You must have spent the night (00-06) in another location during your business trip in order to make deductions for increased living expenses (meals and petty expenses).

Furthermore, it is required that you have travelled to a place more than 50 km away from your ordinary place of work and more than 50 km away from your home.

The standard deductions for meals and petty expenses for business trips within Sweden are:

Tax return 2024 (income year 2023)

• SEK 260 for a whole day.
• SEK 130 for half a day

Tax return 2025 (income year 2024)

• SEK 290 for a whole day
• SEK 145 for half a day

The standard deductions for meals and petty expenses for business trips in another country are:

• one so-called normal amount for a whole day
• half a normal amount for a half day. 

If the journey is concluded at 19:00 or earlier and if your journey starts at 12:00 or later, the return day or departure day counts as a half day.

Note: For business trips longer than three months at the same location, different amounts apply.

If an employee stays in several countries during the same day, a deduction is allowed with a normal amount for the country where he/she has spent the longest part of the time at 06.00–24.00.

If the employee spends most of the time of the business trip in Sweden during the day of departure or return, a deduction is allowed according to the rules for business travel in Sweden.

When it comes to determining in which country the employee has spent the longest part of a day, the time for the following parts of an international trip shall not be counted:

– the time of travel by boat or plane from the port or airport in one country to the port or airport in another country

– the time for a stopover for refueling or the like.

However, the time for transfers and waiting times must be included in the length of stay in a country. It can e.g. become applicable when changing to a domestic flight within the destination country. The period of stay in the destination country is counted from the time the employee arrives in the country.

If you have spent the whole day (06:00–24:00) on a means of transport operating in international traffic, you are allowed to deduct an amount that corresponds to the full maximum amount for travel in Sweden. The reason for this is that the price of goods and services on board the means of transport does not directly depend on the price situation in any particular country.

When traveling between locations that are not in the same time zone, the length of stay is calculated based on the local time for the respective location.

If the employer paid for your meals during the business trip, the entitled deduction will be reduced according to the below tables. However, meals that are compulsorily included in the price of public transport shall not reduce the deduction.

The entitled deduction will be reduced by the following:

Note: Free meals are in most cases also considered a taxable benefit.

You make the deduction in the yearly tax return, box 2.2,  Business Trips.