Available from ZEP Compact with the Travel Expense Report module

You have the choice:

No Calculation

No subsistence costs are calculated.

Germany

Specify a flat rate for an absence of more than 8 or at least 24 hours, respectively. If you also received breakfast or lunch/dinner paid for on a day, the tax regulation provides for a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether a meal was paid for is done under My ZEP > Project Times for the relevant day using the cutlery symbol.

Further information on legal provisions:

Details on the calculation of subsistence costs can be found in the documents of the Federal Ministry of Finance (Bundesfinanzministerium):

Austria

Calendar Day Rule

A calendar day is used as the basis for calculating the daily allowance.

24-Hour Rule

The calculation of the daily allowance is based on 24-hour intervals starting from "start of trip."

Under Travel Expense Daily Allowance, you specify the flat-rate daily allowance valid for the location. Furthermore, for each location, you have the choice between the Twelfths Rule and the Thirds Rule:

Twelfths rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

Thirds rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

The meal deduction relates to the aliquot daily allowance, i.e., to the portion of the daily allowance calculated based on the time of absence.

If you also received breakfast or lunch/dinner paid for on a day, you can make a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether a meal was paid for is done under My ZEP > Project Times for the relevant day using the cutlery symbol.

Where do I see the calculated subsistence costs?

Subsistence costs are reported in the employee's Expense Report and are considered as internal project costs in the Margin reports.

You also have the option to charge subsistence costs further within a project. You can set this per project.

The determined amount is then considered in the project billing and in the Margin reports.

When are subsistence costs incurred?

Subsistence costs are incurred when an employee books project times at a work location that is not the "Primary Place of Work" location. ZEP determines the time the employee was traveling, including breaks.

The best way to do this is for the employee to start every trip with an "outward" (hin) booking and end it with a "return" (rück) booking. (If you have the instruction that the actual travel time is not working time, the outward and return journey can also be booked only at a point in time, i.e., with a duration of "0," so that only the start and end of the trip are clearly set).

Where do the numbers for calculating subsistence costs come from?

The country-specific parameters per location are specified in Administration > Travel > Locations.

For an employee's absence per calendar day, the subsistence costs are determined from the duration of the absence and the parameters of the work location.

Under the following conditions, subsistence costs are calculated for unbooked days in between (e.g., Saturday and Sunday):

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no overnight stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

and

Set here whether the Period Check for the tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs should refer to the same Projector the same Customer.

If this, minus absence days, is more than 3 months and there has been no interruption of 4 weeks, a corresponding note is issued in the employee's Expense Report.

This setting influences the calculation of subsistence costs in the event that an employee travels overnight.

If you specify No here, ZEP will not recognize Overnight Stay Time, meaning an overnight stay will never be considered for the calculation of subsistence costs, as, according to the definition, there is none. This affects arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP will consequently never calculate subsistence costshere.

If you specify Yes here, ZEP applies your definition for overnight stays. Specify the time frame within which an unbooked time span must lie for ZEP to recognize an overnight stay.

Specify the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours. For the time frame, enter the Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00).

The Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours must not be greater than Start until End. (You can also enter 0, in which case an overnight stay is always recognized, even if there was no break. This means for arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP always calculates subsistence costs.)

This means an overnight stay is always assumed if a trip is present, i.e., the location of the time bookings is, for example, not the "Primary Place of Work"

and

between your specified Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00), the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours amounts to the specified number of hours.

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no overnight stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

and

Set here whether the Period Check for the tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs should refer to the same Projector the same Customer.

If this, minus absence days, is more than 3 months and there has been no interruption of 4 weeks, a corresponding note is issued in the employee's Expense Report.

This setting influences the calculation of subsistence costs in the event that an employee travels overnight.

If you specify No here, ZEP will not recognize Overnight Stay Time, meaning an overnight stay will never be considered for the calculation of subsistence costs, as, according to the definition, there is none. This affects arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP will consequently never calculate subsistence costs here.
​

If you specify Yes here, ZEP applies your definition for overnight stays. Specify the time frame within which an unbooked time span must lie for ZEP to recognize an overnight stay.

Specify the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours. For the time frame, enter the Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00).

The Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours must not be greater than Start until End. (You can also enter 0, in which case an overnight stay is always recognized, even if there was no break. This means for arrival and departure days that fall short of the minimum absence time: ZEP always calculates subsistence costs.)

