Employee business travel in Poland: per diem and expenses

Settle an employee’s domestic business trip using its duration, provided meals, expense documents and the employer’s applicable rules. The regulation sets a basic daily allowance of PLN 45. That is only part of the calculation: travel, accommodation and other justified costs are assessed separately, followed by deduction of any advance already paid.

Legal position checked on 13 November 2026. The rates and example below concern an employee travelling within Poland under the regulation’s rules. First establish whether those are the rules your company applies.

Use the Poland domestic per diem calculator to check full and partial days and deduct supplied meals.

Is every employee journey a business trip?

A business trip involves performing a task on the employer’s instructions outside the locality of its registered office or the employee’s permanent workplace. The workplace specified in the employment contract and the journey’s actual purpose matter. Do not automatically treat an ordinary commute as business travel.

The Ministry of Family, Labour and Social Policy explains why the agreed workplace matters. For an office employee based in one city, visiting a client elsewhere may qualify. For someone working across a defined geographical area, the contract and duties require closer examination.

Before departure, record the purpose, destination, dates and approved means of transport. Adding a hotel receipt afterwards is not enough to explain the journey. The documents should show why the employee travelled and who approved the related costs.

Which rules apply to a private sp. z o.o.?

Article 77⁵ of the Labour Code allows an employer outside the public sector to set travel reimbursement conditions in a collective agreement, remuneration policy or, where appropriate, employment contract. The daily allowance for domestic or foreign travel cannot be lower than the public-sector domestic daily rate.

If the relevant documents do not specify those conditions, the business travel regulation applies accordingly. An online rate table therefore does not replace reviewing the company’s policy. Higher benefits offered by the employer also require separate assessment of income tax and social insurance consequences.

Do not automatically extend employee rules to a shareholder or board member who is not an employee. The basis for their journey and reimbursement must follow their relationship with the company. Start with the documents governing board remuneration and appointment where that is the relevant situation.

How do you calculate the domestic daily allowance?

Under section 7 of the regulation, count the time from departure until return after completing the task. Do not count only meeting hours or simply the number of calendar dates touched by the trip.

The boundaries matter. A trip lasting exactly 12 hours gives half the daily allowance. A 32-hour trip consists of one full day and another 8 hours, giving PLN 67.50 before reductions. A 33-hour trip would give PLN 90.

No allowance is due, among other cases, where free meals are provided for the entire day or for time spent on assignment in the employee’s place of permanent or temporary residence. Do not calculate it from hotel nights alone. Check the regulation’s other special conditions as well.

How do breakfast, lunch and dinner reduce it?

A provided breakfast reduces the allowance by 25% of the full daily rate, or PLN 11.25. Lunch reduces it by 50%, or PLN 22.50, and dinner by 25%, or PLN 11.25. Breakfast included in a hotel booking also counts.

Ask the employee to identify meals supplied by the hotel, training organiser or business partner. An invoice without a separate meal line does not prove that no food was provided. Conversely, a meal bought independently by the employee is not the same as a free meal provided during the trip.

For short trips, check whether the calculated reductions exceed the allowance. A negative spreadsheet result does not by itself create a debt owed by the employee. Resolve unusual cases under the applicable employment rules instead of mechanically copying the formula from an earlier journey.

How should accommodation and transport be settled?

Under the regulation, reimbursement of documented hotel costs is limited to twenty times the daily allowance, or PLN 900 per hotel night. The employer may approve a higher documented cost in a justified case. Keep the approval and explanation available to whoever reviews the expense statement.

Where no free accommodation was provided and no receipt is submitted, the flat accommodation allowance is 150% of the daily rate, or PLN 67.50. Conditions apply, including a stay of at least six hours between 21:00 and 07:00. It cannot be used to claim again for accommodation already paid by the company or for time spent travelling.

For a train journey, use the ticket or invoice and the approved transport arrangement. A private car requires separate checks of permission, distance and the applicable mileage rate. A fuel receipt is not automatically the correct basis for reimbursing that journey.

The local transport allowance is 20% of the daily rate, or PLN 9 for each commenced day, where the conditions are met. It is unavailable if the employee incurs no such costs. Alternatively, the employer may approve reimbursement of documented local travel on request. Do not claim both methods for the same expense.

Example: a 32-hour trip with a PLN 500 advance

An employee leaves at 08:00 on Monday and returns at 16:00 on Tuesday. The company applies the regulation’s rules. The hotel provided one breakfast, with no other free meals. The employee paid the train and hotel costs and incurred no local transport costs.

This is an illustrative calculation, not a customer case. If the company had paid the hotel directly, it would not reimburse that amount to the employee again. The total cost of the trip and the amount still owed to the employee are different totals.

Which documents are needed after the trip?

Section 5 of the regulation requires the employee to submit the expense settlement within 14 days of returning. Supporting documents are required for expenses other than daily and flat-rate allowances. If a document cannot be supplied, the employee provides a written statement describing the expense and why evidence is unavailable.

A practical file contains the travel instruction, actual departure and return times, information about meals, tickets, hotel invoice, other approved costs and details of the advance. Mark which items the company paid directly and which the employee paid personally.

A written statement does not automatically replace an invoice for input VAT deduction. The accountant separately assesses the expense, input VAT and employee balance. Approval by the employee’s manager does not settle every tax question.

How can you reduce corrections and missing information?

Use one form with clear fields for duration, meals and who paid each expense. Before sending it to the accountant, check the document total, reductions and advance. The approver should be able to see explanations for unusual costs alongside the receipts.

Include travel in the total cost of employing someone, rather than just the hotel budget. Comparing planned and actual costs is useful, but should not involve changing reimbursement rules after the employee returns.

The Norman accounting page for Polish companies describes the available solution. Invoices and payments are part of the evidence; journey times, provided meals and expense approvals still need to come from the people involved in the trip.