HRSINGAPORE | Per Diem vs Hosted Meal

HRSINGAPORE Community Discussions

Per Diem vs Hosted Meal - Update 1 (Replies)

QUESTION

Dear Fellow HR Practitioners,

Would like to get some inputs regarding treatment of per diem when some meals were hosted by business associates/overseas colleagues.

Current practice - we pay per diem according to the IRAS per diem.

However, there are now some questions on whether a staff should claim the full daily per diem if breakfast is provided in the hotel accommodation and when lunch or dinner is hosted by colleagues in the host country. Should they still claim the full or should deduct out the hosted meal e.g. China per diem is S$84/3 = S$28 and this amount deducted out if breakfast is provided by hotel or a meal is hosted. So in worst case scenario, all meal were paid for then there is no per diem allowance given to the staff for the day.

Greatly appreciate your comments and company practice.

Thank you.

Sue

REPLY 1

If meal is provided by hotel/ flight than it shiuld be deductible based on a token sum.

Example : split over 3 meals-15%, 25%, 60% for diner or breakfast /lunch could be the same with diner at 50% (assuming is for meals only & personal expenses only).

Norna

REPLY 2

Is it a bit cumbersome or time consuming to manage it this way? Do the staff have to proof with receipts ? If a per diem allowance was actually utilised ? What is the tax situation when you would pay them a per diem allowance anyway because they were overseas and are entitled to this.

A silly example is yes they went out for a meal with the client or customer but they did not eat and felt unwell and have to buy themselves a meal again , they would use their per diem…maybe not to the full allowance but would this entitle them to the per diem despite having a meal out already ?

REPLY 3

Our per diem works if stay in hotel with breakfast the per diem given daily is lower but if w/o breakfast the per diem is higher. As for hosted lunch / dinner no claiming is done in the current host country, our staff will not claim. Unless it is Company Event held there.

Jessica

REPLY 4

For us, as a form of staff business travel benefits as well as ease of administration, we pay daily per diem without deducting those situations you mentioned.

Reply | Post | Community

<ADVERTISEMENT>

Designing an Equitable Salary Structure

- 4 December 2018

This one day training walks through each of the major steps in developing a complete pay structure from scratch and is especially useful for novice in the arena of Compensation & Benefits..

For details, please click on: https://hrsingapore.org/designingsalary/

HRSINGAPORE is the first, free, HR Community that provides HR Certification, HRLAW Seminars, HR Workshops and HR Consultancy Services. For more about us please visit https://hrsingapore.org/

HRSINGAPORE Community | This email was sent to | Unsubscribe | Forward this email to a friend