Travel Per Diem Calculator

Destination or rate source:

Label the trip with the location or rate lookup used by finance.

Departure date:

Use the first travel-status date for first-day proration.

Return date:

The calculator treats the date range as inclusive.

Policy profile:

Start with a federal-style 75% travel-day profile or a company percentage policy.

Lodging basis:

Lodging nights default to the number of overnights in the date range.

Lodging rate:

Enter the lodging amount per reimbursable night.

{{ currency_symbol }} / night

Actual lodging receipts:

Use the lodging total from receipts for the whole trip.

M&IE rate basis:

Changing the tier fills the meal deduction breakdown; use Custom for nonstandard rates.

M&IE rate:

Use the full daily M&IE amount for the destination.

{{ currency_symbol }} / day

First and last day M&IE: {{ first_last_percent }}%

Set the M&IE percentage for departure and return calendar days.

Policy rate multiplier: {{ policy_multiplier_percent }}%

Applies to lodging caps, M&IE, and meal deduction components.

Meal deduction scope:

Choose how provided meals should affect the daily M&IE estimate.

Provided meals:

Examples: 2026-06-09: breakfast or day 3: lunch, dinner.

Check inputs

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Currency symbol:

Use the symbol or code finance expects in the worksheet.

Breakfast deduction:

Custom meal values are useful for non-CONUS or employer-specific tables.

Lunch deduction:

Use the policy meal component for lunch or midday meals.

Dinner deduction:

Use the policy meal component for dinner or evening meals.

Incidentals component:

This does not add a separate allowance; it protects the incidentals portion from meal deductions.

Lodging nights override:

Blank keeps the automatic overnight count.

nights

Display rounding:

Choose cents, nickel, tenth, or whole-unit display rounding.

Preserve incidentals after meal deductions

Line item	Amount	Basis	Copy
{{ row.item }}	{{ row.amount }}	{{ row.basis }}

Date	Day type	M&IE	Meal deduction	Lodging	Day total	Copy
{{ row.dateLabel }}	{{ row.dayType }}	{{ formatMoney(row.netMie) }}	{{ formatMoney(row.mealDeduction) }}	{{ formatMoney(row.lodging) }}	{{ formatMoney(row.total) }}

Check	Status	Detail	Copy
{{ row.check }}	{{ row.status }}	{{ row.detail }}

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A travel per diem is a daily allowance method for trips away from a normal work location. Instead of approving every meal receipt and small travel expense one line at a time, an employer, agency, contract, or tax rule can use published or policy-specific rates. The allowance is still not a single flat number, because lodging, meals and incidental expenses, travel days, provided meals, caps, and receipts follow different rules.

The main split is lodging versus meals and incidental expenses, usually written as M&IE. Lodging is tied to nights away and may be reimbursed as a nightly cap, actual receipts up to a cap, actual receipts without a cap, or not at all. M&IE is tied to calendar days in travel status. A Monday-to-Friday trip normally has five M&IE days but four lodging nights, so using the same count for both can move the total in the wrong direction.

Rate source matters because different authorities answer different questions. U.S. federal CONUS travel uses General Services Administration rates. Alaska, Hawaii, U.S. territories, and other non-foreign areas use Defense Travel Management Office rates. Foreign areas use Department of State rates. Private employers, nonprofits, and contractors may copy those structures, pay a percentage of them, or use their own travel policy. A per diem worksheet is strongest when it keeps the rate source visible with the trip dates and destination.

M&IE: Meals and incidental expenses, separate from lodging and usually broken into breakfast, lunch, dinner, and incidentals components.
Travel day: A departure, return, or same-day travel date that may receive less than a full M&IE allowance.
Lodging cap: A nightly lodging ceiling used to limit or compare reimbursable hotel costs.
Provided meal: A breakfast, lunch, or dinner furnished by an event, host, employer, or travel provider that may reduce M&IE.

Per diem worksheets need separate day counts for M&IE, lodging, and provided-meal deductions.

First and last travel days often receive a reduced M&IE amount. The federal-style rule pays 75 percent of the applicable M&IE rate on departure and return days, with full days in the middle at 100 percent. Some company policies pay full M&IE on every day, use a different percentage, or apply a rate multiplier across the whole trip. Those choices can be reasonable only when they match the policy being modeled.

Provided meals are another common source of review questions. A conference breakfast, hosted lunch, or agency dinner may reduce the meal portion for that date, but policies can treat complimentary hotel meals, common-carrier meals, registration-fee meals, and missed meals differently. A clean calculation keeps the date and meal type visible so the reviewer can decide whether the deduction belongs there.

A per diem estimate is not an approval, tax ruling, or receipt audit. It is a structured way to show how trip dates, rates, lodging rules, meal deductions, and policy exceptions combine. The final claim may still need travel authorization, business purpose, lodging receipts, rate-source evidence, taxable-benefit review, or agency approval.

How to Use This Tool:

Enter the trip calendar first, then choose the policy assumptions that match the worksheet or reimbursement rule you need to document.

