Per Diem

Belgium offers per diem allowances for business travelers to cover daily expenses like meals and accommodation. These allowances are set by the Belgian government and vary depending on the destination and duration of the trip.

Domestic business trips

To be eligible for the domestic per diem, the following conditions must be met:

• Business Purpose: The trip must be genuinely related to business activities.
• Duration: The trip must last at least six hours.
• Distance: The trip must be to a location more than 25 kilometers outside the employee’s usual workplace (home or office).
• No Other Compensation: The employee should not be receiving other compensation for meal costs.

The per diem allowance is typically split into a meal allowance and an accommodation allowance. These are set by the government and can be found on the FPS Finance website.

International business trips

Category 1: Short international business trips

• Eligibility: Applies to employees who regularly work in the company (not field-based) and don’t travel abroad daily (e.g., not truck drivers).
• Duration: Full allowance for each full day (between two overnights), half for departure/return days. Full allowance if departure and return are on the same day and the trip is at least 10 hours.
• Location: Allowance amount is based on the location of the last overnight stay if multiple countries are visited.
• Overnight Allowance: Can be added if accommodation costs are not paid by the employer and there are no free accommodation arrangements.
• Deductions: Reductions apply if meals are provided by the employer/third party (35% of daily allowance for lunch, 45% for dinner). Meal voucher amounts are also deducted. Combining receipts with a per diem claim for the same expenses is prohibited.
• Allowance Amounts: Employers can choose a lump sum (€37.18, not country-specific) or use the government-set maximums (which vary by country—see table below).

Category 2: Long international business trips

• Different (usually higher) maximum daily allowance rates apply for trips >30 days.
• Allowances are limited to 24 months and cease if the employee relocates permanently to the foreign location.

VAT

Belgium has three distinct VAT rates:

• Standard rate: 21% (R03)
• Intermediate rate: 12% (R02)
• Reduced rate: 6% (R01)

For some exceptional goods and services, the zero rate applies (R00).
For further information on the different rates and when they apply, consult Royal Decree No 20.

Businesses are exempt from charging VAT if:

• They perform only exempted activities (for example socio-cultural, financial and medical activities), or
• Are registered under the VAT exemption scheme for small businesses.

The most common goods and services with VAT-exempt status are:

• Non-aesthetic medical activities (i.e. doctors, paramedical healthcare providers, midwives, nurses, etc.)
• Specific socio-cultural activities
• Hospital care and medical assistance; transport of sick or injured persons using vehicles that are specially equipped for this purpose; care for the elderly; youth welfare; care for the disabled
• Health insurance fund activities
• Educational activities
• Loan of books, newspapers and other cultural objects (libraries)
• Organizing exhibitions, concerts and theatre, ballet and film performances
• Sale, rental and leasing of immoveable property
• Insurance and financial activity

The full list of exemptions can be found here.

You must keep invoices, copies thereof, accounting books and other documents for 10 years. For accounting books, this period starts from 1 January of the year following the year in which they were closed. For invoices and other documents, it starts from 1 January of the year following the date of issue of the documents.

For full VAT accounting obligations, check the FPS Finance website.

Mileage

Employers can either reimburse employees for the actual costs incurred for operating personal vehicles for work purposes or choose to reimburse the employee based on a fixed amount per driven kilometre (the mileage rate).

The mileage rate is indexed quarterly and set out by the Belgian government. Updates are released via the Belgian Official Gazette. See the list of recent mileage rates below.

There is also a mileage rate for bicycles used as transportation to and from work. The current commute rate is €0,36 per kilometer (to an annual maximum of €3610).

Paperless

Starting January 1, 2026, electronic invoicing will be compulsory for nearly all transactions between Belgian enterprises liable to VAT (B2B).

For complete information on e-invoicing procedures, check the FPS Finance website.