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Social insurance in Austria is compulsory and follows what a person does for a living: employees are insured through the ÖGK (the health fund) or, in public service, the BVAEB, and the self-employed through the SVS, with no choice of carrier and no private substitute for compulsory cover. Health, pension, accident and (for employees) unemployment insurance are charged as a percentage of a contribution base that stops at a yearly ceiling, so several jobs, or a job plus a business, add up to one capped total. This covers people insured in Austria through work; the rules are federal, with one small difference in Vienna, and the only statutory exemptions are narrow ones tied to a professional chamber.
Austrian social insurance is assigned by law according to the activity, and the person doesn’t pick it. Readers who arrive from systems where employees can choose a private health insurer, or where a high earner can leave the state scheme, often carry that assumption with them.
This article covers people insured in Austria through work, whatever their tax residence, and follows the money side only: who insures you, what the four branches are, what each costs, and how a job and a side business fit together. Medical care itself is out of scope.
Compulsory by activity: no choice of carrier
Insurance starts as soon as the legal conditions are met, whether or not the person knows about it or wants it, according to the government portal’s page on the compulsory insurance system (in German). The activity decides which law applies, and that decides the carrier (Versicherungsträger). The portal’s list of carriers (in German) names three for each branch: the ÖGK (Österreichische Gesundheitskasse, the health fund), the BVAEB (insurer for public servants, railways and mining) and the SVS (Sozialversicherungsanstalt der Selbständigen) for health; the AUVA (Allgemeine Unfallversicherungsanstalt), BVAEB and SVS for accidents; and the PVA (Pensionsversicherungsanstalt), BVAEB and SVS for pensions.
| What you do | Carrier | How cover starts |
|---|---|---|
| Work as an employee, or under a free service contract (freier Dienstvertrag) | ÖGK for health, PVA for pension, AUVA for accidents | The employer registers you before work starts |
| Work in public service, on the railways or in mining | BVAEB, for all three branches | The employer registers you |
| Run a business, a trade or a freelance activity | SVS, for all three branches | On registration, or for new self-employed people (Neue Selbstständige) once profit passes the insurance threshold |
The employer’s duty is explicit: the ÖGK’s registration page (in German) says each employee has to be registered by the employer with the responsible health insurer before starting work. The social insurance number and the e-card are covered in the article on the social insurance number and e-card.
The exemptions that exist are narrow and statutory. For the self-employed, the law exempts members of a professional chamber whose chamber provides comparable benefits, and only when the chamber applies for it, according to the statute’s exemption rules for the self-employed (in German). The SVS information sheet on unemployment insurance (in German) uses the English phrase “opting out” for the one case it names, freelance lawyers excepted from the SVS pension insurance.
Nothing in the sources read lets an individual replace compulsory health cover with a private policy. Private health insurance in Austria is a supplement on top of the statutory scheme, and the article on private supplementary health insurance covers what it costs.
A person who isn’t compulsorily insured at all can take out voluntary self-insurance in the statutory scheme. The portal’s page on self-insurance (in German) opens it to people without health insurance who live in Austria, generally with a six-month wait for benefits in kind, and the article on self-insurance works through it.
Relatives can be co-insured through the insured person. Children carry no supplementary contribution, while certain adults, a spouse among them, trigger one of 3.40% of the insured person’s base, according to the ÖGK’s page on co-insurance (in German). The article on co-insurance has the waivers.
International organisation staff
Staff of international organisations in Vienna are often covered by their organisation’s own scheme or by an agreement with Austria, not by the carriers above. The umbrella body’s 2019 overview of Austria’s social security agreements (in German) lists agreements or special rules for many of the organisations based in Austria, so the general answer may not apply. The organisation’s HR or legal office is the first stop, status depends on the headquarters agreement, and the article on international organisation staff covers which Austrian money rules still reach them.
The four branches and what each pays for
Austrian social insurance has four branches. Health, pension and accident insurance run through the carriers above, and the unemployment contribution is collected with them while the AMS (Arbeitsmarktservice, the public employment service) pays the benefit.
| Branch | What the contribution buys | Who is in it |
|---|---|---|
| Health (Krankenversicherung) | Cash benefits such as sickness benefit and maternity benefit, and the carrier’s share of treatment costs | Employees, the self-employed and public servants |
| Pension (Pensionsversicherung) | Credits to the individual pension account (Pensionskonto) and, later, the state pension | The same groups |
| Accident (Unfallversicherung) | Treatment, rehabilitation and pensions after a work accident or occupational disease | Everyone in work, marginal jobs included |
| Unemployment (Arbeitslosenversicherung) | Unemployment benefit from the AMS | Employees by default; the self-employed only by opting in |
Health insurance is where most readers meet the system. The article on ÖGK health insurance covers what is covered and what you pay, and the article on health insurance between jobs covers what happens to cover when a job ends. Two cash benefits sit in this branch: sick pay and Krankengeld, which starts when the employer’s continued pay ends, and Wochengeld, which the health insurer pays in place of the employer around a birth.