Enter Destination or rate source, Departure date, and Return date. The date range is inclusive, so both dates count as travel-status days.
Choose Policy profile. Federal-style starts with 75% first and last day M&IE, while the company profiles begin with full-rate or percentage-rate assumptions.
Select Lodging basis. Use per-night allowance for a fixed nightly amount, actual capped when receipts are limited by the cap, actual uncapped when approved receipts are included without clipping, or none when lodging is not reimbursed.
Set the M&IE rate basis. The CONUS tiers fill the $68, $74, $80, $86, or $92 M&IE table and its breakfast, lunch, dinner, and incidentals components. Use Custom for foreign, non-CONUS, or employer-specific rates.
Review First and last day M&IE, Policy rate multiplier, and Meal deduction scope. These fields decide travel-day proration, reduced-rate policies, and whether provided meals reduce all days, full days only, or no days.
List Provided meals one line per day using a trip date or day number followed by meals, such as 2026-06-09: breakfast or day 3: lunch, dinner.
Open Advanced for currency symbol, custom meal components, lodging nights override, display rounding, and the Preserve incidentals after meal deductions switch.

If the summary says Check inputs, fix the date range, rates, currency symbol, or lodging-night override first. If provided-meal text does not parse, open Policy Checks and correct the line it names before relying on the allowance ledger.

Interpreting Results:

Estimated reimbursable total combines net M&IE and lodging reimbursement under the selected assumptions. Gross M&IE before meal deductions shows the travel-day percentage and policy multiplier before provided meals are removed. Net M&IE allowance is the amount left after recognized meal deductions and any incidentals floor.

Travel per diem result areas and review cues
Result area	What it answers	Review cue
Allowance Ledger	Total per diem, gross M&IE, meal deductions, net M&IE, lodging reimbursement, and cap reference.	Confirm the rate source, multiplier, lodging basis, and cap treatment before using the headline total.
Daily Schedule	Per-date day type, net M&IE, meal deduction, lodging amount, and day total.	Check that departure and return days show the expected percentage and that lodging appears only on reimbursable nights.
Policy Checks	Travel-day proration status, meal component table, meal parsing, lodging cap status, and documentation reminders.	Resolve review badges before submitting the worksheet or attaching exports to an expense packet.
Per Diem Curve	A daily chart of net M&IE, lodging, and meal deductions across the trip.	Use jumps or gaps to find a missing lodging night, wrong meal date, or unexpected cap effect.
JSON	A structured copy of dates, policy assumptions, rates, lodging, totals, daily schedule, and warnings.	Use it for audit notes or downstream records after the visible tables look right.

A clean total does not prove eligibility. The worksheet cannot know whether the trip was authorized, whether a rate was current for the travel date, whether a meal exception applies, or whether actual lodging above a cap was approved. Keep the source rate, business purpose, travel authorization, lodging receipt rules, and exception notes with the output.

Technical Details:

Per diem math uses inclusive calendar days for M&IE and overnight counts for lodging. The date difference from departure through return creates the travel-day count. Default lodging nights are one fewer than travel days, unless an override is entered for an itinerary where hotel nights do not match the trip calendar.

The M&IE rate is multiplied by the policy rate multiplier, then by the day percentage. Departure, return, and same-day trips use the first/last-day percentage. Full middle days use 100 percent. Meal components are also multiplied by the policy multiplier before deductions are applied, which keeps a 90 percent policy consistent across the allowance and the meal deduction table.

Formula Core:

\begin{array}{lcl} travel days & = & return date - departure date + 1 \\ lodging nights & = & travel days - 1, unless overridden \\ gross daily M&IE & = & M&IE rate \times policy multiplier \times day percentage \\ net daily M&IE & = & max (incidentals floor, gross daily M&IE - meal deductions) \\ total per diem & = & \sum_{d}^{n} net daily M&IE + lodging reimbursement \end{array}

Built-in CONUS M&IE tiers and meal components
M&IE tier	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner	Incidentals	75% travel day
$68	$16	$19	$28	$5	$51.00
$74	$18	$20	$31	$5	$55.50
$80	$20	$22	$33	$5	$60.00
$86	$22	$23	$36	$5	$64.50
$92	$23	$26	$38	$5	$69.00

Meal deductions depend on both the parsed meal markers and the selected deduction scope. The all-days setting allows deductions on departure, full, return, and same-day travel dates. The full-days-only setting ignores meal markers on travel days. The none setting tracks meal markers without reducing M&IE. When incidentals are preserved, the incidentals component multiplied by the day percentage acts as the floor for net daily M&IE.

Lodging basis choices and reimbursement effects
Lodging basis	Calculation effect	Review risk
Per-night allowance	Adjusted lodging rate multiplied by reimbursable lodging nights.	Does not compare the allowance with actual hotel receipts.
Actual capped	Actual lodging receipts are limited to the lodging cap reference.	Receipts above the cap are excluded from the estimate.
Actual uncapped	Actual lodging receipts are included without clipping to the cap reference.	Amounts above the normal cap may need explicit approval.
None	No lodging reimbursement is included.	Use only when lodging is supplied, not claimed, or outside the worksheet scope.

