Business in Austria
Whether you arrive as an executive, a founder or the owner of companies abroad, the rules that decide what your work costs are settled and knowable. This page maps them.
In short
- Employees receive at least five weeks' paid holiday, and almost every collective agreement adds a 13th and 14th salary, taxed at 6% up to EUR 25,000 a year and at 27% and 35.75% above that.
- An Austrian GmbH needs EUR 10,000 minimum capital, half of it paid in, and is usually registered within about a week.
- Corporate income tax is a flat 23%; dividends paid to individuals bear 27.5% withholding tax.
- Social security is mandatory but capped: contributions stop at a base of EUR 6,930 a month — EUR 97,020 a year with the 13th and 14th salaries (2026).
- Running a foreign company from Austria can make that company Austrian-tax-resident — review the structure before you move.
Your role decides which rules apply
Austrian law draws sharp lines between employees, the self-employed and shareholders, and each line carries its own tax, social security and permit consequences. An executive employed by an Austrian entity sits inside a protective employment-law framework, has wage tax and social security withheld at source, and in most years never files a tax return. A consultant or board adviser working on their own account registers with the social insurance institution for the self-employed and self-assesses income tax. A shareholder who merely receives dividends faces a flat 27.5% withholding and, in many cases, nothing further.
Most people relocating to Austria combine two or three of these roles at once — employed by one company, director of another, shareholder of a third. The table below shows where each role is treated in depth.
| You are | What mainly governs you | Where to read |
|---|---|---|
| An employee or hired executive | Employment law, collective agreements, payroll withholding, capped social security | Employment and executives |
| Self-employed or a consultant | Self-assessed income tax, SVS social insurance, a self-employment permit route if you are a non-EU national | Social security |
| A founder building in Austria | GmbH or FlexCo formation, 23% corporate income tax, payroll duties as an employer | Setting up a company |
| The owner of companies abroad | Place-of-management and permanent-establishment rules, participation exemptions, dividend taxation | Relocating your company |
| A passive investor | 27.5% flat tax on dividends and capital gains, handled at source by Austrian banks | Investment income and capital gains |
For non-EU nationals, the work permit comes first
EU, EEA and Swiss citizens work in Austria without any permit. Everyone else needs a residence title that carries work rights before taking up work or actively running an Austrian business; on the employment routes the job offer comes first, because the application is filed together with the employer's written declaration of the agreed terms. The routes most relevant to readers of this page are the Red-White-Red Card for other key workers — a salary of at least EUR 3,465 per month (2026), a decision due by law within eight weeks of a complete application (roughly three months end to end) and no German requirement — the EU Blue Card for degree-holding specialists, the permit for self-employed key workers whose investment benefits the economy, and the start-up founder permit. Passive shareholding, by contrast, requires no permit at all: you can own an Austrian company from anywhere.
The company landscape
The workhorse of Austrian business is the limited liability company, the GmbH — quick to form, cheap to capitalise and familiar to every bank and counterparty. Since 2024 the FlexCo, a flexible variant designed for start-ups, has added non-voting enterprise-value shares that let employees participate in an exit without complicating governance. The stock corporation (AG) remains the form for large or listed ventures, and foreign companies can operate through a registered branch without creating a separate legal person. Setting up a company walks through forms, steps and costs in detail.
What managing a business from your Vienna desk triggers
The most expensive mistake in this field is quiet and gradual: you move to Vienna, your foreign company stays where it is, and month by month its real decisions start being taken at your new desk. Austrian law taxes companies where they are effectively managed. A foreign company run from Austria can become Austrian-tax-resident with its worldwide profits subject to 23% corporate income tax, and even short of that, sustained activity here can create a taxable permanent establishment.
Relocating your company sets out the options — keeping the company abroad with real substance, building an Austrian subsidiary or holding, or migrating the company itself — and foreign income and companies explains the underlying tax mechanics. Because restructuring is far cheaper before residence begins than after, this belongs in pre-immigration planning, not in the first Austrian tax return.
The business and employment pages
Four pages cover the ground in depth. Each opens with the short answer and ends with its sources.
Employment and executives
Contracts and mandatory terms, working time, five weeks' holiday, the 13th and 14th salary at 6% up to EUR 25,000 a year, notice, share plans and non-competes.
Setting up a company
GmbH formation step by step, the FlexCo for start-ups, the AG, branches, formation costs and the taxes that follow.
Relocating your company
Keep the foreign company, open an Austrian subsidiary or migrate the entity — and the place-of-management risk that shapes the choice.
Social security
Mandatory cover, the 2026 contribution rates and cap, the self-employed scheme, EU coordination and what a high salary really pays.
Considering a move to Austria?
Tell us where you stand — the country you are leaving, the shape of your family and your assets, and when you plan to move. We advise on the legal and tax consequences of relocating to Austria and coordinate with advisers in the country of departure.
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