Working in Austria as a French National: Right to Work, Salary, Contract, Tax and Contributions

Nationals of the European Union and the European Economic Area benefit from free movement of workers: they need no authorisation to access the Austrian labour market (Unternehmensserviceportal). The same right extends to their family members, whatever their nationality. There is therefore no work visa or permit to obtain before signing a contract. For a stay of more than three months, an Anmeldebescheinigung (EU registration certificate) is requested from the residence authority.

Job hunting goes through the public employment service (AMS), company vacancies and professional networks. A command of German opens the widest market; several international sectors in Vienna also operate in English. For a regulated profession, recognition of qualifications falls to the competent body. The guide to working abroad helps you prepare the departure on the French side.

Austria sets minimums by sector rather than by law. The Federal Ministry of Labour lists more than 800 collective agreements, covering about 95% of employees. The agreed minimum binds the employer: an employment contract or a company agreement cannot go below it, and the employee can bring the matter before the labour court to claim the difference, within three years. Most agreements provide at least €1,700 gross a month, paid 14 times a year, which represents an average monthly salary of €1,983 gross (ministry, August 2025).

• Median income: €55,678 gross a year in 2024 for full-year full-time employees, up 8.1% on a year; €38,043 for all employees, part-timers included, up 7.7% (Statistik Austria).
• How to read an offer: the advertisement most often states the minimum of the applicable collective agreement. The gross annual salary is calculated over 14 payments, which explains the apparent gaps with a French salary expressed over 12 months.
• Applicable agreement: it depends on the employer’s sector; it specifies the classification grid, bonuses and supplements, and can be consulted with the employer, the professional chambers or the unions.

To compare an offer with a job in France, the guide to seconded or expat recalls the differences in status that change net pay and social protection.

Normal working time is 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week; beyond that, hours count as overtime. Many collective agreements set a shorter week, and arrangements exist: a four-day week of up to 10 hours a day, flexible hours or shift work with an average of 40 hours (Unternehmensserviceportal).

The 14 payments comprise 12 ordinary salaries, a thirteenth month linked to holidays (Urlaubszuschuss) and a fourteenth month at the end of the year (Weihnachtsremuneration). These special payments (Sonderzahlungen) result from the collective agreement or the contract. An employee who joins or leaves the company during the year receives a proportional share. They benefit from a reduced tax rate, presented in the next section.

Austrian tax is progressive. For 2026, the thresholds were raised by 1.733% to neutralise inflation: 0% up to €13,539 of annual taxable income, then 20%, 30%, 40%, 48% and 50% by band, with a rate of 55% beyond one million euros, valid until 2029 (Federal Ministry of Finance). Taxable income of €40,000 thus gives, before tax credits, €1,690.60 on the 20% band, €4,339.80 on the 30% band and €1,416.80 on the 40% band, or about €7,447 (calculation from the scale).

• Thirteenth and fourteenth months: within the limit of the “annual sixth” (two average monthly payments), they are taxed at 6% after an allowance of €620 and up to €24,380, then at 27% beyond (WKO, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber).
• Tax residence: anyone who has a home in Austria or habitually stays there is taxable on all their worldwide income; resident status is acquired retroactively after six months of stay (Federal Ministry of Finance).
• France-Austria tax treaty: signed in Vienna on 26 March 1993, it provides that salaries are taxable in the state where the employment is exercised. A resident of one state who works less than 183 days over twelve months in the other state, for an employer established outside that state, remains taxed in their state of residence. To avoid double taxation, France grants a tax credit equal to the French tax corresponding to the Austrian income, while Austria exempts income taxable in France, taking it into account to determine the rate applicable to the rest of the income.

In case of doubt about your tax residence or an overlap of employment between the two countries, the French tax administration (the service for non-resident individuals) and the competent Austrian tax office remain the contacts.

For a salaried employee (Angestellter) in 2026, employee contributions total 18.07% of gross pay: 3.87% for health, 10.25% for pension, 2.95% for unemployment, plus ancillary contributions. The employer bears 20.98% of social contributions, of which 3.78% for health and 12.55% for pension, plus other payroll charges. The contribution base is capped at €6,930 a month, and at €13,860 a year for special payments; below €551.10 a month, the activity is called marginal (WKO).

• Self-employed: compulsory affiliation to the SVS (the social insurance institution for the self-employed), with 18.50% for pension, 6.80% for health and 1.53% for self-employed provision, or 26.83% of contributions in 2026. The monthly base runs from €551.10 (€6,613.20 a year) to €8,085, which represents about €1,930 to €26,186 of contributions a year (WKO).
• New self-employed: activities that do not require a trade licence (author, speaker, for example) fall under the “new self-employed” status and are declared to the SVS from €6,613.20 of gross annual income in 2026.

These contributions open the right to health insurance with the ÖGK (the Austrian Health Insurance Fund) or the SVS, detailed in the page on the Austrian healthcare system. An employee seconded from France stays under the French scheme with form A1 and does not contribute in Austria.

Remote work is agreed with the employer. When an employee of an Austrian company works remotely from France, the share of remote work counts for social protection: from 25% of working time, competence for social security may pass to the country of residence. A multilateral framework agreement, applicable since 1 July 2023, provides a simplified procedure for a share of remote work between 25% and less than 50%, with a PD A1 certificate issued by the Austrian social insurer (Sozialversicherung).

Self-employed people and digital nomads settled in Austria fall under the SVS for their activity; the guide to digital nomad insurance presents the points of caution of this status.

According to the national accounts of Statistik Austria, services produced €316.1 billion of value added in 2024, or 71.3% of the total, against €121.5 billion for the goods-producing sector (27.4%) and 1.4% for agriculture and forestry. The country had 4.7 million people in employment, of whom 0.6 million self-employed. Within the goods-producing sector, manufacturing accounts for 61.6% of value added, construction 23.4% and energy 10.9%. In services, trade represents 15.0%, business services 14.0% and public administration 7.4%.

• Recent contrast: in 2024, the real value added of the goods-producing sector fell by 4.8%, while that of services rose by 0.6%; export- and investment-oriented branches were the hardest hit.
• Currency: the euro, which removes any exchange-rate risk for a French income.
• Outlook: forecasts for growth, inflation and unemployment are continuously updated in the “Economic benchmarks” block on this page.