The GSA M&IE Breakdown, Explained
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In this guide
M&IE looks like a single number on a rate table — $68, $74, $80 — but underneath it, GSA actually publishes a full breakdown by meal. That breakdown matters the moment any part of a trip includes a free meal, because the rules require you to deduct it, and you can only do that accurately if you know what each meal is worth.
TL;DR
GSA splits every M&IE rate tier into four components — breakfast, lunch, dinner and a flat $5 incidentals allowance — that add up to the published daily total. When a meal is provided free of charge, deduct only that meal's specific value from the day's M&IE claim; the $5 incidentals portion is never deducted, even if all three meals are covered.
Why GSA publishes a meal-by-meal breakdown at all
M&IE isn't a single monolithic number — GSA publishes a granular breakdown so travellers can deduct any meal that was provided at no cost, for example a conference lunch, a hotel's complimentary breakfast, or a client dinner picked up by someone else. Without that breakdown, there would be no fair way to adjust a per diem claim downward when part of the day's food was already paid for by someone other than the traveller.
The FY2026 M&IE tiers in full
| Total M&IE | Breakfast | Lunch | Dinner | Incidentals | First/last day (75%) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $68 | $16 | $19 | $28 | $5 | $51.00 |
| $74 | $18 | $20 | $31 | $5 | $55.50 |
| $80 | $20 | $22 | $33 | $5 | $60.00 |
| $86 | $22 | $23 | $36 | $5 | $64.50 |
| $92 | $23 | $26 | $38 | $5 | $69.00 |
FY2026 GSA M&IE breakdown by rate tier
The $68 tier is the standard CONUS rate that applies to any destination not separately listed by GSA — see our guide to the standard CONUS rate for when that fallback kicks in. Higher-cost cities are assigned one of the higher tiers based on GSA's annual lodging-and-meal-cost survey.
How to deduct a provided meal
If a meal is provided at no cost to you, subtract exactly that meal's published amount from the day's M&IE total — not a flat percentage, and not an estimate. On the standard $68 tier, a conference-provided lunch means deducting $19, leaving $49 in claimable M&IE for that day. The $5 incidental portion always stays in the claim, even when all three meals — breakfast, lunch and dinner — are provided free of charge, because incidentals cover tips and small fees that a provided meal doesn't touch.
Stacking the 75% rule on top
On your first and last day of travel, the whole M&IE figure — including any meal deductions — is calculated at 75% of the full rate first, and then reduced further for any provided meal on that specific day. Our dedicated guide to the 75% first-and-last-day rule walks through exactly how the two adjustments combine, since doing them in the wrong order is a common source of small claim errors.
“The M&IE rate for the day of departure or the day of return is 75 percent of the applicable M&IE rate, without regard to the hour of departure or the hour of return.”
— U.S. General Services Administration, gsa.gov
Why this level of detail matters for compliance
Getting the breakdown right isn't just pedantry — as we cover in is per diem taxable?, any claim that exceeds the properly-adjusted federal rate risks having the excess treated as taxable wages rather than a tax-free reimbursement. Using our M&IE calculator removes the manual arithmetic: pick a destination and mark which meals were provided, and it returns both the full and reduced totals automatically.
How much of my per diem is for meals versus incidentals?
It varies by rate tier, but at the standard $68 rate it splits as $16 breakfast, $19 lunch, $28 dinner and $5 incidentals.
Do I deduct the full meal amount if it was only partially covered?
GSA's guidance is based on the meal being provided at no cost; if you paid a partial cost yourself, most employer policies expect the meal to still be treated as provided and deducted, though exact treatment can vary by company policy.
Is the $5 incidentals amount ever deducted?
No — the incidentals portion is retained in full regardless of how many meals were provided, because it covers tips and small fees unrelated to food.
Does the meal breakdown change with the 75% first/last-day rule?
Yes — on travel days, the whole M&IE figure (and any meal deduction within it) is calculated against the reduced 75% total rather than the full daily rate.
Calculate it now
Use the free GSA per diem and IRS mileage calculators.