Gross Pay, Net Pay and Daily Allowances: How Truck Driver Pay Works in Europe

Truck driver pay is not built the same way in every European country. Your salary is taxed like any other wage. Many drivers also get money for the days they spend away from home, often called a daily allowance or per diem. Whether you get one, how much it is, and how much of it is free of income tax and social contributions depends on the country and on the rules that cover your job.

This guide explains the EU rules for drivers who are posted to another country, and the rules in Germany, Romania, Bulgaria and Poland. It gives the legal source for each rule so you can check it yourself.

This article is information, not legal or tax advice.

Three things to keep apart

• Gross and net. Gross salary is your pay before income tax and your own social contributions are taken off. Net pay is what reaches your bank account after those deductions.
• What your employer pays for days away. This depends on your contract and on any agreement or law that covers your job. It has different names: diurnă in Romania, дневни пари (dnevni pari) in Bulgaria, dieta in Poland. In Germany the tax term is Verpflegungspauschale (meal flat rate), and people often say Spesen (expenses).
• What tax law lets through. Each country sets limits. Up to the limit, money for days away is free of income tax, and in some cases it is also left out when social contributions are calculated. The rules are different in each country: in Germany the limits are flat amounts for work expenses, and for Polish drivers in international transport they are fixed amounts per day abroad, not an allowance the employer must pay.

EU rules: when you are posted

A posted worker is someone who, for a limited period, works in an EU country other than the one where he or she normally works (Directive 96/71/EC, Article 2(1)). For truck drivers, Directive (EU) 2020/1057 sets out when this applies. These rules apply from 2 February 2022.

You are not posted when you:

• Do a bilateral trip. This means carrying goods under a transport contract from the country where your employer is established to another country, or from another country back to it (Article 1(3)).
• Make one extra stop on a bilateral trip. On such a trip you may also load and/or unload once in total, in one of the countries you drive through, as long as you do not load goods and unload them in the same EU country. If the trip out had no extra stop, the trip back to your employer's country may have up to two (Article 1(3)). These extra-stop rules last only until smart tachographs that record border crossings and these stops must be fitted in newly registered vehicles. From that date, they apply only to drivers using a vehicle fitted with a smart tachograph.
• Drive through a country without loading or unloading goods (transit, Article 1(5)).
• Drive the road part at the start or end of a combined transport operation as Council Directive 92/106/EEC defines it, if that road part on its own is a bilateral trip (Article 1(6) and recital 12).

You are posted when you:

• Do cabotage, where the whole transport job takes place inside another country (Article 1(7) and recital 13).
• Do other international trips that are not on the list above, such as cross-trade, which is international transport outside your employer's country. The directive says this work is linked to the countries where it is done rather than to your employer's country (recital 13), so the posting rules apply.

EU rules: allowances during a posting

• What counts as pay. For the posting rules, your pay means all the parts of pay that the host country makes compulsory by law or regulation, or by collective agreements that apply there under the directive, such as agreements that all employers in that area and sector must follow (Directive 96/71/EC, Article 3(1) and 3(8)).
• The allowance for the posting. An allowance paid because of the posting counts as part of your pay, unless it repays costs you actually had, such as travel, food and accommodation (Article 3(7)).
• If nobody says which part is which. If the terms that apply to your job do not say which part of the allowance repays costs and which part is pay, the whole allowance is treated as repayment of costs, and none of it counts as part of your pay. Those terms include your contract, any collective agreement that covers you, and other rules that apply to the job, such as pay regulations or the law.

EU rules for every driver

These come from Regulation (EC) No 561/2006 and apply whether or not you are posted.

• Weekly rest. Your regular weekly rest, and any weekly rest of more than 45 hours taken to make up for a shortened one, may not be taken in the vehicle. You take it in suitable gender-friendly accommodation with adequate sleeping and sanitary facilities, and the employer covers the cost of accommodation outside the vehicle (Article 8(8)).
• Pay per kilometre. A transport company may not give drivers it employs, or drivers put at its disposal, any payment linked to distance driven, speed of delivery or the amount of goods carried, even as a bonus, if that payment endangers road safety and/or encourages breaking this regulation (Article 10(1)).

Germany

German tax law sets flat meal amounts that count as work expenses. If you work outside the public service, your employer can repay you up to those amounts free of income tax. These tax rules set limits on deductions and tax-free repayments; they do not require your employer to pay these amounts.