Pension insurance feeds the Pensionskonto, and the article on the state pension and the Pensionskonto shows how the credits become a pension.
Accident insurance is the one branch that always applies. The AUVA’s page on its cover (in German) says the compulsory insurance protects against work accidents and occupational diseases and pays for treatment, rehabilitation and pensions above a certain severity of injury. For employees the employer pays the whole contribution, and for the self-employed it is a flat monthly amount that doesn’t depend on income.
A job paying no more than the marginal-earnings limit of EUR 551.10 a month leaves the worker insured for accidents only, according to the same portal page on the compulsory system. The article on marginal employment covers the limit and the option to join health and pension cover.
Unemployment insurance splits employees from the self-employed. Employees are in it automatically, and the article on unemployment benefit for foreign workers covers what it pays. The same SVS sheet says the self-employed can join only by declaring it within six months of the SVS’s notice about the start of their pension insurance, that joining binds for eight years, and that the contribution base is a quarter, a half or three quarters of the self-employed ceiling.
What it costs: the contribution base and the ceilings
Every contribution is a percentage of a base (Beitragsgrundlage): gross pay for employees, special payments included, and profit for the self-employed. The insured person’s own shares for the 2026 tax year come from the umbrella body’s table of contribution values (in German):
| Branch | Employee (employer pays on top) | Self-employed |
|---|---|---|
| Health | (employer 3.78%) | 6.80% |
| Pension | 10.25% (employer 12.55%) | 18.50% |
| Accident | None (employer 1.10%) | EUR 12.95 a month, whatever the income |
| Unemployment | 2.95% (employer pays the same) | None unless the person opts in |
Employees also pay two small levies on regular pay, the chamber of labour levy (Arbeiterkammerumlage, 0.50%) and the housing-subsidy contribution (Wohnbauförderungsbeitrag, 0.50% outside Vienna). Added up, regular pay outside Vienna carries 18.07% and a special payment 17.07%, because the two levies have no special-payment base. The article on employee contributions covers the branches in detail, including the lower unemployment share at low pay, and the article on the payslip shows each line.
State note
The housing-subsidy contribution is the one employee line that differs by state: Vienna charges an employee share of 0.75% from 1 January 2026, against 0.50% in the other states, according to the footnotes of the same table, so regular pay carries 18.32% there. Everything else in the table is federal and the same everywhere in Austria.
Each rate stops at a ceiling (Höchstbeitragsgrundlage). For employees, regular pay is charged up to EUR 6,930 a month and the 13th and 14th salary share a separate yearly ceiling of EUR 13,860, which together make a yearly maximum of EUR 97,020. The self-employed ceiling is a separate, higher monthly figure of EUR 8,085; it comes to the same yearly total, because it is 35 times the daily value where the employee’s monthly ceiling is 30 times and the special-payment ceiling adds two more months.
Pay above the ceiling isn’t charged, and for a hypothetical employee far above it the contributions become a falling share of pay. That is why the article on gross to net pay finds the marginal rate dropping at the ceiling.
Contested flag
The 2027 values aren’t published yet. The social insurance values for 2027, including the ceilings, are set by ordinance in late November 2026, and until then this article states only the current ones.
A budget law published in the Federal Law Gazette (in German) on 29 July 2026 has already fixed how the 2027 daily ceiling is worked out (the current daily value times the 2027 revaluation factor, plus EUR 5 a day), but the factor is not out, so the ceiling is not known. The same law keeps the marginal-earnings limit unchanged for 2027, and the reduced unemployment shares for low earners are set to end after 2026 under a transition that the article on the payslip describes.
Self-employed
For the self-employed the base starts from the profit on the tax return, and the statute then adds back the health and pension contributions the SVS prescribed for the year (and unemployment contributions for those who opted in), according to the statute on the contribution base (in German). The base can’t fall below a monthly minimum of EUR 551.10 or rise above the monthly ceiling. New self-employed people (Neue Selbstständige) are insured only once yearly profit passes the insurance threshold (Versicherungsgrenze) of EUR 6,613.20, which is twelve times the minimum base.
Insurance starts when the declaration that profit will pass the threshold reaches the SVS, and stays in place even if actual profit ends lower, according to the SVS information sheet for new self-employed people (in German). Without a declaration the SVS checks the income tax assessment afterwards and bills backdated contributions with a surcharge. The profit isn’t known until the assessment, so quarterly bills run on a provisional base, the minimum base in the first three calendar years and later the profit of the third preceding year, and the SVS recalculates (Nachbemessung) once the assessment is in.
