Budgeting
You can set up the Austrian employer charges for 2026 once, apply them to your wage accounts with the right ceiling and save them as a preset.
In Austria the employer pays a share of social insurance on every wage, a contribution to the employee benefit fund (BV) and three payroll levies: the employer contribution (DB), its surcharge (DZ) and the municipal tax. The rates are the 2026 values. The premiums follow the collective agreement for film workers (KV Filmschaffende) in force from 1 July 2026.
For a German production with a shoot in Austria, create the groups from this article in addition to the German group `DE 2026` from [set up German social charges](/kb/article/set-up-german-social-charges). Apply them only to the people your payroll office insures in Austria.
This article is not payroll advice. Have your payroll office confirm the federal state, the BV and the status of each actor.
The templates `ÖFI 2026` and `ÖFI 2026 Gagen mit Phasen` already contain the groups, supplements and presets from steps 2, 3, 7 and 8.
Create the budget from one of these templates under **New Budget**. In `ÖFI 2026 Gagen mit Phasen`, each person's wage account is split into the subaccounts Vorbereitung, Dreh and Abwicklung. In both templates, every account budgeted in weeks already has its timebase (step 5). You only enter:
- the DZ of your state in `AT 2026` and `AT 2026 freie DN` - outside Vienna, social insurance `20.98` with a limit of `48.46` and your DZ in `AT 2026 Darsteller`, which carries the Vienna values - the factor in the **X** column (steps 4 and 6) - the holiday compensation days (step 6)
Then apply the groups (step 5).
For engagements from 2027, there are `ÖFI 2027` and `ÖFI 2027 Gagen mit Phasen`, with the minimum fees from 1 January 2027 and the expected social insurance ceilings for 2027. There, the groups are called `AT 2027 Wien`, `AT 2027`, `AT 2027 freie DN`, `AT 2027 Darsteller` and `KV Film 2027`. Outside Vienna, change social insurance in `AT 2027 Darsteller` to `20.98` with a limit of `51.82`. Everything else you enter as above.
Create one account for the charges, for example `Social Charges`. Every fringe in this article goes into it. See [how collect-in accounts work](/kb/article/how-collect-in-accounts-work).
In the account details, click  **Settings for account details** and then **Fringes & Supplements**. On the **Fringes** tab, click  **Group** and name the group `AT 2026 Wien`. The figures are explained below the table. Then click  **Fringe** once for each row of this table:
| Fringe Name | Percentage | Limit Per Day | | ---------------------------------- | ---------- | ------------- | | Social insurance, current pay | 18.20 | 49.04 | | Social insurance, special payments | 2.93 | empty | | Employee benefit fund (BV) | 1.53 | empty | | Employer contribution (DB) | 3.70 | empty | | Surcharge on DB (DZ) | 0.36 | empty | | Municipal tax | 3.00 | empty |
In **Collect In Budget Account**, choose your social charges account on every row. From the second row on, KOSMA asks first, because the account already collects other rows. Click **Continue**.
Add to collection account? This account already collects other calculations. Add this one to it?
The employer's social insurance in Vienna is 21.23 %: health 3.78, accident 1.10, pension 12.55, unemployment 2.95, insolvency 0.10 and housing subsidy 0.75. On special payments it is 20.48 %, because no housing subsidy is due on them. The account total also contains the special payments, which are one sixth of the pay (step 4). For example, 6,000 € of pay brings 1,000 € of special payments, for a total of 7,000 €. Pay is 6/7 of the total and special payments 1/7. The two social insurance rows split the rates accordingly:
BV, DB, DZ and the municipal tax have no ceiling. DB falls to 2.7 % from 2028.
The maximum contribution base (Höchstbeitragsgrundlage) is 6,930 € a month, which is 231 € per calendar day. No social insurance is due on pay above it. The current-pay row takes 18.20 % of the account total, which is 21.23 % of the pay share. **Limit Per Day** is the highest charge per day, so it is the full rate of 21.23 % on 231 €:
If you enter 231.00 or 18.20 % × 231.00 as the limit, KOSMA caps the fringe at the wrong amount and shows no message.
Special payments have a ceiling of their own, 13,860 € per calendar year across all employers. A short engagement almost never reaches it, so that row has no limit.
