Hiring employees in Austria from Switzerland or Germany

A Swiss or German company can employ someone who works in Austria without an Austrian subsidiary, but Austrian rules still expect the employer to act. The main steps are registering the person with the Österreichische Gesundheitskasse (ÖGK) through ELDA before work starts, choosing an Austrian wage-tax route (voluntary withholding or a Lohnbescheinigung on form L 17), handing over a Dienstzettel and paying at least the Kollektivvertrag (collective-agreement) level. Commuting, telework and short postings change the route, through an A1 certificate, a ZKO3 posting notification or a tax-treaty rule. An Employer of Record (EOR) is one model to compare, not a default.

Quick answer

Is this a local hire, commuter, teleworker or posting?

Record where the person lives, their nationality, every place where they physically work, the expected split of days and whether they already work for your company.

• A local hire lives and works in Austria on an ongoing basis.
• A cross-border commuter lives in Germany or Switzerland and works at a workplace in Austria.
• A teleworker lives in Austria and works for a German or Swiss workplace, partly or mostly from home.
• A posted worker keeps an existing employment with your company and works in Austria for a limited time.

For the reverse direction, see hiring in Germany from Switzerland, from Austria, and hiring in Switzerland from Germany or from Austria.

How do you register an employee with Austrian social insurance?

According to the USP (page updated 27 January 2026), the employer must register each employee with the competent health-insurance institution before work starts. Registration counts only if it is sent electronically through ELDA; the USP says paper, email and telephone reports are generally treated as not filed, and that an on-site registration must be followed electronically within seven days. The employer needs a contribution account number (Beitragskontonummer), requested once with the first employee, free of charge and usually through an online form at the ÖGK.

The USP page is written for all employers. It does not describe how a foreign employer without an Austrian address or tax number obtains that number or ELDA access, so ask the ÖGK before the start date.

Who bears the social-insurance duties, employer or employee?

The European Commission states that a person is subject to the legislation of only one country at a time, normally where the work is actually performed, regardless of residence or employer seat. For someone working in Austria, that points to Austrian law. Where work is split between countries, the residence state applies if at least 25 percent of the activity is there, otherwise the state of the employer’s registered office.

ASVG §§ 35 and 53 contain domestic rules that put reporting and contribution duties on the employee when the employer has no Austrian place of business (Niederlassung, Geschäftsstelle, Niederlage). Both exclude cases in which the ASVG applies by virtue of Regulation (EC) 883/2004 (§ 35 Abs 4 lit b, § 53 Abs 3 lit b). The Commission page describes these EU coordination rules, and the FSIO states that Switzerland applies Regulations 883/2004 and 987/2009 in relation to EU and EFTA states (personal-scope limits apply; the FSIO excludes third-country nationals). In the typical case in this guide, the employer therefore keeps the duties.

Under Article 21 of Regulation 987/2009, an employer without an Austrian establishment may agree with the employee that the employee takes over payment and filing. A 2019 guide by the Austrian social-insurance institutions says the agreement goes to the ÖGK with the employment contract and proof of the applicable employment law. That guide does not address liability, and the FSIO states for the Swiss side that the employer is not released from liability. Treat the agreement as a process option and confirm current ÖGK practice first.

Where the BMSVG applies, the ÖGK handbook describes a Betriebliche Vorsorge (BV) contribution of 1.53 percent of monthly pay including special payments, payable only if the employment lasts longer than one month (the first month is generally free). The BMSVG says nothing about the employer’s seat, and the 2019 guide of the Austrian social-insurance institutions notes that the BV contribution is outside the EU coordination rules, so Austrian law or the law governing your contract decides. Get advice on that point.

How is Austrian wage tax handled without an Austrian establishment?

Under EStG § 47 Abs 1 lit b, where the employer has no Austrian Betriebsstätte, income tax on employment income may be withheld as wage tax; the wording is voluntary. If you withhold, you take on the payroll duties in §§ 76 to 79, 84 and 87, including the annual Lohnzettel, due electronically by the end of February of the following year (§ 84).

If you do not withhold, § 47 Abs 1 lit c requires a Lohnbescheinigung under § 84a for employees with unlimited Austrian tax liability whose centre of activity is in Austria for more than six months in the calendar year. It goes to the tax office by the end of January of the following year (end of February if sent electronically) and must contain at least name, residence, date of birth, social-security number and gross pay.

The Lohnbescheinigung is not a withholding. The BMF states that where the employer need not withhold and the income is fully taxable in Austria, the employee is subject to mandatory assessment and form L 17 (which the BMF calls the Lohnausweis/Lohnbescheinigung) must be completed, in principle sent by the employer. For income paid only twelve times a year, the BMF describes a simplified route through the employee’s own return (form L 1i, Kennzahl 359) instead of L 17. Tell the employee to expect an Austrian tax return. This guide states no tax amounts.

