14 salaries in Austria: why pay arrives in 14 instalments and how it is taxed

No Austrian statute grants a 13th or 14th salary. The trade union federation ÖGB states the position plainly: there are no statutory pay rises and no statutory holiday or Christmas money in Austria. Both bonuses come from the Kollektivverträge (collective agreements), of which there are more than 800, negotiated sector by sector between employer and employee bodies.

Those agreements cover 98% of employees, so in practice almost every Austrian job carries both payments. When an employer is bound by a collective agreement that includes them, they are an entitlement, not a discretionary bonus, and an individual contract cannot drop them. That is why a standard Austrian hire cannot be offered twelve salaries in place of fourteen.

The names say what each payment was originally meant for. The Urlaubszuschuss (holiday bonus, usually counted as the 14th salary) is linked to the summer holidays. The Weihnachtsremuneration (Christmas bonus, the 13th salary) is linked to the end of the year. Together they are called Sonderzahlungen (special payments) in payroll language, or sonstige Bezüge in tax law.

For a foreign employer, the first consequence is about benchmarking. Salary surveys and job adverts in Austria quote gross annual pay, or monthly pay that everyone understands to be multiplied by 14. Comparing an Austrian monthly figure with a monthly figure from a twelve-payment country makes Austrian pay look about 14% lower than it is. Compare annual totals, always.

Because the bonuses come from collective agreements, the agreement that applies sets how much each one is and when it is paid. Payroll has to read the actual text for the sector rather than assume a rule. Our guide to minimum pay in Austria explains how a hire is placed in an agreement and a grade.

In the cost examples on this site, we assume the common pattern of one full monthly salary for each, with the holiday bonus in June and the Christmas bonus in November. On that basis a €60,000 salary is paid as 14 instalments of €4,285.71: twelve regular months, plus a 13th and 14th payment of the same size.

The grade tables in the agreements are usually monthly amounts that are paid 14 times. In the 2026 IT agreement, grade ST1 starts at €3,267 per month. Multiplied by 14, that is a minimum of €45,738 a year, which is the figure to compare with a candidate’s salary expectation, not €3,267 × 12.

When employment starts or ends mid-year, the agreement’s own wording decides what is owed, so ask for the exact clause whenever a start or end date falls between the two payment months.

Special payments are taxed under § 67 of the Income Tax Act at fixed rates, separately from regular salary. The concession is limited by the Jahressechstel (annual sixth): regular pay received so far in the year, divided by the months elapsed, multiplied by two. Put simply, special payments of up to about two months’ pay a year qualify. Within that limit, and after deducting the employee’s social insurance on the bonus, the rates in 2026 are:

• the first €620: 0%;
• the next €24,380: 6%;
• the next €25,000: 27%;
• the next €33,333: 35.75%;
• anything beyond those slices, or above the annual sixth: the normal progressive tariff.

For most salaries, the whole of the two bonuses fits into the first two slices, so the effective rate is a little under 6%. The 27% and 35.75% slices only come into play for special payments well into five figures. There is also an exemption limit: if the year’s special payments total less than €2,615, no tax is due on them at all.

Compare that with regular salary, where the marginal rate for someone on €60,000 is 40%. The two extra payments are the most lightly taxed part of the Austrian pay package, and that, more than tradition, is why employees and employers both prefer to keep salaries in fourteenths. The rules are set out on the Economic Chamber’s page on special payments.

The annual sixth works neatly for a steady salary. In the €60,000 example, by June the employee has received five regular payments, so the sixth is five months’ pay divided by five and doubled: exactly two instalments. The June bonus fits inside it, and by November so does the Christmas bonus. Where a salary rose sharply during the year, or a further one-off bonus is planned on top of the two standard ones, part of the special payments can fall outside the sixth and be taxed at the normal rate instead. Ask payroll to check before promising a bonus as tax-efficient.

Social insurance applies to the special payments too, at slightly lower rates. The housing levy and the Chamber of Labour levy are not charged on them, so in 2026 the employee pays 17.07% instead of 18.07%, and the employer 20.48% instead of 20.98%.