• In Germany. EUR 28 for each calendar day you are away for 24 hours from your home and your first place of work. EUR 14 each for the day you leave and the day you return, if you stay overnight away from home on that day, the day before or the day after. EUR 14 for a day with more than 8 hours away and no overnight stay; if such a trip starts on one day and ends on the next, the EUR 14 is for the day with most of the hours (Income Tax Act, § 9(4a) sentence 3).
• No first place of work. The same rules apply (sentence 4).
• What "home" means. For the meal amounts, "home" is the household that is the centre of your life, and also a lodging you keep at your first place of work as a second household (sentence 4).
• Abroad. A different rate for each country replaces these amounts. The federal finance ministry sets the rate for each country. The country that counts is the last place you reach before midnight local time or, if that place is in Germany, the last place where you worked abroad (sentence 5).
• Three-month limit. The meal amounts apply only for the first three months of longer work at the same place of work. A break of at least four weeks starts the count again (sentences 6 and 7).
• Meals you are given. If your employer, or someone acting at your employer's request, gives you a meal, the amount is cut by 20 percent of the full-day rate for breakfast and by 40 percent each for lunch and dinner. The cut cannot be more than the amount itself. If you paid for the meal, what you paid reduces the cut (sentences 8 and 10).
• Nights in the cab. If you sleep in a vehicle of your employer, or of a company your employer has engaged, you can count a flat EUR 9 a day instead of your actual costs. This applies on days that qualify for the 24-hour rate or the travel-day rate. If you use the flat amount, you use it for the whole calendar year (§ 9(1) sentence 3 no. 5b).
• Tax and contributions. If you work outside the public service, money your employer pays to repay your travel costs is free of income tax as long as it is not more than what the law lets you deduct as work expenses (§ 3 no. 16). For meals, that is the meal amounts above. A work-related overnight stay at a place of work that is not your first place of work, such as a hotel, counts as a work expense up to the necessary cost of using the accommodation yourself. If you share it with someone who does not work for the same employer, only the cost of using it alone counts. After 48 months of longer work at that same place, the cost is capped at the amount in § 9(1) sentence 3 no. 5. A break of at least six months starts that count again (§ 9(1) sentence 3 no. 5a). Allowances paid on top of your wages are not counted as earnings for social security, so far as they are free of wage tax (the income tax taken off your wage) and your employer, or a third party paying them, either leaves them free of wage tax or taxes them at a flat rate in the payroll for that pay period. For Sunday, holiday and night-work supplements, this does not cover the portion calculated on hourly pay above EUR 25 (Social Security Earnings Regulation, § 1(1)).

Romania

• What is covered. The delegation allowance, the posting allowance, including the allowance for transnational posting, and the extra payments to mobile road transport workers under Government Decision 38/2008 (the decision on working time in road transport) are taxed only on the part above a ceiling (Fiscal Code, Article 76(2)(k)).
• The ceiling. For work in Romania it is 2.5 times the allowance the government sets for public-sector staff. For work abroad it is 2.5 times the daily allowance the government sets for Romanian public staff on temporary missions abroad.
• The three-salary limit. In both cases the tax-free amount is also limited to three base salaries for your job, worked out for each month: three base salaries, divided by the number of working days in that month, multiplied by the number of days of your trip that fall in that month.
• Contributions. The same allowances, up to the same ceiling, are left out when social contributions are calculated (Fiscal Code, Article 142(g)).
• Date. The current wording of the tax rule applies to income from January 2023.

Bulgaria

• International trips. The ordinance on business trips abroad sets a daily amount for truck drivers on international trips in its Annex 3: up to EUR 50 a day when driving alone and up to EUR 45 a day in a two-driver crew, both including money for accommodation (Article 31(1) and Annex 3). These amounts apply from 19 November 2021. The head of the company may set different amounts, depending on the working conditions and how the international trips are organised (Article 31(6)). For drivers, the rate is linked to the kilometres driven and other measures in an order of the company head (Article 32(1)).
• Trips inside Bulgaria. The ordinance on business trips inside Bulgaria does not treat drivers who are doing their normal work on the road as being on a business trip (Article 6(1)), so its daily business-trip allowance does not apply to that work.
• Tax and contributions. Daily business-trip allowances are not taxed up to twice the amount set in the regulations (Personal Income Tax Act, Article 24(2), item 5(b)). No social contributions are due on them up to twice that amount either.