Which Austrian employment rules apply: Dienstzettel and Kollektivvertrag?

Where Austrian employment law governs the contract, AVRAG § 2 requires a written record of the essential rights and duties (Dienstzettel) “unverzüglich nach Beginn des Arbeitsverhältnisses”, on paper or, if the employee chooses, electronically. It covers, among other things, the parties, start date, notice rules, usual place of work, pay, leave, working hours, applicable collective rules, and the social-insurance institution and BV-Kasse. No Dienstzettel is needed if a written contract contains all the information.

On pay, LSD-BG § 3 Abs 1 gives a worker whose usual place of work is in Austria a mandatory claim to the pay due under law, regulation or collective agreement. Where the employer has no seat in Austria and is not a member of an Austrian body able to conclude collective agreements, Abs 2 gives a mandatory claim to the pay due to comparable workers of comparable employers at the place of work. A Kollektivvertrag binds members of the contracting parties (ArbVG § 8 Z 1), so check membership, but the pay floor in § 3 Abs 2 applies to the foreign employer described above. It does not import every other collective-agreement term. Identify the Kollektivvertrag that applies to comparable Austrian employers in your sector.

How do commuters from Germany or Switzerland change the tax position?

Social-insurance law normally follows the place of work, so a commuter who works in Austria is typically insured there. Tax follows the treaties.

Germany and Austria. Under Art 15 Abs 6, salaries of a person resident in one state are taxed only there if the person has their main residence near the border and usually works near the border. The protocol covers municipalities wholly or partly within 30 km of the border on each side, and work is usually performed in the zone if the person works on at most 45 working days wholly or partly outside it in a calendar year, not exceeding 20 percent of actual working days. Otherwise Art 15 Abs 1 allocates the taxing right to the state where the work is performed, with the 183-day exception in Abs 2, which has further conditions. The rule allocates taxing rights; it does not by itself decide payroll withholding.

Austria and Switzerland. RIS shows the former commuter provision, Art 15 Z 4, as repealed by BGBl. III Nr. 22/2007. Employment income is allocated under Art 15 Z 1 (taxable where the work is performed) and Z 2 (183-day exception); there is no special commuter exemption in the current text. An amending protocol was signed on 30 July 2026, but ratification is outstanding and the BMF expects application from 1 January 2028. Its announcement does not mention commuters or telework, and the Swiss Federal Tax Administration hub lists no 2026 protocol. Apply the treaty currently in force.

How does telework change social insurance?

Germany, Austria and Switzerland have participated in the multilateral telework framework agreement since 1 July 2023, according to the depository’s signatory table. The Dachverband states that it applies to employees who telework in their residence state for 25 percent or more but less than 50 percent of total working time. Employer and employee apply to the competent body of the state whose law should apply. In this guide’s typical case, an Austria-resident employee of a German or Swiss employer, that is the employer’s state: a Swiss employer applies through its AHV compensation office, as the FSIO describes, and the depository table lists the GKV-Spitzenverband (DVKA) as the German contact institution. The Dachverband describes the Austrian procedure for cases in which Austrian law is to apply (it checks the application and informs the foreign authority, and the health-insurance institution issues the PD A1). Approval lasts up to three years and can be renewed.

Self-employment, mixed cases and third-state cases are excluded. Telework of 50 percent or more falls outside the framework; the Dachverband refers such cases to an individual Article 16 exception request under Regulation 883/2004. Without one, the residence state’s law generally applies where at least 25 percent of the work is done there. The aim is that the person stays insured in the employer’s state, as the FSIO describes for Switzerland. This is an application route, not an automatic rule, and it concerns social security only, not tax. See the A1 certificate guide.

What applies to a temporary posting into Austria?

Employers with a seat in an EU or EEA state or Switzerland must report each posting to the Zentrale Koordinationsstelle before work starts, exclusively through the BMF electronic forms (LSD-BG § 19); the USP names the form ZKO3. Later changes must be reported without delay (the USP names the form ZKO3A for changes). For repeated postings under service contracts or within a group, one report can cover a framework period of up to six months (Abs 5). The version in force since 1 August 2026 adds a construction-sector BauID reporting rule (Abs 5b), which applies to postings that begin after 31 December 2026. The report includes employer details, a contact person present in Austria, the Austrian client, each worker’s identity, social-security number, competent insurer and nationality, and the posting period and working hours.

During the posting, keep at the place of work, or electronically accessible on site, the A1 where the worker is not insured in Austria, the report and any home-state permit (§ 21), plus the employment contract or Dienstzettel, payslips or proof of payment, and working-time records, plus pay-classification documents where the classification is not clear from the other records, in German or English (§ 22). The European Commission states that posted workers stay insured in the sending state for a maximum of 24 months, subject to conditions. LSD-BG § 3 Abs 3 gives a worker posted to Austria a mandatory claim, for the posting, to at least the statutory, regulated or collective-agreement pay due to comparable workers of comparable employers at the place of work. Check fines and the current form with the BMF; this guide quotes none.

