Below-standard per diem? Declare it, then deduct the full rate

Employees whose employer reimburses less than the tax-free standard amount must take up the amount received in the tax returnSkatteverket and may then deduct the full standard amount at the business-travel itemSkatteverket. That completes the three cases: at the standard amount, nothing is declared and no deduction is made; above it, the excess is taxed as salary.

The mechanics favour the employee. The reimbursement received is reported as incomeSkatteverket, and the full schablonbelopp is deducted at the tjänsteresor itemSkatteverket (point 2.2 in the return), so the net effect is a tax-free top-up to the standard level. The rule covers daily allowances and mileage reimbursement (traktamente and bilersättning) paid below the tax-free standard amounts. On the employer side, the silent set-off remains: where the reimbursement matches the standard amount or is lower, the employer settles it with a tick on the employer return at individual level, and the employee then reports nothing and deducts nothing. The return-side mechanics are therefore: report what was received, deduct the full standard amount.

The standard amounts set the reference. A tax-free daily allowance requires a business trip with at least one overnight stay to a place outside the usual place of work, more than 50 kilometres from both the usual workplace and the home. For domestic travel the full-day standard is 300 kronor for income year 2026 (290 kronor for 2025); foreign travel uses per-country normal amounts, and employer-paid meals reduce the tax-free allowance. Trips to the same place lasting more than three months in a row cut the allowance to 70 per cent of the maximum, while an employee with no reimbursement at all on such a long trip deducts 30 per cent of the maximum at the same return item.

Alongside this, other work-expense reimbursements, such as for telephone calls, are reported at point 1.2 with deductions for proven expenses at point 2.4, but only for costs above 5,000 kronor. Temporary outlays made on the employer's behalf, where the expense is the company's, stay out of the return entirely.

Payroll staff and advisers should update checklists and return instructions for the third case: at the standard, nothing is declared; above it, the excess is salary; below it, the employee declares the amount received and deducts the full standard amount for business travelSkatteverket.

Legal basis: 12 kap. inkomstskattelagen (1999:1229) on deductions for increased living costs; Skatteverket's guidance on kostnadsersättning and traktamente.