Meals and incidental expenses, the per diem category known as M&IE, include two things: your food and non-alcoholic drinks during business travel (with sales tax and server tips folded in), and a small flat amount for tips to porters, bellhops, and hotel housekeeping. For fiscal year 2026, the standard M&IE rate across the continental United States is $68 per day, with higher tiers up to $92 in expensive cities.1General Services Administration. GSA Per Diem Bulletin FTR 26-01 Everything else you spend on the road — the hotel, the taxi, the dry cleaner, the movie in your room — sits outside M&IE and is handled separately.
What the Meals Portion Covers
The meals side pays for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks, whether you eat at a restaurant, hit a drive-through, or buy groceries at a convenience store. Sales tax on your food and the tip you leave the server are both included, so you don’t need to break those out when you total your spending.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses
Alcohol is the exclusion that catches people. The Federal Travel Regulation defines meals as food, non-alcoholic beverages, and related taxes and tips, and specifically leaves out alcoholic drinks and entertainment.3eCFR. 41 CFR Part 300-1 – Glossary of Terms Federal employees who order a beer with dinner pay for it themselves. Many private employers mirror the rule, though only federal travelers are technically bound by it.
GSA splits the meals allowance into per-meal amounts. At the $68 standard tier, breakfast is $16, lunch is $19, and dinner is $28.4General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns Those figures matter when a conference or a host provides one of your meals, because that’s the amount that comes off your daily allowance.
What Incidental Expenses Cover
Incidentals are narrower than most travelers assume. The category covers tips and fees paid to porters, baggage carriers, bellhops, hotel housekeeping staff, and similar service workers on ships. That is the whole list.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses The incidentals rate is a flat $5 per day, the same everywhere in the world regardless of which M&IE tier applies to the location.5Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-54, Special Per Diem Rates
Server tips at a restaurant are not incidentals. They belong to the meals category, along with the food and tax. The incidentals bucket only covers gratuities to the people handling your bags or servicing your room. Keeping those two straight matters when you reconcile a trip, because mixing them leads to double-counting.
When every meal is furnished but you still need to tip a bellhop or leave something for housekeeping, the IRS allows an incidentals-only per diem of $5 per day.5Internal Revenue Service. Notice 2025-54, Special Per Diem Rates
What M&IE Does Not Cover
Several major travel costs are handled outside the M&IE allowance:
- Lodging. Hotels have their own per diem category with location-specific maximums.
- Transportation. Taxi fares, ride-share fees, rental cars, and public transit are reimbursed separately. Tips to cab and ride-share drivers are part of the transportation cost, not part of incidentals.
- Laundry and dry cleaning. Excluded from M&IE for travel within the continental United States.
- Entertainment and personal purchases. Movie rentals, souvenirs, and similar discretionary spending are not reimbursable.
The driver-tip point trips travelers up regularly. A gratuity to a cab driver goes on the transportation line, not the M&IE line. The Foreign Affairs Manual caps taxi tips at 20 percent of the reimbursable fare for federal travelers.6U.S. Department of State. 14 FAM 560 – Allowable Travel and Miscellaneous Expenses Private employers set their own tip policies, but the categorization is the same.
When a Meal Is Provided
If your employer, a conference, or a government host furnishes a meal, the per diem is reduced by the specific value of that meal. At the $68 tier, a provided breakfast takes $16 off the day, a provided lunch takes $19, and a provided dinner takes $28.4General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns The deduction applies when the meal is baked into a conference registration fee or served directly by the government.
Two exceptions keep this from getting unfair. A complimentary breakfast offered to all guests at your hotel does not reduce your per diem, and neither does a meal served by a common carrier such as an airline.7eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 – Subsistence Expenses The reductions also can’t cut your reimbursement below the $5 incidentals floor, so you’ll always receive at least that amount on a travel day, even if every meal is furnished.
There is a narrow exception for travelers who can’t eat a provided meal because of a medical condition or a religious dietary requirement. If you know about the meal in advance, request approval before the trip, and make a reasonable effort to arrange an alternative, your agency may allow the full M&IE rate despite the furnished meal.7eCFR. 41 CFR Part 301-11 – Subsistence Expenses
First Day, Last Day, and the Overnight Threshold
On the first and last calendar days of a trip, the M&IE allowance drops to 75 percent of the applicable daily rate. At the $68 standard tier, that means $51 rather than the full amount.4General Services Administration. M&IE Breakdowns The idea is that you’re home for part of those days and eating fewer meals on the road.
A more basic threshold comes before any rate calculation. The trip has to be long enough to require sleep or rest away from home. The IRS won’t allow per diem for day trips, no matter how many hours the drive runs. You must be away from your tax home long enough that you need to stop and get necessary sleep to perform your work, and napping in your car at a rest stop doesn’t count.2Internal Revenue Service. Publication 463 (2025), Travel, Gift, and Car Expenses A truck driver who leaves the terminal in the morning and returns the same evening cannot claim M&IE, even after a twelve-hour day.
A Quick Recap
M&IE is a two-part daily allowance. The meals part pays for what you eat and drink (minus alcohol) plus the tax and the tip you leave the server. The incidentals part is a flat $5 for tips to porters, bellhops, and hotel housekeeping. Lodging, transportation, driver tips, laundry, and entertainment live outside the allowance and are reimbursed on their own terms. Furnished meals reduce the daily amount by the specific value of the meal, first and last travel days pay at 75 percent, and there is no M&IE at all unless the trip is long enough to require overnight rest.