This means an overnight stay is always assumed if a trip is present, i.e., the location of the time bookings is, for example, not the "Primary Place of Work"

and

between your specified Overnight Stay Time Start in the evening (must be greater than 12:00) and the Overnight Stay Time End in the morning (must be less than 12:00), the Minimum Overnight Stay Time in hours amounts to the specified number of hours.

When an employee incurs subsistence costs (VMA) as part of an external activity, you can specify in a project's Travel Settings whether subsistence costs should be billed.

Here in the settings, you specify how these subsistence costs should be charged further to the relevant project or projects. You can choose the following two options when an employee has booked one day to various projects:

Distribute subsistence costs of the day proportionally across all projects (i.e., distribute the subsistence costs of the day proportionally across all relevant projects according to the number of hours)

The starting point is the calculation of the subsistence costs from the employee's perspective, i.e., all time bookings across all projects. This determines the flat rate applicable for that day, e.g., more than 8 hours or at least 24 hours (Administration > Travel > Locations).

In a next step, ZEP distributes this result across the involved projects of that day, i.e., across the projects that were booked as "location project-relevant."

This means:

From an internal perspective: The external subsistence costs to be charged are determined using the same key as the internal subsistence costs. In the simplest example: If all involved projects are set up to generally charge subsistence costs (for all times, not just for billable) with the "normal" location flat rates, then the sum of the project billings will be exactly the same amount as the employee receives in their Expense Report.

This implicitly also distributes breaks, transition days (weekends), and the meal deduction proportionally across the projects.

From the customers' perspective (i.e., the invoice recipients): The calculation of the subsistence costs for a project is always dependent on whether the employee also booked time to other projects "out of house" on that day (and it is not avoidable that times, start/destination location, and work location of an "other" project become visible on the invoice attachment for the subsistence costs table).

Please note: This is not always comprehensible to the recipient of the invoice, as the project times of the other projects are naturally not listed on the invoice.

Example:

If 4 hours are booked to the project, there can be a case where:

or you specify the Treat subsistence costs of projects from different customers separately

i.e., distribute the subsistence costs of the day only to projects of the same customer proportionally according to the number of hours; treat projects of different customers separately.

If you have chosen this option, you can further specify how the subsistence costs should be billed to the project.

if the employee has booked one day to various projects

If you have chosen the option "only distribute proportionally to projects of the same customer according to the number of hours; treat projects of different customers separately," you can select the following options for billing the subsistence costs of a project:

or

or

Examples for the Further Billing of Subsistence Costs to Projects/Customers

Setting: "distribute proportionally across all projects"

Setting: "treat projects of different customers separately"

— and treat times booked to projects of other customers as a break, meaning no interruption of absence time.

i.e., all times booked to projects of other customers are treated as a break; they do not interrupt the absence time of the one project.

Example: Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B:

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

Subsistence costs Project B: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

— and treat times booked to projects of other customers as "location not project-relevant" as a break, meaning no interruption of the absence time; times booked as "location project-relevant" to projects of other customers interrupt the absence time of a project.

only treat times booked as "location not project-relevant" to projects of other customers as a break. Times booked as "location project-relevant" to projects of other customers and the breaks around them do not count as part of the absence time of the one project, but interrupt the absence time of the one project.

Example 1:

Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B, every time booking was "location project-relevant":

08:00 - 09:00 Project A

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 9:00 hours + 10:00 - 11:00 hours + 12:00 - 13:00 hours + 14:00 - 15:00 hours + 16:00 - 17:00 hours

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Subsistence costs Project B: same as Project A, just "time-shifted"

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Example 2:

Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B, every time booking on Project A was "location project-relevant" (*), on Project B "location not project-relevant":

08:00 - 09:00 Project A*

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A*

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A*

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A*

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A*

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 18:00 hours = "more than 8 hours flat rate"; Working Time 5 hours

Subsistence costs Project B: no subsistence costs, since location not project-relevant

— and times booked to projects of other customers interrupt the absence of a project

i.e., all times booked to projects of other customers and the breaks around them do not count as part of the absence time of the one project, but interrupt the absence time of the one project.

If an employee books time on two different projects of different customers on one day, each project is considered individually; the times booked to the respective other project are always considered a break.

