Truck driver daily allowance in Europe: country-by-country guide

A truck driver daily allowance in Europe is a tax-favoured payment that covers a driver's meals and overnight costs while away from base, and the tax-free ceiling ranges from roughly 28.00 EUR a day in Germany to 91.35 EUR a day for foreign trips in Spain. Since the smart tachograph version 2 retrofit deadline passed on 2025-08-18, enforcement authorities now read border crossings and rest periods directly off the device, so the Mobility Package posting rules that govern how these allowances interact with host-country pay are no longer a paperwork formality but a roadside-checkable fact. This guide sets out the 2026 rates country by country, explains the difference between a reimbursement and a posting allowance, and shows carriers how to keep their allowance structures audit-proof.

What is a truck driver daily allowance and why does it matter?

A daily allowance, also called a per diem or subsistence allowance, is a fixed daily sum a carrier pays a driver to cover the extra cost of eating and sleeping away from home. It is not a bonus and it is not part of the base wage in the usual sense. Most European tax systems treat it as a cost reimbursement up to a national ceiling, which means it is paid free of income tax and, in several countries, free of social-security contributions as well.

For drivers, the allowance is often the difference between an average wage and a competitive one. A Romanian driver on international routes can earn up to 87.50 EUR a day tax-free on top of base pay, adding roughly 525 EUR in net take-home over a six-day trip. For carriers, it is a large recurring cost line that is also a compliance risk: pay it wrong and you face back-taxes, social-security reassessments, and posting-rule penalties. If you are benchmarking the full pay picture, see the full truck driver salary breakdown by country alongside this allowance guide.

How are driver daily allowances calculated in Europe?

There is no single EU-wide allowance. Each member state sets its own tax-free ceiling, and most also distinguish between a full day, a partial day, and an overnight stay. The calculation usually depends on three things: how many hours the driver is away from base, whether an overnight rest is taken away from home, and whether the trip is domestic or international.

Three structural models dominate across the continent:

• Tax-ceiling models (Germany, Spain, Italy, Romania). The state publishes a maximum tax-free figure. A carrier may pay more, but anything above the ceiling is taxed as ordinary wage.
• Collective-agreement models (France, Belgium, the Netherlands). The sector collective agreement fixes the exact allowance, and it is binding on every company in the branch.
• Special transport-driver regimes (Poland, Spain). International drivers are taken out of the ordinary business-travel rules and given a bespoke tax-free and social-security treatment.

Most countries also split the day. Germany pays 28.00 EUR for a full 24-hour day and 14.00 EUR for a partial day of eight to 24 hours. Poland grants one-third of the daily rate for under eight hours, one-half for eight to 12 hours, and the full rate beyond 12 hours.

Country-by-country daily allowance rates: the 2026 table

The table below covers eight major road-freight labour markets. Figures are the headline tax-free or collectively-agreed daily figures for an international HGV driver in 2026, in EUR, with meal-only or partial figures in the partial-day column. Always confirm the exact split with a local payroll adviser, because several figures depend on whether the employer also reimburses meals or lodging separately.

Two caveats matter. First, the headline number is the ceiling, not a mandate: collective-agreement countries fix the figure, but tax-ceiling countries let you pay less. Second, several ceilings drop sharply if the employer also reimburses meals or hotels directly, as in Italy, so the package structure changes the number you can pay tax-free.

What is the difference between a daily allowance and a per diem?

In practice the two terms describe the same thing, and the choice is mostly linguistic. "Per diem" travelled from the US owner-operator market and corporate travel policy; "daily allowance", "subsistence allowance", and the local terms such as the German Verpflegungsmehraufwand, the French indemnité, the Spanish dieta, and the Polish dieta describe the same payment in European labour law.

The distinction that actually carries legal weight is not per diem versus allowance, but cost reimbursement versus posting allowance. A cost reimbursement repays money the driver genuinely spent on travel, board, or lodging. A posting allowance, by contrast, is a sum paid simply because the driver is working away from home, often scaled to how long the posting lasts. As the next section shows, the European courts treat these two very differently when deciding whether the payment counts toward a host country's minimum wage.

Are truck driver allowances taxable in Europe?

Within the national ceiling, the answer is no in most countries: the allowance is paid free of income tax, and in several states free of social-security contributions too. Above the ceiling, the excess is taxed as ordinary salary. Romania is the clearest example. The legal daily level is 35.00 EUR, the tax-free ceiling is 2.5 times that figure at 87.50 EUR, and any euro paid above 87.50 EUR a day is hit with 16% income tax and folded into the social-contribution base.

Two national rules deserve a closer look because they trip carriers up most often.

Spain's special driver regime

Spanish freight drivers benefit from a simplified regime: they can receive up to 15.00 EUR a day domestically or 25.00 EUR a day abroad as a meal allowance without producing a single receipt, provided the displacement itself is documented through the tachograph, a route sheet, GPS, or a delivery note. The general IRPF-exempt ceiling for foreign overnight trips remains 91.35 EUR a day. A 2025 Spanish Supreme Court ruling tightened the documentation burden: the employer, not the driver, must prove to the tax authority that each allowance corresponds to a real journey, naming the day, place, and reason.