A further contribution, the Selbständigenvorsorge (the self-employed severance scheme, savings and not cover), is 1.53% of the health insurance base, according to the business service portal’s page on it (in German). The article on SVS registration and contributions covers the self-employed side in depth, and the article on new self-employed or trade licence covers where the line to a trade is drawn.
Several jobs or activities at once
Two employments at the same time are two insurances, and each employer charges contributions up to the ceiling on its own payroll. Combined pay above the ceiling can therefore be over-charged, and the health insurer has to refund the excess by 30 June of the year after the contributions were fully paid, according to the statute on refunds in health insurance (in German). Only a smaller share of the pension contributions on the excess comes back, and the article on refunds above the ceiling works through when and how.
An employee with a side business is insured twice, under both laws. The SVS information sheet on multiple insurance in health insurance (in German) says the SVS then sets the self-employed base automatically so that the two bases together stay within the yearly ceiling, with the employment base counting first. Refunds now arise only in exceptional cases, and where the employment base already reaches the self-employed minimum base, the SVS minimum can be undercut and, under conditions, no SVS contribution is due.
Cash benefits can also double up. The same sheet says cash benefits such as Wochengeld can be drawn from each insurer taking part, while treatment benefits are paid once.
Marginal jobs are added up. When someone holds several and their pay together passes the marginal-earnings limit, the health insurer bills the employee share once a year, according to a footnote in the umbrella body’s table.
Contested flag
Whether freelance work is employment, new self-employment or a trade activity is decided on the facts, and it is contested ground. The SVS page on legal certainty for the self-employed (in German) describes a questionnaire that the SVS and ÖGK use to check the classification together. If they disagree, the ÖGK has to issue a formal decision that the SVS can challenge, and contributions already paid to one carrier are moved to the other. The article on false self-employment covers the money consequences, and the individual case is for the carriers and an adviser.
Cross-border commuters
Inside the EU a person is generally covered by one country’s social security system at a time, usually where the work is done, and can’t choose which, according to Your Europe. Living in Austria and working across the border, or the reverse, therefore changes which carrier applies. The article on social insurance across borders owns that question.
Non-residents
Tax residence and social insurance are separate tests. The statute ties an employee’s Austrian cover to where the place of employment is, according to the statute on employment in Austria (in German), so someone who has stopped being tax resident but still works in Austria generally stays in the Austrian system, though EU and treaty rules can change the answer in individual cases.
The e-card and its yearly fee
The e-card carries a yearly fee, the Service-Entgelt. The ÖGK’s page on the fee (in German) says EUR 26.85 falls due on 15 November 2026 for the year 2027 and is withheld from pay, so it appears on the November payslip. The amount is indexed every 1 January, which is why pages that still quote the EUR 25 collected for 2026 are out of date.
The fee is charged once per person and year, and the ÖGK says it is refunded on application where double insurance or several employers led to a second collection. Co-insured relatives pay no fee of their own, according to the portal’s e-card page (in German). Both pages name the employer as the collector, and none of the sources read shows a separate e-card charge on an SVS bill.
A job plus a side business: both bills
The example below puts the two bills side by side and tests them against the yearly ceiling. Income tax on the side business is out of scope here, and the article on income tax for the self-employed covers it.
Illustration
A hypothetical single employee in Graz, Styria, earns a gross EUR 3,500 a month on 14 payments for the tax year and also runs a side business as a new self-employed person, with a contribution base of EUR 20,000 from it for the year.
Assumptions: tax resident in Austria, one employer for the whole year, special payments of EUR 3,500 in June and November, no trade licence, no marginal jobs, no children, no opt-in to unemployment insurance, not a US person, not international organisation staff. The declaration that profit will pass the insurance threshold reached the SVS at the start of the year, so SVS insurance runs for all 12 months, and the business is in its first calendar year. Social insurance is federal, so Graz matters only through the housing-subsidy contribution, which is the lower rate outside Vienna.
The base of EUR 20,000 is a simplification. The statute starts from the profit on the tax return and adds back the health and pension contributions, so a profit of roughly EUR 14,940 plus EUR 5,060 of those contributions gives this base; the real calculation loops, because the contributions depend on the base.