Example: Time is booked alternately for 1 hour each on Project A and Project B:

08:00 - 09:00 Project A

09:00 - 10:00 Project B

10:00 - 11:00 Project A

11:00 - 12:00 Project B

12:00 - 13:00 Project A

13:00 - 14:00 Project B

14:00 - 15:00 Project A

15:00 - 16:00 Project B

16:00 - 17:00 Project A

17:00 - 18:00 Project B

Subsistence costs Project A: 8:00 - 9:00 hours + 10:00 - 11:00 hours + 12:00 - 13:00 hours + 14:00 - 15:00 hours + 16:00 - 17:00 hours

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

Subsistence costs Project B: same as Project A, just "time-shifted"

= 5 hours absence time = no subsistence costs

You can optionally set here whether all start and destination locations should be displayed in the employee's Expense Report.

Example:

8:00 AM - 9:00 AM: Outward Journey from Home to Customer

9:00 AM - 4:00 PM: working at the customer's location

4:00 PM - 5:00 PM: Return Journey from Customer to Office

If you activate this setting (Yes), then the start and destination location of every time booking with the Travel Activity are displayed:

Home, Customer, Customer, Office

If you do not activate this setting (No), then only the first booked start and the last booked destination location that is not identical to the start location are displayed:

Home, Office

This setting might lead to misunderstandings (as in this example).

Subsistence costs are automatically calculated in ZEP if the work location is not the Primary Place of Work.

The easiest way to record the data for your travel and project time is in the correct chronological order:

Select the appropriate Non-Primary Place of Work location as the work location so that the subsistence costs are calculated correctly. The calculation period begins with the outward journey, or the first project time at the Non-Primary Place of Work location, and ends with the return journey or at 12:00 AM of the same day if no return journey was recorded. If project time is recorded at the Primary Place of Work location on the next day, ZEP calculates the subsistence costs until the end of the last recorded activity at the Non-Standard work location.

Example:

You were 9 hours away from home (including the break between 12 and 1 PM) and receive the statutory flat rate of €12 as subsistence costs for this. From 24.00 hours, €24.

Overnight Stay Definition
For the calculation of subsistence costs, it is crucial whether or not an Overnight Stay took place. Therefore, ZEP attempts to recognize whether an Overnight Stay exists based on the time bookings:

An Overnight Stay is assumed if

You always record based on the calendar day, meaning a trip across midnight is entered in two parts. In the first part "up to 12:00 AM," the location reached by that time must be specified (regardless of whether by plane, train, or car). In the second part (following day from 12:00 AM), the destination location is specified.

Ensure that the trip begins with exactly one Outward Journey and ends with exactly one Return Journey. The Travel Times in between must be onward journeys.

The Midnight Rule means that absences from 2 calendar days may be added together to receive subsistence costs, if applicable. However, this may only happen if there was no Overnight Stay.

The Midnight Rule is applied when

Arrival/Departure Rule without Minimum Absence Time

If a trip begins with an outward journey and is not concluded on the same calendar day, it is considered an arrival day. If an overnight stay took place afterwards (according to the definition above), the daily flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited, even with less than 8 hours of absence.

If a trip continues on a new calendar day and is concluded with a return journey on that day, it is considered a departure day. If an overnight stay took place before that (according to the definition above), the daily flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited, even with less than 8 hours of absence.

In total, no more than the 24-hour flat rate is calculated on any one day, even if multiple arrival and departure days took place.

Trips lasting several days should begin with an outward journey and end with a return journey, just like one-day trips. All Travel Times in between should be recorded as an onward journey.

If you have not recorded a return journey on the same day, ZEP assumes it is a multi-day trip. The subsistence costs are calculated as follows: from the outward journey until 12:00 AM of the same day and from 12:00 AM of the following day until the return journey.

Weekend

ZEP considers that an employee may receive tax-free subsistence costs if they remain at their external work location over the weekend, even if they did not work on the weekend days.

Under the following conditions, subsistence costs are calculated for unbooked days in between (e.g., Saturday and Sunday):

Example:

An employee could travel back over the weekend but wishes to stay privately at the external work location, and accordingly should not receive any subsistence costs for this time; in this case, they book a return journey with time 0 on Friday and then an outward journey with time 0 on Monday. No subsistence costs are calculated for the employee for this weekend.

If the Friday and Monday work is booked to a project that passes the subsistence costs on to the customer according to the project plan, then these weekend subsistence costs are naturally also considered in the project revenue (in the invoice, if the Invoicing module is used).