The ceiling for special payments is separate from the monthly one. Contributions are charged on special payments of up to €13,860 a year in 2026, rising to €14,820 from 1 January 2027. For anyone earning below the monthly ceiling of €6,930, the bonus ceiling makes no difference.

The employer-only charges do not offer any discount. Severance funding at 1.53%, DB at 3.7%, DZ and Kommunalsteuer at 3% are each charged on total gross, bonuses included. From the employer’s side, then, a euro paid as a bonus costs almost the same as a euro paid as salary. The saving is on the employee’s side, through the 6% tax rate. Our page on social insurance in Austria covers the contributions in more detail.

One small advantage follows from the separate ceiling. A senior employee earning above €6,930 a month stops paying social insurance on regular pay at that level, but the bonus ceiling of €13,860 a year is exactly two months at the monthly ceiling. So for high earners the special payments are capped in step with the monthly salary, and neither side pays contributions on the part of a bonus above it.

Imagine a Vienna-based salaried employee whose 2026 pay is €60,000, single and without children, paid 14 × €4,285.71. Each regular month brings a net payment of about €2,865. Each of the two special payments brings about €3,359, roughly €500 more from exactly the same gross amount.

Over the year, the two special payments total €8,571.43. Employee social insurance on them is €1,463.14. After the €620 tax-free slice, the remaining amount is taxed at 6%, giving about €389 of wage tax on both bonuses together. The twelve regular payments, by contrast, carry about €7,753 of wage tax.

The full annual result is a net income of about €41,102 and an employer cost of about €77,805, with every step shown in the full Vienna calculation. Payroll software rounds differently in places, so treat the figures as approximate. They also assume no children, no commuter allowance and no benefits in kind; any of those would move the result, so a real payslip can differ from it by more than rounding.

For cash planning, the important point is that June and November roughly double the gross payroll for that employee. The social insurance, levies and wage tax for those months fall due on the 15th of July and the 15th of December respectively, so those two months carry larger remittances as well.

Austrian candidates usually talk in gross annual terms or in monthly terms paid 14 times. Confusion starts when a foreign employer quotes a monthly figure and assumes twelve payments. A candidate who hears €5,000 a month will multiply by 14 and expect €70,000. Agree on an annual gross figure first, and divide by 14 to get the instalment.

Several legal thresholds also depend on whether special payments are included, and they are not consistent:

• the Red-White-Red Card minimum for other key workers is €3,465 gross a month in 2026, plus special payments;
• the EU Blue Card minimum is €55,678 gross a year in 2026, special payments included;
• the non-compete threshold of €4,620 gross refers to the last monthly salary, with special payments excluded.

Reading a threshold in the wrong unit can sink a permit application or make a contract clause void. Our articles on the Red-White-Red Card in 2026 and on non-competes in Austria deal with each of these in turn.

The same care applies when a candidate compares two offers. One employer might quote €4,500 a month, another €60,000 a year. Multiplied by 14, the first is €63,000, so it is the higher offer, even though €4,500 × 12 would suggest €54,000. Putting every figure in annual terms removes the guesswork.

Choose Employer of Record Austria for an Austrian hire and the 14-instalment structure is built into the contract and the payroll from the first month. We place the job in the relevant collective agreement, state the salary as 14 payments, pay the bonuses on the agreement’s dates and apply the special tax and contribution rules to them.

What you see is a monthly invoice that is higher in the bonus months, with the reason shown, rather than a single flat amount. As for what we charge, the monthly amount for each hire begins at €599; the pricing page has the detail.

For a company new to Austria, the practical steps are short:

• quote an annual gross salary and divide it by 14 for the instalment;
• check it against the collective agreement grade minimum multiplied by 14;
• plan cash flow for heavier payroll in June and November, and larger remittances in July and December;
• read every legal threshold for whether special payments are in or out.

US employers will find a broader version of this planning in our guide for US companies hiring in Austria.