Two questions have to be answered separately, and people often mix them. First: does the collective agreement or your employment contract make a payment due at all? Second: can that payment be made free of tax? A tax-free maximum is not an entitlement, and an entitlement is not automatically tax-free.
Daily allowance, travel and accommodation
Tax-free maximums in 2026
| Item | Maximum | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Full daily allowance | 54 € per day | For a business trip meeting the distance and duration conditions |
| Partial daily allowance | 25 € per day | Shorter trips, as defined by the decision |
| Meal allowance | 13.50 € | Where no daily allowance is paid |
| Own car | 0.55 € per km | Plus 0.04 € per km per passenger |
These are the maximums the Tax Administration allows to be paid without tax for 2026. Meals provided on site can reduce the tax-free amount.
The three-year rule
A place of work can count as a temporary special place of work for up to three years on the same site. A data-centre build can run that long, and the answer for year four is not the same as for year one. This is one of the things we check for the assignment rather than promise in advance.
Travelling from your accommodation to the site does not by itself create a daily allowance. Where we provide accommodation and transport, that changes what is payable — and we say so in the offer instead of letting you discover it on the payslip.
Our calculator deliberately leaves allowances out of the monthly figure and lists them separately as "not included". A number that mixes wages with allowances looks bigger and tells you less.
Sources
| What | Where | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-exempt allowances for 2026 | Finnish Tax Administration decision on tax-exempt allowances in 2026 for business travel | 25 September 2026 |
| Temporary special place of work, three-year limit | Finnish Tax Administration guidance on travel costs in special sectors | 25 September 2026 |