Learn how to correctly record your travel expenses so that your daily allowances are calculated automatically and reduced based on provided meals. Travel expense reports can be submitted via the web or the mobile app.

Steps

Step 1: Enter Route and Dates

First, define the timeframe and geographic scope of your trip:

• Navigate to Expenses and select the option to create a new per diem.
• Trip Start: Enter the date and exact time your journey began.
• Destination: Specify your destination. If your trip has multiple legs, you can add more destinations via Add Stop.
• Trip End: Enter the date and time your trip officially concluded.
• Click Next.

Step 2: Apply Reductions (Expenses Paid by the Company)

To ensure accurate accounting, meals or overnight stays already covered by the company must be deducted:

• In the Expenses paid by the company section, you will see an overview of your travel days.
• For each day, select which services you received:
  • Breakfast
  • Lunch
  • Dinner
  • Overnight stays
• The system will automatically adjust the payable allowance based on these selections.
• Click Next.

Step 3: Review and Submit

In the final step, you will see a summary of your entries:

• Thoroughly review all data, the route, and the applied reductions.
• If everything is correct, click Save to send the report to your supervisor for approval.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How are per diems calculated?
   Calculation is performed automatically based on your entered travel data (duration) and destination. Factorial uses the legally mandated flat-rate amounts for additional meal expenses and accommodation costs.
    
2. Where does the information for the flat rates come from? 
   All rates stored in the system are regularly updated and based directly on official publications from the Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF). This ensures that your reports always comply with the latest tax requirements in Germany.
    
3. How do meals affect my allowance? 
   If the company provides meals (e.g., breakfast at a hotel or a business dinner), the daily allowance must be reduced. You can easily select these in Step 2 (Expenses paid by the company). Reductions are applied according to legal requirements:
   
   • 20% deduction for breakfast
   • 40% deduction for lunch
   • 40% deduction for dinner (Each based on the full rate for a 24-hour calendar day).
      
4. What happens on trips with multiple stops? You can map complex routes using the Add Stop function. The system identifies the relevant destination for each calendar day and automatically applies the correct BMF country rate.