Does every Austrian employee have a legal right to the 13th and 14th salary?

Austrian employment contracts typically include two additional monthly salary payments — the holiday bonus and Christmas bonus. These are a legally recognised part of Austrian compensation, provided for in collective bargaining agreements (Kollektivverträge) covering most industries. Over 95 percent of Austrian workers are covered by collective agreements that set minimum wages for their industry. These are negotiated between trade unions and employer associations and are legally binding. If your Kollektivvertrag includes Sonderzahlungen — and the vast majority do — your employer cannot simply choose not to pay them.

What exactly is the Jahressechstel and how do I calculate it?

The Jahressechstel is the threshold up to which special payments are taxed preferentially. Its legal basis is § 67 EStG. The Jahressechstel corresponds roughly to two average gross monthly salaries. At each payment of a special bonus, the Jahressechstel is recalculated using this formula: sum of all regular pay received so far this year, divided by the number of months elapsed, multiplied by 12, then divided by 6. If your total Sonderzahlungen stay within that figure, you pay 6 percent. Anything above is taxed like regular income.

What are Austria's income tax brackets for 2026 after the inflation adjustment?

The tax-free threshold for 2026 is **€13,541** (increased 1.73 percent for inflation). Rates are: 0 percent up to €13,541; **20 percent** from €13,541 to €21,992; **30 percent** from €21,992 to €36,458; **40 percent** from €36,458 to €70,365; **48 percent** from €70,

Austria 2026: Two Extra Salaries Taxed at Only 6% — Did Your Employer Tell You?

Austrian employees typically receive a 13th month salary (Urlaubsgeld — holiday pay) and a 14th month salary (Weihnachtsgeld — Christmas bonus). These Sonderzahlungen are taxed at a flat 6 percent rate rather than the marginal Lohnsteuer rate — and that single fact can mean thousands of euros of difference in your pocket every year. Most workers in Austria collect this benefit automatically and never think twice about it. But here is what most people never find out: if your employer has structured your contract the wrong way, or if you changed jobs during the year, you could be losing every cent of that advantage right now.

The Hidden Tax Privilege Thousands of Austrian Workers Never Fully Claim

Your regular monthly salary is taxed progressively. Rates run from 0 percent up to €13,541, then 20 percent from €13,541 to €21,992, then 30 percent from €21,992 to €36,458, then 40 percent from €36,458 to €70,365, then 48 percent from €70,365 to €104,859, then 50 percent from €104,859 to €1,000,000, and 55 percent above €1 million. If you earn a mid-range salary of, say, €3,000 a month, a significant chunk of every regular payslip disappears at 30 or 40 percent tax. That is the painful reality of Austria's Einkommensteuer.

But your 13th and 14th salary? Completely different story. Austrian employees normally receive 14 monthly payments per year — twelve regular salaries plus the holiday bonus (Urlaubsgeld) in summer and the Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsgeld) in November. These special payments (Sonderzahlungen) get a separate, much lower tax schedule within an annual cap called the Jahressechstel (one sixth of the year's wages). Source: § 67 EStG, BMF Tax Book 2026.

Here is where workers get caught out. The 6 percent rate is not automatic for everyone in every situation. Some employers, especially international companies, offer an "all-in" contract without separate Sonderzahlungen. This is taxed entirely at progressive rates. Always check whether your contract includes the 13th and 14th payments — losing them has a significant tax cost. Do not leave this money on the table.

What the Law Actually Says

The legal basis is § 67 of the Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG) 1988 — confirmed as current law as of 3 July 2026. It states: where an employee receives special payments (for example 13th and 14th monthly salary, bonuses) from the same employer alongside regular wages, the Lohnsteuer on those special payments within the Jahressechstel shall be: 0 percent on the first €620, then 6 percent on the next €24,380. The law then applies 27 percent and 35.75 percent to higher tranches, specifically 27 percent on the next €25,000 and 35.75 percent on the next €33,333.

The Jahressechstel is the threshold up to which special payments receive this preferential taxation. Its legal basis is § 67 EStG. The Jahressechstel corresponds roughly to the value of two average gross monthly salaries. Within this limit, Sonderzahlungen are taxed at these fixed rates — primarily 6 percent — a considerable advantage over the regular tariff of up to 55 percent.