In Vienna the employer also pays 2 € per employee for every week or part of a week, known as the U-Bahn-Steuer. It applies where the place of work is in Vienna. It is not due for employees over 55 or for jobs of at most 10 hours a week. The levy is not a percentage, so it does not go into the group. Budget it in an account of its own, with 2 € per employee and week as the price.
Create a second group, `AT 2026`, for the other eight federal states. It has the same six rows with two differences. The housing subsidy there is 0.50 %, so the full social insurance rate is 20.98 %. The first row is therefore 20.98 % × 6/7 = `17.98`, with a limit of 20.98 % × 231 = `48.46`. DZ depends on the state:
- Burgenland 0.40, Carinthia 0.37, Lower Austria 0.33, Upper Austria 0.31 - Salzburg 0.35, Styria 0.34, Tyrol 0.39, Vorarlberg 0.33
Create a third group, `AT 2026 freie DN`, for freelance employees (freie Dienstnehmer). Your payroll office tells you who counts as one. No housing subsidy is due for them, and their ceiling is higher: without special payments, 8,085 € a month, or 269.50 € a day. The group has five rows: social insurance `20.48` with a limit of `55.19`, BV `1.53`, DB `3.70`, DZ of your state and the municipal tax `3.00`.
Actors and extras are not covered by the collective agreement, so they receive no special payments under it. Their group therefore carries the full rate and no row for special payments. Create a fourth group, `AT 2026 Darsteller`, with these rows for Vienna:
| Fringe Name | Percentage | Limit Per Day | | -------------------------- | ---------- | ------------- | | Social insurance | 21.23 | 49.04 | | Employee benefit fund (BV) | 1.53 | empty | | Employer contribution (DB) | 3.70 | empty | | Surcharge on DB (DZ) | 0.36 | empty | | Municipal tax | 3.00 | empty |
In the other states, social insurance is `20.98` with a limit of `48.46`, and DZ is the rate of your state. Click **Ok**.
For self-employed people on a contract for work, you pay no employer charges. Austria has no levy like the German artists' social insurance levy, so their accounts get no group.
Under the collective agreement, a person on a fixed-term contract receives one sixth of the pay as special payments at the end, plus holiday compensation (Urlaubsersatzleistung) of 10.41 %. Enter `1.2881` in the **X** column of every wage account under the agreement. KOSMA calculates `Quantity × Price/Unit × X` per account. KOSMA calculates every charge on the account total, so special payments and holiday compensation are included.
The **X** column takes a formula. In a formula, write decimals with a point, because a comma separates the arguments of a function. A cell that holds only a number also takes a comma: type `1,2881` and KOSMA stores `1.2881`.
The factor 1.2881 comes from the calculator published by the signatories, which applies holiday compensation to pay plus special payments. The agreement's text bases it on pay alone, which gives 1.2708. With 1.2881 the budget is on the safe side. The factor also applies to a weekly flat fee (Wochenpauschalgage, step 7).
Select the crew's wage accounts budgeted in weeks (see [work in the budget grid](/kb/article/work-in-the-budget-grid)); actors follow in step 6. You can edit accounts together only if none of them has fringes or supplements yet, or if they match in every setting of this dialog. In the account details, click  **Edit fringes & supplements** in the **Fringes & Supplements** panel. KOSMA opens the dialog and shows how many rows it applies to:
Applies to {number} rows.
If the account has subaccounts, tick **All** under **Apply to subaccounts**. Tick the group `AT 2026 Wien`, or `AT 2026` outside Vienna. In **Timebase (days) for fringe limits**, enter the calendar days of the engagement. KOSMA caps each fringe that has a day limit at that limit times these days. For accounts in weeks, enter `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7`: the account's quantity, which is the number of weeks, times 7. If the subaccounts are the phases of one person, as in `ÖFI 2026 Gagen mit Phasen`, the account's own quantity is 0. Add up the weeks of subaccounts 1, 2 and 3 instead: `(SUBACCOUNT_QTY("1")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("2")+SUBACCOUNT_QTY("3")) * 7`. Click **Ok**. KOSMA copies these settings to every selected account.
For accounts budgeted in months, enter `ACCOUNT_QTY * 30`, because a full calendar month counts as 30 days. For accounts budgeted in days, enter the calendar days of the contract as a number, account by account.