Poland's split treatment

Poland runs two separate ceilings for international drivers, which surprises carriers new to the market. The income-tax exemption sits at just 20.00 EUR a day, while the social-security (ZUS) exemption is far higher at 60.00 EUR a day. Since the 2022-02-02 working-time amendment, a Polish driver on international transport is no longer treated as on a classic foreign business trip, so these special figures, not the ordinary diplomatic per-diem table, govern the payroll.

How do Mobility Package posting rules affect driver allowances?

This is where the allowance stops being a simple payroll line and becomes a cross-border compliance question. Under Directive (EU) 2020/1057, part of the Mobility Package, a driver performing cabotage (domestic carriage inside another member state) or most cross-trade work is "posted" and must receive the host country's remuneration when it is higher than home-country pay. Cabotage and cross-trade trigger posting; purely bilateral and transit movements do not.

Posting is no longer hard to detect. The smart tachograph version 2, mandatory on HGVs in international transport since 2025-08-18, automatically logs every border crossing, so an inspector can reconstruct a driver's cabotage and cross-trade pattern in minutes. For carriers planning routes, public holiday driving bans reshape where overnight rests, and therefore overnight allowances, actually fall.

The IRU and the European Transport Workers' Federation agree on the core principle even where they differ on enforcement detail: a posted driver is entitled to all mandatory pay elements that apply to local drivers in the host state, not merely the bare legal minimum, including shift premiums and industry allowances.

Do daily allowances count toward minimum wage under posting rules?

Sometimes yes, sometimes no, and the distinction has been settled by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The rule turns entirely on whether the allowance reimburses a real cost or compensates for the posting itself.

In Sähköalojen ammattiliitto (C-396/13, 2015), the Court held that a daily allowance meant to ensure the social protection of workers, making up for the disadvantage of being away, is an "allowance specific to the posting" and therefore counts as part of the minimum wage, unless it is paid in reimbursement of expenditure actually incurred on travel, board, or lodging.

The Rapidsped judgment (C-428/19, 2021) applied this directly to road transport. A Hungarian carrier had paid drivers an hourly wage below the French sector minimum and argued that its daily allowances closed the gap. The Court ruled that a daily allowance whose amount varies with the duration of the posting is an allowance specific to the posting and counts toward the minimum wage, unless it reimburses actual travel, board, or lodging costs.

How should carriers structure allowance clauses and stay compliant?

A defensible allowance structure rests on three documented elements. First, write the allowance into the contract or company policy with an explicit split between cost reimbursement (travel, board, lodging) and any genuine away-from-home compensation, so the two can be assessed separately under posting rules. Second, tie eligibility to objective, auditable triggers, the hours away from base and the location of the overnight rest, both of which the smart tachograph now records automatically. Third, keep the daily payment at or below the national tax-free ceiling unless you have chosen to pay a taxable top-up.

Tooling makes the difference between a clean audit and a back-tax bill. Track driver hours and allowance eligibility automatically so each day's entitlement is logged against real rest periods. Carriers running multi-country fleets should also model total driver cost per route, and you can check live EU diesel prices to combine fuel and allowance into a single per-route figure before you quote.

Frequently asked questions

What is the average daily allowance for a truck driver in Europe in 2026?

There is no single average because each country sets its own rate, but tax-free ceilings for international trips in 2026 run from about 28.00 EUR a day in Germany to 91.35 EUR a day in Spain and 87.50 EUR a day in Romania. Collective-agreement countries such as France, Belgium, and the Netherlands fix the figure by sector agreement rather than a tax ceiling.

Is a truck driver daily allowance taxed?

Up to the national tax-free ceiling, the allowance is paid free of income tax, and in several countries free of social-security contributions as well. Any amount paid above the ceiling is taxed as ordinary salary. Romania, for example, taxes everything above 87.50 EUR a day at 16% and adds it to the social-contribution base.

Does the daily allowance count toward the host-country minimum wage?

It depends on what the allowance is for. Under the Sähköalojen and Rapidsped judgments, an allowance paid to compensate for the posting itself, especially one that scales with the trip's duration, counts toward the host minimum wage. An allowance that reimburses actual travel, board, or lodging costs is deducted and does not help reach the minimum.

What is the difference between a per diem and a daily allowance?

They describe the same payment; "per diem" is simply the term inherited from US and corporate travel practice. The legally important distinction is between a cost reimbursement, which repays money the driver spent, and a posting allowance, which is paid because the driver is working away from home.

Do Polish drivers get a different allowance for international work?

Yes. Since the 2022-02-02 working-time amendment, Polish international drivers are removed from the ordinary business-travel rules and given a special regime: roughly 20.00 EUR a day exempt from income tax and up to 60.00 EUR a day exempt from social-security (ZUS) contributions.

How does the Mobility Package affect what I pay my drivers?

When a driver performs cabotage or most cross-trade work, they are posted and must receive the host country's full remuneration if it is higher than home pay. Since the smart tachograph version 2 became mandatory on international HGVs on 2025-08-18, the border-crossing and rest data needed to check this is recorded automatically and readable at the roadside.

What records do I need to keep to justify allowances?

Keep the contract or policy that defines the allowance and its split between reimbursement and posting compensation, the tachograph or route records that prove each displacement, and the day, location, and reason for each payment. In Spain a 2025 Supreme Court ruling makes clear the employer carries the burden of proving each allowance corresponds to a real journey.

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