Provided-meal notes are parsed one line at a time. A valid line needs a date or day number, a colon, and at least one recognized meal name. Labels such as day 2: breakfast, 2026-06-10: lunch, dinner, and 3: supper can be matched. Lines outside the trip range, lines without a colon, and lines that do not name breakfast, lunch, or dinner are reported in Policy Checks.

Display rounding affects visible and exported money values. The underlying arithmetic keeps ordinary numeric precision, then formats amounts to the selected increment. The currency symbol is only a label, so entering a different symbol does not perform exchange-rate conversion.

Accuracy And Privacy Notes:

The estimate is calculated from the values on the page. It does not look up official destination rates, verify a travel order, submit receipts, decide tax treatment, or approve lodging above a cap.

Use the current rate source required by the employer, agency, contract, or tax rule for the exact trip dates and destination.
Check same-day trips against the policy's duration rules. A date-only worksheet cannot tell whether travel exceeded a 12-hour or overnight threshold.
Review provided meals carefully when meals are complimentary, bundled in a registration fee, furnished by a common carrier, missed for business reasons, or covered by an exception.
Keep lodging receipts and authorization notes with the output when actual capped or actual uncapped lodging is selected.
No receipt upload is required for the calculation. Exported tables, chart images, and JSON are worksheets, not approval records.

Advanced Tips:

Use Lodging nights override only when the hotel stay differs from travel days minus one, such as split travel, an overnight flight, or lodging provided for part of the trip.
Set Policy rate multiplier before entering custom meal components when a company policy pays a percentage of the published rate.
Use Meal deduction scope to match the policy, not the trip story. Some policies deduct provided meals on travel days; others apply deductions only on full M&IE days.
Leave Preserve incidentals after meal deductions on when the policy protects incidentals from meal deductions. Turn it off only when deductions can reduce daily M&IE below the incidentals amount.
Use Per Diem Curve to scan for one-day anomalies before exporting. A sudden drop often points to a provided meal, missing lodging night, or capped receipt.

Worked Examples:

Five-day federal-style project visit:

A Monday-to-Friday trip has five travel days and four default lodging nights. With the $92 M&IE tier, 75% first and last days, and no multiplier, gross M&IE is $414: two travel days at $69 and three full days at $92.

Provided meals on full days:

Breakfast on day 2 and lunch plus dinner on day 3 deduct $23, $26, and $38 from the $92 tier. Net M&IE becomes $327 before lodging when incidentals are preserved and meal deductions apply on all days.

Capped lodging receipt:

Four nights at a $190 lodging cap create a $760 cap reference. In actual capped mode, $820 of lodging receipts is clipped to $760, and Policy Checks reports $60 above the cap as excluded from the estimate.

Meal line that needs review:

A line such as day 8: dinner on a five-day trip does not match the trip calendar. The meal is not applied until the date or day number is corrected.

FAQ:

Does the calculator look up official per diem rates?

No. Enter the rate source and amounts required by the policy you are modeling. The destination or rate-source label stays with the output so the worksheet remains traceable.

Why are lodging nights fewer than travel days?

A normal overnight trip has one fewer lodging night than inclusive travel days. Use the lodging nights override when the hotel stay does not match the date range.

Can I model non-CONUS or company meal tables?

Yes. Choose Custom and enter the full M&IE rate plus breakfast, lunch, dinner, and incidentals components from the policy source you need to follow.

Do provided meals always reduce M&IE?

No. Policies differ by meal source, travel day, registration fee, common-carrier meal, hotel breakfast, and approved exceptions. Use meal deduction scope and Policy Checks to model the rule you intend to document.

Can provided meals reduce M&IE below incidentals?

Only when Preserve incidentals after meal deductions is off. When it is on, the incidentals component is the minimum daily M&IE after meal deductions.

Glossary:

CONUS: Continental United States. The built-in M&IE tiers mirror the visible CONUS tier structure used by the calculator.
M&IE: Meals and incidental expenses, separate from lodging reimbursement.
Incidentals: Small travel expenses such as certain tips or service fees, represented here as a component that can be preserved after meal deductions.
Policy multiplier: A percentage applied to entered lodging caps, M&IE rates, meal components, and incidentals before totals are calculated.
Lodging cap reference: The lodging-rate ceiling implied by the selected nightly rate, policy multiplier, and reimbursable nights.
Meal deduction scope: The setting that controls whether provided meals reduce all travel days, only full M&IE days, or none of the M&IE allowance.

References:

Per diem rates, U.S. General Services Administration, last updated Apr. 13, 2026.
M&IE breakdowns, U.S. General Services Administration, last updated Oct. 15, 2024.
Frequently asked questions, per diem, U.S. General Services Administration.
41 CFR 301-11.20, M&IE reimbursement amounts, Electronic Code of Federal Regulations.
Publication 463, Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses, Internal Revenue Service, 2025.