Special payments can be taxed preferentially up to an amount that normally equals two average monthly salaries. Within this preferential taxation, a tax-free allowance of €620 and a Freigrenze (minimum threshold) of €2,615 apply — the Freigrenze was raised for 2026. If your entire Jahressechstel falls below €2,615, you pay zero tax on the Sonderzahlungen at all.

The Real Numbers for 2026

Every figure in this table was verified from official Austrian government sources and authoritative 2026 publications during the production of this article.

Category	Figure	Source
Tax-free allowance per year on Sonderzahlungen	€620	§ 67 EStG, BMF Tax Book 2026
Flat tax rate on Sonderzahlungen (within Jahressechstel)	6 percent	§ 67 EStG 1988
Freigrenze (full exemption if Jahressechstel is below this)	€2,615	§ 67 EStG, raised for 2026
Income tax-free threshold (regular income, 2026)	€13,541	BMF (adjusted +1.7333 percent from 1 Jan 2026)
Bracket adjustment factor applied 1 January 2026	+1.7333 percent	BMF inflation ordinance, autumn 2025
Employee social security rate — regular pay	18.07 percent	Federal Ministry of Finance / ASVG 2026
Employee social security rate — Sonderzahlungen	17.07 percent	ASVG 2026
Employer social security rate	20.98 percent	Federal Ministry of Finance 2026
Monthly contribution ceiling (Höchstbeitragsgrundlage)	€6,930	usp.gv.at (official)
Annual Sonderzahlungen contribution ceiling	€13,860	ASVG 2026
Verkehrsabsetzbetrag (commuter tax credit)	€496	BMF 2026
Familienbonus Plus (per child per year)	€2,000	BMF 2026
Regular income top rate (below €1M)	50 percent	§ 33 EStG / BMF 2026

For most employees, the bulk of the 13th and 14th salary lands in the 6 percent band, with the first €620 per year tax-free. It is one of the structural reasons why net pay in Austria looks better than the marginal rates suggest. Put simply: if you earn €3,000 gross per month, you receive two extra payments of €3,000 each in June and November. So if you earn €3,000 per month gross, you receive 14 payments per year totalling €42,000 gross annually — not 12 × €3,000 = €36,000. The tax hit on those two extra months? Almost nothing compared to what you would pay on a regular payslip. This advantage can represent savings of €2,000–€5,000 per year for an average salary.

Use the EuroDuty salary calculator to see your exact net figure for both regular months and your Sonderzahlungen months in 2026.

What Your Employer Will Never Tell You

Here is the first thing most workers miss. From 1 January 2026, Austria's wage tax brackets shifted upward by 1.7333 percent — two thirds of the BMF's measured inflation rate of 2.6 percent. This is the third and final phase of the automatic indexation that ended cold progression (Kalte Progression). That means every bracket threshold went up, and you should be paying slightly less tax on your regular monthly salary than last year. Did your payslip change? If not, ask your HR department.

The second thing no one tells you is that the Sonderzahlungen rate also applies to certain other payments beyond just the holiday and Christmas bonuses. The category of "sonstige Bezüge" (special payments) includes: the holiday allowance (Urlaubsgeld, 13th salary) and the Christmas remuneration (Weihnachtsgeld, 14th salary). Certain performance bonuses and one-off payments can also fall inside the Jahressechstel and receive the 6 percent rate — if your employer structures them correctly. Most do not, because it requires deliberate payroll setup.

Third — and this is critical if you changed jobs this year. If you had multiple employers in the calendar year, a Sonderzahlungs-Aufrollung (re-calculation) can occur. In this case, it is checked whether the sum of all special payments exceeds the Jahressechstel limit, which can lead to additional taxation. The fix? File your Arbeitnehmerveranlagung (employee tax assessment) via FinanzOnline at finanz.gv.at. The system will reconcile everything and may well hand you money back.

