Per Diems Guide: Compleat Expenses – iCompleat - Help Center

Don't have Compleat Expenses yet?

Per Diems are used by many businesses as a method of reimbursing their employees, alongside traditional methods of claiming expenses or, in some cases, as an alternative to a traditional expense.

In this guide, we outline the different ways that Per Diems are used and how they correlate to the Per Diem versions that are provided in Compleat Expenses.

What are Per Diems?

Per diem is a Latin word that means per day or for each day. In relation to business expenses, a Per diem is a daily allowance that is paid to employees for accommodation, meals, tips, taxi, and other incidental expenses such as dry cleaning, laundry, phone use, Wi-Fi charges, and when an employee travels for business.

It is the fixed amount of money that each employee can claim per day on a business trip, attending work-related educational events and conferences, and when traveling away from their main office for business.

This can include working at a location for the same company that is different from the location where the employee usually works.

An employer will normally set Per Diem rates depending on location, length of trip, and any rate guidelines given by the local government/tax office.

Benefits of Per Diems

Companies that use a per diem rate save employees the time that they would otherwise invest in keeping track of expenses, saving receipts, and filling out expense reports upon return from business travel.

Employees are allowed to keep the money that they don’t spend while travelling, which can encourage thrift reduce overspending.

The employer benefits because it doesn't have to invest staff time in reviewing expenses and vetting amounts of money spent, alongside the employee time that is invested at work in doing all of the reporting. The employer has essentially budgeted the amount of money it is willing to spend on employee travel, and the employees were notified before they made purchases.

The per diem process can result in substantial savings over the employer paying actual employee expenses. It works well when the employer has done its homework, so the employee's expenses are sufficiently covered.

How does Compleat Expensescater for Per Diems?

Compleat Expenses caters for 3 types of Per diem. This ranges from a simple allowance for a category type, to a more complex arrangement which was put in place to cater for the German market.

Brief overview of how to set up Per Diems for use

In the Company profile, the Administrator can choose Per Diem Version 1,2 or 3 on the Per Diem tab.

They then set up the Per Diem rates in the Administration Menu Per Diem rate tab.

Finally, they set up a category as a Per Diem category in the Category tab.

The Per Diem category is flexible enough to allow it to be set up as a Travel category in addition to Per Diems (in which case, the From and To boxes will be present) but not the Mileage category. In effect this allows a Per Diem to also be used as an alternative travel category allowing the company to record a pence per travel unit.

Per Diem Version 1

Per Diem Version 1 is the simplest type of Per Diem and is the default option for all companies.

The Administrator can set up the rate description and default currency (For example: Lunch Allowance UK £5, Lunch Allowance non UK 8 €). When a claimant selects the Per Diem category, they will be able to add the number of Per Diem Units and choose the applicable Per Diem rate.

The example below shows a UK Subsistence allowance of £10 per instance. The default currency is picked up.

Per Diem Version 2

Per Diem Version 2 is also a simple category, with the addition of being able to add a country. Whereas Per Diem Version 1 defaults to the base country of the company, Version 2 allows the company to set Per Diems for specific countries.

The administrator can now set up a specific rate (For example: Subsistence based on the country the claimant was in at the time of claiming).

When the claimant selects the Per Diem category, they are now also asked for the Country visited and only the rates set up for that country will be available.

Per Diem Version 3

The final version of Per Diem that Compleat Expenses caters for is Version 3. There are 2 types of Version 3 Per Diem: 24 hours and Mid 12.

Version 3 introduces several new features above version 1 and 2. Durations can be set up (up to 10), one of which will be a default of above 24 hours.

Both versions also cater for Meal Deductions, allowing the administrator to set rates for Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner against each per diem duration, which are deductible from the total.

Both versions also have a Flat rate override which when activated will negate the need to use a duration period and therefore pay a flat rate which does not depend on how long the claimant was visiting the country for.

24 hours

24 hours allows the Administrator to set up a number of durations, one of which will always be above 24 hours (For example: 3 durations set up 00:00 – 12:00, 12:01 – 23:59 and above 24 hours).

Now when a claimant adds the Per Diem category they are presented with the following options:

The claimant chooses the Country Cisited (1) and adds the Start Time and End Time (2) of the visit.

If any meals have been taken (and meal deductions is enabled) then the number of each type of meal are recorded in the appropriate box (3).

These are deducted from the total amount. Clicking Calculate Amount gives the claimant the Total to be claimed for that country and duration.

If Flat rate is enabled against the rate, the claimant will still record the start and end time of the visit but will be paid a flat rate regardless.

When using the Flat Rate, there should not be any other Per Diems active for that country.

If meal deductions are not enabled, the claimant can still record the number of meals, but these will not be deducted from the total amount.

Mid 12

Due to a change in German legislation in April 2014, new rules pertaining to Per Diems were introduced. The Mid 12 option was developed to cater for this. The new rules required:

When meal deductions were used, the total of the per diem should not fall below Zero.
On multiple day trips, the day of departure and arrival are always paid at a flat rate, regardless of how many hours the claimant is out of the office on these days. Meal deductions still apply to these days.

When the Administrator chooses the Mid 12 option in the Per Diem area, they can now set an option to Enable Flat rates for Arrival and Departure. When adding the Per Diem Rate, the Administrator is then given the option to save the rate as an Arrival flat rate, Departure flat rate or a Duration.

When a claimant goes to add a Per Diem category, they are presented with the same screen as the 24-hour option:

The claimant chooses a Country visited and adds the dates and time and any meals if applicable.

Working example

The following rates have been set up as a working example to illustrate the calculations:

Note: These rates are examples only. For correct current rates, please check with your regional Government.

Scenario 1: GM1

Travel begins on 16/05/2024 at 9:00 and ends on 16/05/2024 at 13:00.

The amount is calculated at €0 as it uses rate GM1 from our table (0-12 hours).

Scenario 2: GM2

Travel begins on 17/05/2024 at 9:00 and ends on 17/05/2024 at 23:00.

The amount is calculated at €20 as it uses rate GM3 from our table (12-24 hours).

Scenario 3: GM2 & GM5

Travel begins on 16/05/2024 at 9:00 and ends on 18/05/2024 at 9:00.

The amount is calculated at €54 as it uses rate GM2 and GM5 from our table (arrival and departure).

Scenario 4: GM2, GM4, & GM5

Travel begins on 12/05/2024 at 9:00 and ends on 17/05/2024 at 9:00.

The amount is calculated at €144 as it uses rate GM2, GM5 and GM4 from our table (arrival, departure and 3 x over 24-hour rate).

Reports

A Per Diem Report is available as Standard which gives details of the claims using a Per Diem category.

The Per Diem fields are also available in the Custom Reporting tool.