If your employer paid you a tax-free bonus in the last couple of years and you're expecting the same treatment this year, check the amount carefully — the rules tightened considerably starting in 2025.
What Changed
The Mitarbeiterprämie (employee bonus) is a scheme that lets employers pay staff a bonus free of income tax and social security, on top of regular salary. It was introduced during a period of high inflation as a way to get extra money to employees without the usual tax bite.
| 2024 | 2025 onward | |
|---|---|---|
| Tax-free ceiling | €3,000 | €1,000 |
| Conditions | Broadly available | Must be for "objective, business-related reasons" |
| Combined with profit-sharing | — | Combined ceiling with profit-sharing stays €3,000 |
This is a two-thirds cut to one of the more generous tax-free schemes introduced in recent years, and it comes with a new qualifying condition that wasn't there before.
The Two Schemes, Not to Be Confused
It's easy to mix up two similarly-named benefits:
- Mitarbeiterprämie (employee bonus) — the one that got cut, now capped at €1,000/year, and now requires an objective business justification.
- Mitarbeitergewinnbeteiligung (profit-sharing bonus) — a separate, unchanged scheme allowing up to €3,000/year tax-free, tied to actual company profit and paid to all employees.
If your employer combines both in the same year, the total tax-free amount across the two is capped at €3,000 — you can't stack €1,000 + €3,000 for €4,000 tax-free. For the full detail on the profit-sharing bonus and other tax-free perks, see our guide to tax-free employee benefits in Austria.
Why This Matters for Employers
If your company has been budgeting for a €3,000 tax-free Mitarbeiterprämie per employee, that plan needs revisiting for 2025 and 2026 payroll years. Amounts paid above €1,000 as a Mitarbeiterprämie are simply taxed as ordinary wages — there's no partial exemption above the threshold.
Employers should also document the business rationale behind the payment. A blanket, no-questions-asked bonus that isn't tied to any objective criteria risks losing its tax-free status on audit.
Why This Matters for Employees
If you received more than €1,000 tax-free in employee bonuses (or more than €3,000 combined with profit-sharing), this is now one of the explicit triggers for a mandatory tax return — you no longer get to choose whether to file. Check your Lohnzettel (payslip summary) at year-end for the exact tax-free amount reported.
Bottom Line
The Mitarbeiterprämie is still a useful tool, but it's a much smaller one than it was in 2024. Combined with the still-available €3,000 profit-sharing scheme, employers can still deliver meaningful tax-free income — but the two schemes need to be tracked and documented separately, and neither is a free-for-all discretionary bonus anymore.