Here are three specific actions you can take right now:

Check your payslip for the line marked "Sonderzahlungen" or "sonstige Bezüge" — the tax rate on those lines should read 6 percent, not your regular marginal rate. If it says anything else, your employer has made an error or structured your contract incorrectly.
Read your Kollektivvertrag (collective agreement) — find it at the WKO database at wko.at/kollektivvertrag — to confirm you are entitled to both the 13th and 14th salary and when they must be paid.
File your Arbeitnehmerveranlagung via FinanzOnline (finanz.gv.at). Anyone claiming income-related expenses, special expenses, extraordinary burdens, the commuter allowance, or the Familienbonus gets money back. Filing is also smart after a job change, parental leave, or any year with uneven income. The deadline is up to five years retroactively via FinanzOnline.

Austria vs The Rest of Europe

Austria has no statutory minimum wage: wages are set mainly through sectoral collective agreements, which are binding even for non-union workers. Coverage is broad. By 2026, most CBAs set entry-level minimums at €1,800 to €2,000 or higher. Germany, by contrast, has a single statutory national floor: from 1 January 2026, the minimum wage in Germany is €13.90 euros gross per hour. For full-time work, that equates to €2,409 euros per month. On the surface those look comparable — but the critical difference is what happens at bonus time. Germany has no equivalent of the Sonderzahlungen system built into statute. German workers pay full progressive income tax on any bonus or 13th salary their employer chooses to pay, unless a specific tarifvertrag (collective agreement) applies. For a German worker earning €2,409 a month and receiving a 13th salary, that bonus is taxed at the same marginal rate as regular income — potentially 42 percent under Germany's Einkommensteuer. An Austrian worker earning a similar amount would pay just 6 percent on the same payment. That is the real competitive edge of the Austrian system.

Austria's tax system includes unique features that distinguish it from other countries: the 14-month salary system, automatic inflation adjustment of tax brackets, comprehensive social insurance, and employee-friendly regulations. Since 2023 every bracket except the top one above €1,000,000 has been raised automatically by two thirds of the measured inflation rate. For 2026 this comes to 1.7333 percent. No other neighboring country matches this automatic cold-progression elimination. It means Austrian workers are structurally protected against real wage erosion in a way that German, Italian, or Spanish workers simply are not. Use the EuroDuty salary comparator to see exactly where your salary sits against workers in any other EU country.

How to Claim What You Are Owed

Verify your contract type immediately. Austrian employment contracts typically include two additional monthly salary payments — the holiday bonus (Urlaubsgeld) and Christmas bonus (Weihnachtsgeld). These are a legally recognised part of Austrian compensation, provided for in collective bargaining agreements (Kollektivverträge) covering most industries. If your contract says "all-in" with no separate Sonderzahlungen, contact your union or the Arbeiterkammer (ak.or.at) immediately.
Cross-check your payslips in June and November. On your Sonderzahlungen payslip, look for the line labelled "Lohnsteuer sonstige Bezüge" — the tax rate must be 6 percent, not your regular bracket rate. If it is wrong, raise it with your payroll department in writing and request a correction on your annual Lohnzettel.
File your Arbeitnehmerveranlagung every year — without exception. File online via FinanzOnline (finanz.gv.at) by 30 June, or paper filing by 30 April. Employees with only wage income do not need to file if wage tax is fully withheld, but can file voluntarily for refunds. The refund is especially likely if you worked part of the year, changed jobs, or have commuting costs.
Claim the Pendlereuro if you commute. From 2026, the Pendlereuro is €6 per year per kilometre of commute (tripled from €2). Submit Form L34a (available from the BMF Pendlerrechner at bmf.gv.at) directly to your employer so the deduction is applied monthly — not just when you file annually.
Check the Familienbonus Plus if you have children. The Family Bonus Plus (€2,000 per child per year) is a direct tax credit — it reduces your tax bill, not your income. It must be actively claimed on Form E30 at your employer or via FinanzOnline. Many parents miss it entirely.
Consult the Arbeiterkammer (AK) for free. If you suspect your employer has not paid your 13th or 14th salary correctly, or has structured your contract to deprive you of the Sonderzahlungen benefit, the AK (ak.or.at) provides free, confidential legal advice to every Austrian employee. This is not a hotline — these are qualified lawyers working on your behalf at no cost.