Per Diem Rates in Australia: A Guide for Business Travel

With per diem rates, the employer pays the employee a fixed amount to cover expenses and incidentals for business travel. “Per diem” means “per day,” so most per diem rates are set as a daily allowance. Per diem rates may be used alongside travel reimbursements, or they may be used independently. A major benefit of per diem rates is that it allows the employee to cover

business travel costs

without having to keep every receipt.

For Australian employees, per diem rates are managed by the ATO (Australian Taxation Office). Per diem allowance rates are calculated based on: Since travel and living costs can vary significantly across Australia, the ATO provides different per diem rates for high-cost country centres compared to regional areas. 

Per diem rates in Australia can be used to cover: 

Per diem rates generally do not cover transportation (i.e. flights, rental cars). If accommodation is provided by the employer, the employee cannot also claim accommodation amounts for per diem rates. 

Per diem rates in Australia vary based on your income and the area you’re traveling to. The salary bands are broken into three tiers: Here’s how per diem rates shake out for Australia’s biggest cities, based on salary tiers.

For other cities in Australia, per diem rates for meals and incidentals remain the same across salary bands, while accommodation rates vary.Here are per diem accommodation rates for some common country centres. See the ATO for

full list of country centres and per diem accommodation rates

.  Per Diem Accommodation Rate for Australian Country Centres:

For

international business travel

, per diem rates are set by income tiers and destination. With overseas travel, accommodation expenses are always accounted for separately. Alternatively, employers can use a business travel

booking platform like TravelPerk

to easily book, manage, and expense employee’s overseas accommodations and other travel expenses. For meals and incidental expenses, countries are split into six cost groups. Here’s how the per diem rates break down. 
Per diem rates for international business travel, Tier 1 Salary:

Per diem rates are an excellent way to reimburse employees for the costs of business travel while reducing administrative burden for employees, management, and finance teams. Since per diem rates won’t cover every expense, you can further reduce administrative burden by managing employee travel through one of the

best business travel agencies in Australia

. With a travel booking platform on your side, your employees can book, expense, and manage travel faster than ever.