Employers Paying Per Diem to Employees
Generally, in lieu of actual lodging, meal, and incidental expenses incurred, a payer may consider substantiated, for federal tax purposes, an employee’s expenses incurred for employment-related travel in an amount up to or equaling the federal per diem rate for the locality of travel.
Continental United States (CONUS)
The rate for travel to high-cost localities within CONUS is $309; the rate for non-high-cost localities will be $214. The current rates for the period Oct. 1, 2022, to Sept. 30, 2023, are, respectively, $297 and $204. The portion of the rates treated as paid for meals for purposes of Sec. 274(n) is $74 for high-cost CONUS localities and $64 for all other CONUS localities, both the same as this year and the previous year.