less don't qualify for an allowance.

6. How much is taken off for meals my company paid for?

Company-paid meals are taken off the full daily rate: 20% for a breakfast, 40% for a lunch and 40% for a dinner. A day never goes below zero.

7. Which rate applies on a trip abroad?

Each day uses the rate of the country you reached by the end of that day. Add every stop so each day is paid at the right country's rate.