Three-Month Period

Since 2014, the Three-Month Period for the tax-free status of subsistence costs is measured purely chronologically for the interruption regulation. An interruption of professional activity at the same work location leads to a new beginning of the Three-Month Period if it lasts for at least four weeks. The reason for the interruption is irrelevant; only the duration of the interruption counts.

Travels Longer than 3 Months

You have the option to define special locations ("Other Travel") for which the calculation of subsistence costs does not consider overnight stays, meaning the basis for calculating subsistence costs is merely the time from the first time booking of the day until the last time booking of the day.

The background to this lies in the tax regulations in Germany: Subsistence costs for business trips are generally tax-free only if the employee is not employed at the same location for longer than 3 months. For an external activity lasting longer than this, there are no mandatory regulations for the remuneration of subsistence costs.

With ZEP, you have the choice:

Employee Share of Travel Time

A Travel Activity ("re") can also be booked with identical from- and to-times, i.e., with duration 0. Employees whose commute to the customer is not billed as working or project time, but who still receive subsistence costs (VMA) and potentially travel cost reimbursement, book such 0-times as outward and return journey to mark the start and end of the period decisive for subsistence costs.

Even if you omit the outward and return journey and simply book your working time at the Non-Standard Work Location, ZEP will calculate the subsistence costs for this time. The trip then ends with the next project time booking at the Standard Work Location. Note, however, that bookings at the Non-Standard Work Location on two consecutive days are interpreted as a multi-day trip, and subsistence costs are considered until 12:00 AM / from 12:00 AM.

Subsistence Costs Table

If you specify "Display Project" here, the respective project for which the subsistence costs (VMA) were incurred will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the table with the subsistence costs (VMA table).

Mileage Allowance Table

If you specify "Display Project" or "Display Project and Task" here, the respective project or project and task for which the kilometers were specified will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the mileage allowance table.

Receipts Table

If you specify "Display Project" or "Display Project and Task" here, the respective project or project and task of the recorded receipts will be listed in an extra column in the Expense Report for the individual employee in the receiptstable.

File Format

Set the file format in which you want to create Expense Reports with ZEP.

Without the ZEP module "Document Generator," the file format for the Expense Report is "html."

Checked Expense Report in Landscape Format

Specify whether the checked Expense Report should be created in landscape format. Please note: an Expense Report saved as checked is saved in the specified format; if you change the format subsequently in the settings, you must first delete the Expense Report already saved as checked and then save it again in the desired format.

When recording travel times, the employee specifies which vehicle they used. The tax-relevant vehicles are already included in ZEP.

You can store Vehicles in multiple languages.

The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

For each Vehicle, you define here the mileage flat rate (tax-free, or optionally taxable) and possibly the passenger flat rate that is reimbursed in the Travel Expense Report for the employee for trips with the private vehicle. This flat rate can also be invoiced in the project billing.

You can also create several identical Vehicle types in ZEP; for example, if multiple vehicles are available in the fleet, you can create each individual one in ZEP with the respective license plate. The employees then select the used vehicle when recording their travel.

Vehicle Currency

Each Vehicle can have its own currency.

Application Example:

There are cases where vehicle flat rates should be billed in a currency other than the Base Currency (e.g., for an employee in another country, or for a project in another country, where you want to pass on exactly the vehicle flat rates valid in that country to the employees). In this case, you can create a new Vehicle where this different currency applies to the flat rates. The rate is retrieved from the website Fixer.io.

When you prepare the employee's Expense Report, the flat rates are converted if necessary. The date of the booked trip applies to the exchange rate used for this conversion.

Create Locations

When booking project times, an employee specifies the Location where the work took place. If the work was not at the usual Standard Work Location, this time may qualify for subsistence costs reimbursement. Here you define which Locations are available for selection. In general, the work Locations are intended to map the different subsistence costs flat rates (VMA flat rates); therefore, only Germany or other countries should be selectable.

You can store Locations in multiple languages.

The entry is made in the Designation field: Click on German/English/French/Spanish, enter the designation for the short form. Depending on the language set for the employee or the project, the designation will be displayed in the language selection.

Home Work Location

Create a Home Work Location if you later want to track when employees worked from home.

