Travel Expense Reimbursement for Self-Employed: The Complete Guide 2025

You drive to a client, visit a trade fair, or attend a training course - business trips are part of everyday life for self-employed people. And every trip incurs costs: travel, accommodation, meals. The good news: You can deduct all of this as business expenses and save on taxes.

In this article, I'll show you how to properly reimburse your travel expenses, which allowances apply in 2025, and which mistakes you should definitely avoid.

What Counts as a Business Trip?

Not every trip automatically qualifies as a business trip. The tax office only recognizes travel expenses if the following conditions are met:

• The trip has a purely professional purpose (client meeting, trade fair, training, project work)
• You are outside your regular place of work and your home
• The trip lasts a maximum of three months at the same location (after that it becomes a regular workplace)

Typical examples of recognized business trips include on-site client visits, trade fair and conference attendance, training courses and seminars, project work at the client's site, and acquisition meetings.

Important: Private and business portions of a trip must be strictly separated. If you add a private weekend to a client meeting, you must divide the costs accordingly.

The Four Cost Categories of Travel Expense Reimbursement

The tax office distinguishes four categories for travel expenses - each with its own rules:

Let's go through each category in detail.

1. Billing Travel Costs Correctly

For travel costs, you have several options - depending on how you travel.

With Your Private Car

Here you can choose between two methods:

Kilometer flat rate (simple):

• Car: €0.30 per kilometer driven
• Motorcycle/scooter/e-bike (from 25 km/h): €0.20 per kilometer

Example: You drive 200 km to the client and back. That's 200 × €0.30 = €60 business expense.

Actual costs (more complex, but often higher):

You determine the actual cost per kilometer based on all vehicle costs (fuel, insurance, maintenance, depreciation) and a logbook. This is especially worthwhile for expensive vehicles or high fuel costs.

With a Company Car

If the vehicle belongs to business assets (more than 50% business use), the costs are already recorded as business expenses. You cannot deduct additional travel costs here - but you also have to tax private use (1% rule or logbook).

With Public Transportation

For train, bus, plane, or taxi, you deduct the actual costs - with receipt. The kilometer flat rate does not apply here.

Tip: Keep all tickets and receipts. No receipt, no business expense.

2. Meal Allowances: The 2025 Flat Rates

This is particularly interesting for self-employed people: You can claim flat rates for meals while traveling - without any receipts. The tax office assumes that you spend more on food while traveling than at home.

Flat Rates for Domestic Travel

These flat rates have remained unchanged since 2020. The increase to €16/32 planned in the Growth Opportunities Act was unfortunately not implemented.

Example Calculation: 3-Day Business Trip

You travel to the client on Monday, work there Tuesday and Wednesday, and return Wednesday evening.

• Monday (arrival day): €14
• Tuesday (full day): €28
• Wednesday (departure day): €14
• Total: €56 meal allowance

You can deduct these €56 as business expenses - without a single restaurant receipt.

Reduction for Provided Meals

If you receive provided meals (e.g., breakfast at the hotel, business dinner), you must reduce the flat rate:

The reduction is always calculated from the daily flat rate (€28) - even on arrival and departure days.

Example: Your hotel in Berlin includes breakfast. Instead of €28, you can only claim €28 - €5.60 = €22.40.

Flat Rates for International Travel

Different flat rates apply abroad - depending on the country and sometimes even the city. Here's an excerpt of the most important destinations (as of 2025):

The complete list can be found in the BMF letter dated December 2, 2024 on the Federal Ministry of Finance website.

3. Billing Accommodation Costs

For accommodation, as a self-employed person, you claim the actual costs - with receipt. There is no accommodation flat rate for entrepreneurs.

What you can deduct:

• Hotel room
• Vacation apartment
• Airbnb
• Campsite

What you must consider:

• The costs must be reasonable - the tax office will question a 5-star hotel
• Breakfast must be shown separately or deducted from the meal allowance
• Private accommodation (e.g., with friends) is not deductible

Tip: Always ask the hotel for an invoice with separate itemization of accommodation and breakfast. This makes billing easier.

