An employee's expenses on a business or working trip are reimbursed/reimbursed in accordance with the established limits and rules, which are described below.

A business trip/podróż słyżbowy is considered to be the performance by an employee of a work assignment on behalf of the employer outside the location of his registered office or outside the permanent place of work.

When traveling abroad, the employee has the right to:

• daily allowance (equivalent to food and other minor expenses),
• reimbursement of expenses: travel, local transport, accommodation, other necessary documented expenses, determined or recognized.

Daily allowance / food compensation. In companies that do not have their own calculations of allowances for work abroad, for example, those specified in the regulations on remuneration, the rates specified in this regulation are used to calculate allowances (Rozporządzenie Ministra Pracy I Polityki Społecznej w sprawie należności przysługujących pracownikowi zatrudnionemu w państwowej lub samorządowej jednostce sfery budżetowej z tytułu podróży służbowej.).

The amount of daily allowance / diety for a business trip abroad depends on the country to which the employee is sent. For example, in the case of Germany it is 49 euros, in the case of Belgium – 55 euros. Also, depending on the country, limits are determined for accommodation / noclegi. For 2025, data by country is provided in the table below.

Таблица – Table – Daily allowance and accommodation in working trips abroad in 2025

Daily allowances and other payments received by an employee during a business trip are exempt from personal income tax within the amounts specified in the table above in accordance with the aforementioned regulation.

If the employer company sets its own daily allowance limits, which are higher, then the excess will be the employee's income, from which tax must be paid.

The minimum daily allowance amount for a foreign trip cannot be less than the amount of compensation for a business trip within the country, i.e. PLN 45.

Daily allowances are paid depending on the duration of the trip. If the trip takes:

• up to 8 hours – the employee is entitled to 1/3 of the daily allowance,
• more than 8 hours – the employee is entitled to 50% of the daily allowance,
• more than 12 hours – the employee is entitled to full payment.

If during the business trip the employee is provided with free meals throughout the day, he/she is entitled to 25% of the daily allowance. The daily allowance is reduced by the cost of the free meals provided, including as part of hotel services, based on the fact that breakfast is 15% of the daily allowance, lunch – 30%, dinner – 30%.

Travel at the destination of the working trip. At the destination/business trip abroad, the employee is entitled to a one-time payment in the amount of one daily allowance to cover travel expenses to the railway station, bus station, airport or seaport and back. In the case of a one-way trip, the compensation is 50% of the daily allowance. To cover travel expenses by local transport, the employee is entitled to a one-time payment in the amount of 10% of the daily allowance for each day of stay abroad.

Medical expenses. If an employee falls ill during a working trip, the employer company will reimburse him/her for the costs of treatment abroad. For each day spent in a hospital or other medical facility during a working trip abroad, the employee is entitled to compensation in the amount of 25% of the daily allowance.

Calculation of the employee's trip expenses. Before leaving for a working trip abroad, the employer company pays the employee an advance to cover the necessary expenses, as a preliminary amount of such expenses. The advance payment can be made in foreign currency or in Polish zloty. After the trip, the employee must submit a report within 14 days, attaching invoices and receipts for the expenses incurred. If the document cannot be provided, for example, in the event of its loss, the employee provides a statement of the expenses incurred and the reason for their failure to document them.

For the employer, reimbursement / compensation of the employee's business trip expenses is an expense for income tax purposes, but only within the established limits for per daily allowance and accommodation.

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