Which work and residence rules apply to the employee?

According to migration.gv.at, EU, EEA and Swiss citizens have freedom of movement for workers and may take up work under the same conditions as Austrian nationals. Under oesterreich.gv.at, an EU citizen (EEA and Swiss nationals are treated alike) staying beyond three months as an employee must apply for a registration certificate (Anmeldebescheinigung) within four months of arrival, and anyone taking up accommodation registers under the Meldegesetz. Third-country nationals who want to live and work in Austria can apply for a Rot-Weiß-Rot-Karte, assessed under a points system; do not promise such a role before the authorities confirm the route.

What needs a separate corporate-tax and levy review?

Kommunalsteuer is levied on pay granted to employees of a business “einer im Inland (Bundesgebiet) gelegenen Betriebsstätte des Unternehmens” (KommStG § 1), and § 4 defines a Betriebsstätte as a fixed local installation that serves the business. Whether an employee’s home office creates an Austrian Betriebsstätte for your company is a fact question that needs advice; see the guide on permanent establishment and remote employees. FLAG § 41 requires the Dienstgeberbeitrag from all employers who employ staff in the federal territory. Confirm with the Austrian tax office how it applies to a foreign employer without a Betriebsstätte; this guide states no rate.

What does this mean for your hiring model?

For the general comparison, see hiring employees abroad: employee, contractor or EOR and what is an Employer of Record. For the EOR model in the home markets, see Employer of Record in Germany and Employer of Record in Switzerland.

Why is contractor status not a contractual choice?

Under ASVG § 4 Abs 2, a Dienstnehmer is anyone employed for pay in a relationship of personal and economic dependence, and persons under free service contracts are treated as Dienstnehmer for ASVG purposes subject to Abs 4. The USP lists the features of a free service contract, including no duty to follow instructions, self-organised workflow, equipment from the client and pay by time, and adds: “Entscheidend ist, wie sich das Vertragsverhältnis im Einzelfall tatsächlich gestaltet.” A Werkvertrag owes a specific result, and the contractor plans independently with their own equipment. Read the guide on false self-employment before relying on contractor treatment.

When may an EOR help?

An EOR may help when employment is the right relationship, you have no suitable Austrian group entity and you do not want to run the registrations yourself. The written proposal must name the Austrian legal employer and the responsibility split.

This guide has not verified how Austria’s temporary-agency-work law (the Arbeitskräfteüberlassungsgesetz) applies to an EOR model. Ask the provider in writing for its legal basis to act as employer in Austria and check the answer with the competent Austrian authority.

Deel documents its EOR contract steps in its help centre (see the sources). Check the current steps there, including any role and location restrictions, and obtain written confirmation from Deel for the exact Austrian location, role and employing entity.

If the model fits after comparison, ask Deel about EOR options in Austria (opens in a new tab). Compare it with direct employment and any suitable group entity.

When may an EOR not fit?

An EOR may not fit when your group already has a suitable Austrian entity, direct employment is manageable with an Austrian payroll provider or tax adviser, the provider does not accept the exact role, or the long-term activity needs your own Austrian presence. It does not establish contractor status, decide your Betriebsstätte position or change tax treaty allocation.

Key terms

Employee

A worker engaged under a local employment contract, with the employer responsible for payroll, social security contributions and compliance with local labour law.

Contractor

A self-employed individual or business engaged for specific services under a commercial contract, without the employment protections or payroll obligations that apply to employees.

Employer of Record (EOR)

A third-party provider that legally employs a worker on behalf of a client company in a country where the client has no local entity, handling local payroll, contracts and compliance.

Permanent establishment

A tax concept describing a fixed place of business or sufficient business activity in a country that can trigger local corporate tax obligations for a foreign company.

Misclassification

Treating a worker as a contractor when, based on the actual working relationship, local law would classify them as an employee, which can create back taxes, penalties and employment claims.

Final checklist

• Separate local hire, commuting, telework and posting; record nationality and workdays.
• Ask the ÖGK how a foreign employer obtains a contribution account number, then register via ELDA before work starts.
• Do not assume the employee carries the contributions; treat any Article 21 agreement as a process option.
• Choose the wage-tax route: voluntary withholding, or a Lohnbescheinigung (form L 17) and an Austrian assessment.
• Issue a Dienstzettel and identify the Kollektivvertrag for comparable employers.
• For postings, file the ZKO3 notification before work starts and keep the A1 and wage records on site.
• Apply the treaty in force and review Betriebsstätte, Kommunalsteuer and Dienstgeberbeitrag separately.
• If an EOR remains appropriate, ask Deel whether an EOR setup fits your role in Austria (opens in a new tab) and compare the written answer with an alternative.