Per Diem

Per Diem paystub meaning: A flat daily travel allowance for lodging, meals and incidentals — untaxed and outside gross pay while it stays within the federal...

A flat daily travel allowance for lodging, meals and incidentals — untaxed and outside gross pay while it stays within the federal rate.

Per diem is a flat daily amount an employer pays to cover the cost of being away from home on business — lodging, meals, and incidentals — instead of reimbursing receipt by receipt. It is not pay for work, and that is why it behaves unlike every other line on a stub. The benchmark is the federal rate for the place you traveled to. For fiscal year 2026, covering October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026, the GSA standard CONUS rate is $110 a night for lodging and $68 a day for meals and incidental expenses (M&IE) — $178 combined. Costlier locations sit in higher FY 2026 M&IE tiers of $74, $80, $86 and $92. "Incidentals" means the fees and tips given to porters, baggage carriers and hotel staff, and that is $5 of every FY 2026 M&IE tier. On the first and last day of a trip, only 75% of the M&IE rate is payable — $51 on a $68 day in FY 2026. Pay at or below that rate under an accountable plan is not wages. No income tax is withheld from it, no FICA comes out of it, and it is not in Box 1 of your W-2. Most payroll systems therefore show it in a separate non-taxable or memo column rather than inside gross pay — which is why gross can look smaller than the money that actually reached your account. Above the federal rate, the treatment flips. IRS Publication 463 says the excess goes in Box 1 of your W-2 and is reported as wage income. And under a nonaccountable arrangement, IRS Publication 15 treats the payments as wages subject to income, social security, Medicare and FUTA taxes. Your payroll department can tell you which arrangement your employer uses.

Earnings lines should identify the applicable rate, hours or units, current amount, and year-to-date total. Reconcile them with time records, the pay period, the employment agreement, and the employer-issued statement.

When this term appears on a statement, read its label, current amount, year-to-date amount, pay-period context, and any adjacent rate or hours together. Resolve a mismatch with the original issuer or the cited authority rather than changing a record to force a preferred result.