You can create one or more Home Work Locations. A Home Work Location is a Location for which (just like for the Primary Place of Work) no VMA and no flat travel rates are incurred, and which consequently appears neither in the employee's Expense Report nor in the project billing.

Therefore, all flat rates are automatically set to 0 as soon as you activate the Home Work Location option.

Conversely, a Location for which you manually set all flat rates to 0 is not necessarily a Home Work Location, but merely a Location for which the employee receives no VMA (flat rate 0), but for which flat travel rates or special daily flat rates can still be charged to the customer project if you set this accordingly in Project > [Project Name] > Billing Settings > Travel Settings.

Taxable

You can also store higher flat rates for your employees; these must then be taxed and reported separately on the Expense Report. Enter the amount here that you wish to pay in addition to the tax-free amount. ZEP reports these amounts separately on the employee's Expense Report.

Domestic or Foreign

Please specify whether the Location is a domestic or a foreign Location.

Background: ZEP requires this information for the correct calculation of VMA.

Generally: For a trip across multiple Locations on one day, the last Location booked on that calendar day is used for calculating the flat rates.

Exception: If a foreign Location is also booked on a calendar day, the flat rates of that Location are calculated, even if it is not the last booked Location of the calendar day.

Location Currency

Each Location can have its own currency. When calculating subsistence costs in an employee's Expense Report and in the project billing, if applicable, the currency is considered. This means:

Business Trip or Other Travel

Example:

The employee always works at a customer location from Monday to Friday. They book an outward journey on Monday, a return journey on Friday, and all working times in between always to the appropriate work Location.

If this work Location is defined as Business Trip:

The basis for calculation is the absence time including overnight stay. This means in the example for Tuesday to Thursday that the absence time begins at 12:00 AM and lasts until 12:00 AM, so the flat rate for 24 hours applies.

If this work Location is defined as Other Travel:

The basis for calculation is the start and end of working time per day; overnight stays are not considered. For example, if the first working time on Tuesday begins at 8:00 AM and the last working time ends at 5:00 PM, these 9 hours apply to the flat rate, consequently, the flat rate for more than 8 hours is credited.

Implementation of Legal Changes

The tax authority determines the amounts for tax-free reimbursement of subsistence costs. In the event of a change in the law, it is sufficient for you yourself to update the figures.

The Primary Place of Work (before 2014: Standard Work Location) is not managed in the list of work locations, as it is not relevant for the Travel Expense Report. It automatically appears in the "Work Location" selection list during project time recording (exception: if special "Project Locations" have been chosen for a project, the selection list may not contain the Primary Place of Work location).

Use of ZEP for Calculation of VMA or Travel Expense Daily Allowance

If you do not use ZEP for calculating subsistence costs or Travel Expense Daily Allowance, then every location only consists of a short form and a designation and has no effect on the Travel Expense Report.

If you use ZEP for calculating subsistence costs or Travel Expense Daily Allowance, check under the menu item Administration > Travel > Subsistence Costs > Calculation Procedure whether you have specified the appropriate country setting. Depending on this, the Locations have further parameters that are used for calculating subsistence costsor Travel Expense Daily Allowance.

Deutschland (Germany)

Tax-Free

Specify the tax-free flat rate for an absence of more than 8 or at least 24 hours, respectively. If you also received a meal (breakfast or lunch/dinner) paid for on a day, the tax regulation provides for a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location.

Taxable

You can also store higher flat rates for your employees; these must then be taxed and reported separately on the Expense Report. Enter the amount here that you wish to pay in addition to the tax-free amount. ZEP reports these amounts separately on the employee's Expense Report. Optionally, you can also specify a percentage deduction for meals.

Österreich (Austria)

ZEP supports the Calendar Day Rule and the 24-Hour Rule. Under Travel Expense Daily Allowance, you specify the flat-rate daily allowance valid for the location. Furthermore, for each location, you have the choice between the Twelfths Rule and the Thirds Rule as well as the collective agreement rule.

Twelfths rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

Thirds rule:

The meal deduction relates to the whole daily allowance.

This corresponds to the regulation for the tax treatment of foreign business trips in Austria.

The meal deduction relates to the entire daily allowance.

If you also received breakfast or lunch or dinner paid for on a day, you can make a deduction from the subsistence costs. This is specified as a percentage depending on the location. The indication of whether or not a meal was paid for is done under Project Times for the relevant day using the symbol.