Poland

Transport inside Poland

• Who sets the rules. A driver on a business trip within Poland is entitled to allowances for its costs (Act on Drivers' Working Time, Article 21a). An employer that is not a state or local-government budgetary unit sets the rules in a collective agreement, its pay regulations or your employment contract. These may not set a daily rate below the daily rate for staff of those budgetary units for trips in Poland (in this guide, the public-sector rate). If none of them sets any rules, the public-sector rules apply (Labour Code, Article 77(5) § 2 to § 5).
• The public-sector rules. The daily rate is PLN 45 for a full day, from 1 January 2023. A trip of up to one day gives nothing under 8 hours, half the rate for 8 to 12 hours and the full rate over 12 hours. On a longer trip you get the full rate for each full day; for a started extra day, half the rate up to 8 hours and the full rate over 8 hours. You get nothing for the time you are sent to the place where you live permanently or temporarily. You also get nothing for a day off on a domestic trip of at least 10 days when your employer pays your travel to that place and back. You get nothing for a day when you are given free meals for the whole day. Free meals cut the rate: breakfast by 25 percent, lunch by 50 percent and dinner by 25 percent.
• Tax and contributions. Business-trip allowances up to the amounts in the public-sector rules are free of income tax and left out of the social contributions base.

International transport

A driver doing international transport is not on a business trip in the Labour Code sense (Act on Drivers' Working Time, Article 26f), so the business-trip rules above, including the PLN 45 rate, do not apply to that work. Instead, two fixed amounts apply for each day you spend abroad. Days of annual leave, sick leave and unpaid leave do not count (Article 26h(1)).

• Income tax. The equivalent of EUR 20 of your pay for each day abroad is free of income tax. So is money your employer repays you for the weekly-rest accommodation described in the EU rules above, and some other repayments listed in the act (Personal Income Tax Act, Article 21(1)(23d)).
• Social contributions. If your monthly income is above the average wage, meaning the forecast average monthly wage for the year, the equivalent of EUR 60 for each day abroad is left out of the base for social contributions, but the base may not fall below the average wage. In that case, the weekly-rest accommodation your employer repays you, and some other repayments listed in the act, are also left out of that base (Act on Drivers' Working Time, Article 26g).
• Short stays. For a stay abroad of less than 12 hours, both amounts are cut to one third for up to 8 hours, and to half for more than 8 and up to 12 hours (Article 26h(2)).

A quick reference

Germany

• Money for days away: These tax rules set limits on deductions and tax-free repayments; they do not require the employer to pay these amounts. Meal amounts in Germany: EUR 28 for 24 hours away; EUR 14 for the day you leave and the day you return, if you stay overnight away from home on that day, the day before or the day after; EUR 14 for over 8 hours away without an overnight stay (on a trip past midnight, for the day with most of the hours). Abroad: a rate for each country. Reduced for meals your employer provides or arranges, allowing for what you pay toward them; three-month limit at one place, restarting after a break of at least four weeks. EUR 9 a day for nights in the cab on qualifying days, if chosen for the whole year
• Free of income tax: If you work outside the public service: employer repayments of travel costs up to what you can deduct as work expenses (for meals, the meal amounts; for a work-related overnight stay away from your first place of work, such as a hotel, the necessary cost of using it yourself, capped after 48 months at one place)
• Left out of social contributions: Allowances paid on top of wages, so far as free of wage tax (the income tax taken off your wage) and left free of wage tax or taxed at a flat rate in the payroll for that pay period (for Sunday, holiday and night supplements, not the portion calculated on hourly pay above EUR 25)

Romania

• Money for days away: Delegation and posting allowances, including the transnational posting allowance and extra payments to mobile road transport workers
• Free of income tax: In Romania, up to 2.5 times the allowance set for public-sector staff. Abroad, up to 2.5 times the daily allowance set for Romanian public staff on temporary missions abroad. Either way, at most three base salaries divided by the month's working days, times the trip days in that month
• Left out of social contributions: Up to that same ceiling

Bulgaria

• Money for days away: International: up to EUR 50 alone and up to EUR 45 in a two-driver crew, accommodation included; the company head may set different amounts, and the drivers' rate is linked to the kilometres driven and other measures in an order of the company head. Inside Bulgaria: drivers doing their normal work are not on a business trip
• Free of income tax: Up to twice the regulated amount
• Left out of social contributions: Up to twice the regulated amount

Poland

• Money for days away: Inside Poland: set by the employer's rules, at a daily rate not below the public-sector rate (PLN 45 for a full day, less for short trips and meals you are given, and nothing under 8 hours on a trip of up to one day, for the time you are sent to the place where you live permanently or temporarily, for a day off at home on a trip of at least 10 days when the employer pays that travel, or for a day of free meals); the public-sector rules apply if the employer's rules set none. International: not a business trip, no daily allowance under these rules
• Free of income tax: Inside Poland: up to the public-sector amounts. International: the equivalent of EUR 20 per qualifying day abroad, plus repaid weekly-rest accommodation and some other repayments listed in the act
• Left out of social contributions: Inside Poland: up to the public-sector amounts. International: if your monthly income is above the average wage, the equivalent of EUR 60 per qualifying day abroad, plus repaid weekly-rest accommodation and some other repayments listed in the act; the base may not fall below the average wage

For Poland, a qualifying day abroad does not include annual leave, sick leave or unpaid leave, and a stay of less than 12 hours counts as one third for up to 8 hours and as half for more than 8 and up to 12 hours.

