Austrian Employer Rates and Thresholds 2026

Austrian employers pay social security for salaried employees at 20.98% (pension, health, unemployment, accident, housing promotion and insolvency protection), up to a ceiling of €6,930 a month on regular pay and €13,860 a year on special payments. On top come the severance fund contribution and three payroll taxes charged on all pay with no ceiling.

Special payments (the 13th and 14th salaries under most collective agreements) are part of the contribution base, within their own ceiling.

Employer contributions and payroll taxes for a full year at 2026 rates, for a salaried employee in Vienna paid 14 equal salaries:

• Austria has no statutory minimum wage. Minimum pay is set by collective agreements for each sector or occupation, which cover about 95% of employees and can't be undercut by contract.
• There is no statutory entitlement to special payments. They are due if the collective agreement provides for them, and most collective agreements provide a holiday bonus and a Christmas bonus, the so-called 13th and 14th salaries. Employees joining or leaving during the year get a pro-rata share.
• 30 working days of paid leave a year (5 weeks on a six-day week count), rising to 36 after 25 years of service. In the first six months, leave accrues pro rata; after that, the full entitlement applies, and from the second year it arises at the start of each working year.
• 13 public holidays: 1 January, 6 January, Easter Monday, 1 May, Ascension Day, Whit Monday, Corpus Christi, 15 August, 26 October, 1 November, 8 December, 25 December and 26 December.
• Normal working time is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week. Including overtime, working time may not exceed 12 hours a day and 60 hours a week.
• A salaried employee keeps full pay for up to 6 weeks of illness, rising to 8 weeks after one year of service, 10 weeks after 15 years and 12 weeks after 25 years, followed by 4 weeks at half pay.

• A probationary period of up to one month can be agreed, during which either side can end the employment at any time.
• Unless more favourable terms are agreed, the employer must give 6 weeks' notice, rising to 2 months after 2 years of service, 3 months after 5, 4 months after 15 and 5 months after 25, to the end of a calendar quarter. The contract can allow notice to end on the 15th or last day of a month instead. Employees give one month's notice to the end of a month.
• Under the 'new severance' system, the employer pays 1.53% of pay, including special payments, into an employee severance fund each month, instead of paying severance itself when employment ends.
• Making workers available to a third party for work is labour leasing, judged by its real economic substance. It is a regulated trade requiring proof of qualification, and leased workers are entitled to appropriate pay that takes into account what comparable employees at the user's business receive.

Changes to these rates and rules, newest first. Every country is covered in our law changes tracker.

• From 1 January 2028: Austrian family fund contribution (DB) falls to 2.7%. Under § 41(5) of the Family Burdens Equalisation Act, the employer's contribution to the family fund (Dienstgeberbeitrag) falls from 3.7% to 2.7% of pay from the 2028 calendar year.
• From 1 January 2027: Austrian contribution ceiling gets an extra €5 a day in 2027. The Budget Accompanying Act 2027-2028 sets the 2027 daily contribution ceiling at €231 multiplied by the 2027 revaluation factor plus €5 (about €150 a month on top of indexation), and adds €1.67 a day in 2028. The 2027 revaluation factor hasn't been published yet.