/merit-business-trips

name: merit-business-trips
version: 1.0.0
description: >
  How to record Estonian foreign business trips (välislähetus) in Merit Aktiva
  correctly: tax-free daily allowance (välislähetuse päevaraha), the VAT treatment
  of flights and hotels (which is NOT reverse charge), paying a non-employee's
  travel via a käsundusleping, and client/partner meals (vastuvõtukulud). All
  figures are the current statutory limits — verify against Riigi Teataja, since
  the 2025 reform raised several of them and older blog figures are stale.
  Use when: booking per diem, a trip expense report, a foreign flight/hotel
  invoice, a contractor's covered travel, or a business-partner dinner.
  TRIGGERS: "lähetus", "välislähetus", "päevaraha", "daily allowance", "per diem",
  "business trip", "trip expenses", "kuluaruanne", "aruandev isik", "reporting
  person expense", "vastuvõtukulud", "representation costs", "client dinner",
  "äripartnerite toitlustamine", "TÖR", "töötamise register", "tasuta töötamine",
  "käsundusleping travel".

Merit — Business trips, per diem, travel VAT & representation

Four separate streams that all show up around a business trip. Keep them apart — each has its own rule. **The 2025 tax reform raised the päevaraha and representation limits; do not trust pre-2025 figures.** Account codes below are referenced by their standard Estonian name — confirm the exact code in the company's chart with `accounts list`.

1. Välislähetuse päevaraha (tax-free daily allowance)

**Rates — Tulumaksuseadus § 13 lg 3 p 1** (in force from 01.01.2025): tax-free **75 € / day for the first 15 days per calendar month**, **40 € / day** thereafter. **Mandatory minimum — VV määrus nr 110 § 3** (from 05.07.2025): **40 € / day** (the employer must pay at least this; may pay up to 75 € tax-free; above 75 € is a taxable fringe benefit on the excess).

**Who qualifies (TuMS § 13 lg 3 p 1):** an employee, official, or **member of the management/control body** (juhatuse/nõukogu liige) of the payer. A **non-resident** board member or employee is **also exempt** on the same terms — **TuMS § 31 lg 1 p 7** (their fee/salary is still taxed under § 29, but the päevaraha is separately tax-free). A plain VÕS contractor does **not** get päevaraha (see §3).

**Which days count — VV määrus 110 § 4:**

• Destination must be **≥ 50 km** from the settlement of the workplace (§ 4(1)).
• **Departure day** counts if the vehicle leaves the country **at or before 21:00**; **return day**

counts only if it **arrives after 03:00** (§ 4(2)). A red-eye landing at e.g. 00:40 means the arrival day does **not** count.

• The employer **may** reduce päevaraha by **up to 70 %** if free meals are provided (§ 4(4)) —

optional.

**Required document — VV määrus 110 § 2(3):** a written decision (otsustus/käskkiri) stating **sihtkoht, kestus, ülesanne, and the rates**. Make it before the trip.

**Recording in Merit:** päevaraha is **not** payroll — do NOT run it through Merit Palk. Pay it as a reporting-person expense: **Ost → Aruandvate isikute kuluaruanded → + Uus kuluaruanne**, pick the **aruandev isik**, add the päevaraha on a line to the **travel-expenses account (Töölähetuse kulud)** with **no VAT** (override the account's default rate — päevaraha is not a VATable purchase). Save → Merit posts the GL entry and a liability to the person; settle it from the bank under **Pangamaksed / Võlgnevused**. **Within-limit päevaraha is not reported on the TSD** (only the excess over the limit is a fringe benefit on TSD lisa 4).

2. VAT on flights & hotels — NOT reverse charge

This is the common mistake. Travel has special place-of-supply rules, so the general reverse-charge logic (for SaaS/consulting) does **not** apply.

• **Flights — international air passenger transport:** **zero-rated**, no domestic VAT, **not**

reverse-charged, **not** on the KMD as an acquisition. Book gross to the travel-expenses account.

• **Hotels — accommodation:** place of supply is **where the property is** (KMS), so the foreign

hotel charges its **local** VAT. Book **gross**, no domestic input VAT, **not** reverse-charged. (EU foreign VAT may be reclaimable via cross-border refund; usually not worth it for small sums.)

Do **not** route flight/hotel invoices through the reverse-charge skill.

3. Paying a non-employee's travel (contractor / käsundusleping)

Someone who is not an employee or board member **cannot** receive tax-free päevaraha. But the company can still pay their **travel + accommodation** cleanly if there is a real business basis:

• Engage them under a written **käsundusleping / töövõtuleping** — it may be **tasuta (unpaid)** for

the work itself — stating the company **bears the necessary travel/accommodation costs**. The legal basis is **VÕS § 628** (the mandator reimburses the mandatee's necessary costs). The documented costs are then the company's **deductible expense** and **not the person's taxable income**. Book flights/hotels to the travel-expenses account (VAT per §2). **No päevaraha.**

• **Register the person in TÖR (töötamise register) before their first work day — even if unpaid**

(MKS § 25¹). For unpaid work the **töötamise liik is "Tasuta töötamine"**; **töökoha aadress = the employer's domestic address** for a short trip abroad (do not mark välisriik); no social tax arises.

• Skipping the contract/registration risks the travel being a **taxable erisoodustus** to the related

board member/employee under **TuMS § 48** (income tax 22/78 + 33 % social tax) — and an unregistered worker risks a penalty.

4. Client / partner meals — vastuvõtukulud (TuMS § 49)

A genuine **business-partner** meal/reception (food, accommodation, transport, entertainment for guests/partners) is **representation**, a different stream from travel and from päevaraha.

• **Tax-free up to 50 € per calendar month + 2 % of that month's social-tax-charged payroll** —

**TuMS § 49 lg 4** (the 50 € figure applies from 01.01.2025; older "32