What to do next

Before you sign, ask the employer to put three things in writing: your gross monthly salary, the money you get for days away and how it is calculated, and how many days a month it is paid for. Ask which part of any posting allowance repays costs and which part is pay: if the terms that apply to your job do not say, the whole allowance is treated as repayment of costs. Ask where you will take your regular weekly rest and who pays for the accommodation. And do not accept pay linked to kilometres, delivery speed or load if it endangers road safety or pushes you to break the driving and rest rules: that kind of payment is not allowed.

When you are ready, compare employers on our truck driver jobs page, and read our guide to EU driving hours and rest rules.

Sources

• Directive 96/71/EC on the posting of workers, as amended by Directive (EU) 2018/957. Consolidated text of 30 July 2020, EUR-Lex, CELEX 01996L0071-20200730. Articles 2(1), 3(1), 3(7) and 3(8). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:01996L0071-20200730
• Directive (EU) 2020/1057 laying down specific rules for posting drivers in the road transport sector. EUR-Lex, CELEX 32020L1057. Article 1(3), 1(5), 1(6) and 1(7), Article 9, recitals 12 and 13. https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:32020L1057
• Regulation (EC) No 561/2006, consolidated text of 31 December 2024, EUR-Lex, CELEX 02006R0561-20241231. Articles 8(8) and 10(1). https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX:02006R0561-20241231
• Germany: Einkommensteuergesetz § 3 no. 16, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__3.html; Einkommensteuergesetz § 9(1) sentence 3 no. 5a and no. 5b and § 9(4a), https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/estg/__9.html; Sozialversicherungsentgeltverordnung § 1, https://www.gesetze-im-internet.de/svev/__1.html
• Romania: Fiscal Code (Law 227/2015), Articles 76 and 142, annotated edition published by the National Agency for Fiscal Administration, https://static.anaf.ro/static/10/Anaf/legislatie/Cod_fiscal_norme_2023.htm; Government Ordinance 16/2022, Article IX, https://static.anaf.ro/static/10/Anaf/legislatie/OG_16_2022.pdf; Government Decision 38/2008 on the working time of persons performing mobile road transport activities.
• Bulgaria: Ordinance on business trips and specialisations abroad, Articles 31 and 32 and Annex 3, https://www.mlsp.government.bg/uploads/37/politiki/trud/zakonodatelstvo/2024/nsksch23.pdf; Council of Ministers Decree No. 390 of 17 November 2021, State Gazette No. 97 of 2021, https://dv.parliament.bg/DVWeb/showMaterialDV.jsp?idMat=165097; Ordinance on business trips in the country, Article 6, https://aksu.government.bg/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/naredba_za_komandirovkite_v_stranata-1.pdf; Personal Income Tax Act, Article 24(2), https://www.mlsp.government.bg/uploads/15/spitao/dokumenti/pravilnitsi/za-dantsite-vrkhu-dokhodite-na-fizicheskite-litsa.pdf; Ordinance on the elements of remuneration and income subject to insurance contributions, Article 1(8), https://www.noi.bg/wp-content/uploads/NEVDPOV.pdf
• Poland: Act on Drivers' Working Time, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 477, Articles 2, 21a, 26f, 26g and 26h, https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2026/477/text.pdf; Personal Income Tax Act, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 592, Article 21(1)(16) and (23d), https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2026/592/text.pdf; Labour Code, consolidated text Dz.U. 2026 poz. 1245, Article 77(5), https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2026/1245/text.pdf; Regulation on business-trip allowances, consolidated text Dz.U. 2023 poz. 2190, § 7 and § 10, https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2023/2190/text.pdf, and amending regulation Dz.U. 2022 poz. 2302, https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2022/2302/text.pdf; Regulation on the social insurance contributions base, consolidated text Dz.U. 2025 poz. 316, § 2(1)(15), https://api.sejm.gov.pl/eli/acts/DU/2025/316/text.pdf