The employee bill. Payroll deducts the employee shares on EUR 42,000 of regular pay and EUR 7,000 of special payments. That is EUR 632.45 a month on regular pay and EUR 597.45 on each special payment, the same figures as in the articles on the payslip and on gross to net.
| Line | Base | Amount for the year |
|---|---|---|
| Health () | EUR 49,000 | EUR 1,896.30 |
| Pension (10.25%) | EUR 49,000 | EUR 5,022.50 |
| Unemployment (2.95%) | EUR 49,000 | EUR 1,445.50 |
| Chamber of labour levy (0.50%) | EUR 42,000 | EUR 210.00 |
| Housing-subsidy contribution (0.50%) | EUR 42,000 | EUR 210.00 |
| Total | EUR 49,000 | EUR 8,784.30 |
The side-business bill. The SVS bills quarterly, first on the minimum base of EUR 551.10 a month (EUR 6,613.20 for the year, the same as the insurance threshold of EUR 6,613.20). After the tax assessment it recalculates on the real base of EUR 20,000 and bills the difference.
| Line | Provisional, minimum base | Final, base EUR 20,000 |
|---|---|---|
| Pension (18.50%) | EUR 1,223.44 | EUR 3,700.00 |
| Health (6.80%) | EUR 449.70 | EUR 1,360.00 |
| Accident (12 x EUR 12.95) | EUR 155.40 | EUR 155.40 |
| Selbständigenvorsorge (1.53% of the health base) | EUR 101.18 | EUR 306.00 |
| Total | EUR 1,929.72 | EUR 5,521.40 |
The catch-up is EUR 3,591.68 (EUR 2,476.56 pension, EUR 910.30 health and EUR 204.82 for the Selbständigenvorsorge), due after the assessment and not spread over the year.
The ceiling test. The SVS compares the two bases with the yearly ceiling of 12 months at the self-employed monthly maximum.
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Employee base | EUR 49,000 | Regular pay up to EUR 6,930 a month and special payments up to EUR 13,860 a year, both unused |
| Side-business base | EUR 20,000 | |
| Combined | EUR 69,000 | |
| Yearly ceiling | EUR 97,020 | 12 x EUR 8,085 |
| Room left | EUR 28,020 | No cap applies, so no refund arises |
If the side business had a base of EUR 60,000 instead, the combined EUR 109,000 would pass the ceiling, and the SVS would cap its base at the room left, EUR 48,020. Pension and health contributions would then be EUR 12,149.06 instead of EUR 15,180.00 on the full base, EUR 3,030.94 less, applied by the SVS automatically.
What is not on either bill. The job already carries unemployment insurance (the EUR 1,445.50 above), and the side business adds none because the self-employed are covered only by opting in. The November payslip withholds the e-card fee of EUR 26.85 for 2027 once, and the SVS information sheet lists no e-card charge among the bill items.
The year in total. Payroll shares of EUR 8,784.30 plus the SVS bill of EUR 5,521.40 come to EUR 14,305.70 on a combined base of EUR 69,000, which is 20.73%. The side business carries 27.61% of its base in contributions, against 17.93% of gross pay on the job.
For a hypothetical employee in this position, the side business is the expensive euro: it carries the self-employed rates on the base with no employer share to split it, and the recalculation lands as a lump sum after the tax assessment. The same employee with a side business large enough to push the combined bases past the ceiling would see the SVS bill shrink, because the ceiling is shared and the job counts first.
US persons
A US citizen with a side business can owe US self-employment tax on it as well, because the IRS says the tax is imposed on the self-employment income of any US citizen, on its page on Social Security tax and self-employment. Austrian contributions don’t settle that. The article on the US-Austria totalization agreement covers how the agreement allocates coverage, the article on US persons covers the wider overlay, and a US-qualified tax professional is the route for the US return.
Bottom line
Austrian social insurance is compulsory, assigned by activity and capped by a yearly ceiling, with narrow chamber-based exemptions and no private substitute. A hypothetical employee with a side business pays two bills on two bases that are added together under that ceiling: payroll takes its shares as the year goes, and the SVS bills provisionally and recalculates after the tax assessment. The 2027 values arrive by ordinance in late November 2026.
Getting help
The carrier answers questions about a person’s own insurance status, base and bills: the ÖGK for employees and the SVS for the self-employed. A pension account question goes to the PVA, and the Arbeiterkammer (free for members) advises employees on pay and contract questions. Trade licence holders are members of the WKO (Wirtschaftskammer Österreich, the economic chamber), which offers its own guidance but, as an interest body, isn’t a neutral source.
Whether an activity counts as employment or self-employment, and how a job and a business combine for a particular person, depends on individual facts. A Steuerberater (licensed tax adviser) is the route for the tax side, and the member directory of the Chamber of Tax Advisers and Auditors shows who is authorised. Staff of international organisations ask their HR or legal office, and US persons a US-qualified tax professional.
The other articles in this hub are reached through the Social Insurance & Health hub.
Official sources
- Contribution values in social insurance for 2026, umbrella body of the social insurance carriers (in German)
- The compulsory insurance system, Austrian government portal (in German)
- The social insurance carriers, Austrian government portal (in German)
- Information for new self-employed people, Social Insurance Fund for the Self-Employed (SVS) (in German)
- Multiple insurance in health insurance, Social Insurance Fund for the Self-Employed (SVS) (in German)
- Service-Entgelt (fee for the e-card), Austrian Health Insurance Fund (ÖGK) (in German)