4. Don't Forget Incidental Travel Costs

In addition to the major items, small costs often accumulate on business trips. You can deduct these incidental travel costs in full:

• Parking fees
• Toll fees
• Luggage storage
• Phone and internet costs (business portion)
• Admission fees for professional events
• Tips (with internal receipt)
• Cleaning costs for work clothes
• Travel insurance

Not deductible are private costs such as wellness, minibar, pay TV, or private phone calls.

How to Create a Correct Travel Expense Report

For each business trip, you should create a travel expense report. This contains:

Mandatory information:

• Your name and address
• Destination and purpose of trip
• Date and time (departure and arrival)
• Kilometers driven (for car use)
• Breakdown of all costs by category
• Total sum of costs

Attached receipts:

• Hotel invoices
• Tickets
• Fuel receipts (for actual costs)
• Parking tickets
• Other receipts

Internal Receipts for Missing Receipts

Sometimes there's no receipt - for example, for tips or a parking meter. In this case, you may create an internal receipt. This must contain:

• Date of expense
• Type of expense
• Amount
• Reason why no external receipt exists
• Your signature

The tax office accepts internal receipts as long as they are plausible and don't become excessive.

Billing Travel Expenses to the Client

If your client reimburses travel expenses, you have three options:

Option 1: Include flat rate

You calculate the expected travel costs into your day rate. The client pays €900 instead of €800, for example, and you take care of everything.

Advantage: Less paperwork.

Option 2: Show travel costs separately

You bill the actual travel costs as an ancillary service on the invoice - with the same VAT rate as your main service.

Example on the invoice:

• Consulting service: €800.00 net
• Travel costs (200 km × €0.30): €60.00 net
• Accommodation: €120.00 net
• Meal allowance: €28.00 net

Option 3: Pass-through items

With this variant, you only advance the costs and pass them on 1:1 to the client - without your own VAT. However, this only works under certain conditions (invoice must be addressed to the client).

Important: If the client reimburses your travel expenses, they are still business income. You tax them as revenue and simultaneously deduct them as business expenses - ultimately a zero-sum game.

Common Mistakes in Travel Expense Reporting

Mistake 1: Mixing private and business travel

The tax office checks carefully whether a trip was really business-related. If you extend a business trip with a private weekend, you must divide the costs proportionally.

Mistake 2: Not keeping receipts

All receipts must be kept for 10 years. No receipt, no business expense - except for flat rates. More on GoBD-compliant archiving.

Mistake 3: Claiming excessive costs

You must be able to justify the 5-star hotel or first-class flights to the tax office. Stay with reasonable costs.

Mistake 4: Exceeding the 3-month deadline

Meal allowances can only be claimed for a maximum of three months at the same location. After that, the location is considered a regular workplace.

Mistake 5: Forgetting reductions for provided meals

If you're invited to a business dinner or the hotel offers breakfast, you must reduce the flat rate accordingly.

Checklist: Travel Expense Report

Before the trip:

• Document the purpose of the trip (email, appointment, booking confirmation)
• Plan route and note kilometers

During the trip:

• Collect all receipts
• Note times (departure/arrival)
• Note provided meals

After the trip:

• Create travel expense report
• Sort and file receipts (or archive digitally)
• Book business expense
• Optional: Bill the client for costs

Conclusion: Consistently Billing Travel Expenses Pays Off

As a self-employed person, you can save considerable taxes with proper travel expense reporting. The meal allowances alone bring in €56 for a 3-day trip - without any receipts. Add travel costs, accommodation, and incidental costs.

The key is documentation: Note times, collect receipts, and create a report promptly after each trip. This way you won't forget anything and have all documents ready for an audit.

And if you bill your travel expenses to a client, don't forget: These costs belong on the invoice - as an ancillary service or calculated into the day rate. With Clever Invoice you create such invoices in seconds - including all items for travel, accommodation, and meals.

Start now: Create your free account and bill your next business trip directly to the client. Simple, fast, and legally compliant.