Holiday compensation pays for leave the person did not take. They stay insured for those days, so the days count towards the timebase. Your payroll office tells you how many there are. In the example below there are 2, so the timebase is `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7 + 2`, or the formula from step 5 plus 2 in a budget from `ÖFI 2026 Gagen mit Phasen`. An empty timebase means no ceiling, and the budget is then on the safe side.
BV is not due for an employment of one month or less, even when holiday compensation extends the insurance beyond that month. Untick **Employee benefit fund (BV)** in such an account. The exception: if the same person worked for you in the last twelve months, BV is due from the first day, and the tick stays.
Your payroll office decides whether an actor is employed, a freelance employee or self-employed. Apply `AT 2026 Darsteller` (step 3). If an actor's contract does pay special payments, apply the crew group from step 2 or 3 instead, with a factor in **X** that your payroll office gives you. Under the Holiday Act (Urlaubsgesetz), § 10, every employee is entitled to holiday compensation based on five weeks of holiday a year, pro rata for the length of the engagement. For an engagement in weeks with `AT 2026 Darsteller`, enter `1.0959` in **X**:
For an engagement in days, your payroll office gives you the factor.
Some people work only on single days at irregular intervals, each agreed for less than a week. Each day then counts as an employment of its own, with a ceiling of 231 €. Give each of them their own account and enter the contract days as the timebase.
Open the **Fringes & Supplements** dialog as in step 2 and click the **Supplements** tab. Create a group, for example `KV Film 2026`, and enter the premiums of the collective agreement. **Markup On Wage %** holds the premium. **Worktime %** is the share of normal working time you expect the premium to apply to: `10` on a 40-hour week means 4 hours at the premium. In **Collect In Budget Account**, choose the account for the premiums on every row.
| Supplement Name | Markup On Wage % | Worktime % | | ---------------------------------------------- | ---------------- | ---------- | | Overtime, 1st and 2nd hour | 150 | 10 | | Overtime from the 3rd hour | 200 | 5 | | Overtime at night | 200 | 2 | | Night work 22:00 to 06:00 | 50 | 10 | | Night before Sunday, Monday or after a holiday | 100 | 2 | | Saturday from the 5th hour or 15:00 | 100 | 5 | | Sunday and public holiday | 100 | 4 |
The weekly fee covers 40 hours, Monday to Friday. Every overtime hour is paid in full plus the premium, so the overtime rows carry 150 or 200. The other rows carry the premium alone.
If someone works on a Sunday, or on a Saturday without a weekly flat fee, also budget that day in the quantity, unless it is already there. A Sunday or public holiday also earns a paid day of rest. A night before a Sunday, before a Monday or after a holiday earns paid rest of up to one day. Budget this rest as an extra day in the quantity.
A weekly flat fee covers, on top of the 40 hours, up to 2 overtime hours a day and up to 10 hours on Saturday between 07:00 and 20:00. In an account with a weekly flat fee, untick the first two overtime hours and Saturday on the **Supplements** tab.
The agreement calculates the night premiums on the hourly rate of the minimum fee table (minimum fee × 4.33 ÷ 173). For Saturday, Sunday and public holidays, it names different bases in different places. Settle the basis with your payroll office. KOSMA calculates every premium on the pay in the account. Where the pay is above the minimum, KOSMA budgets the night premiums too high, and depending on the basis also the Saturday, Sunday and holiday premiums.
**Automatically add wage fringes to supplements** is not ticked by default. Tick it on the **Supplements** tab of the dialog from step 5, otherwise the social charges skip the premiums. KOSMA copies it to every selected account.
Apply the premiums in the same dialog, on the **Supplements** tab. You choose subaccounts there separately from the fringes, for example only the shoot: under **Apply to subaccounts**, tick **All** or the shoot subaccounts. Without a tick, the premiums and the charges on them are 0 €.
Select a single wage account and click  **Edit fringes & supplements**. Under **Select preset...**, choose **Save as Preset**, enter `AT 2026 Wien` and click **Ok**. Then click **Ok** in the dialog as well. The preset holds the fringes only: for the supplements, save a second preset, for example `KV Film 2026`, on the **Supplements** tab.
 **Apply Preset** appears only if an account has every subaccount named in the preset. For an account you add later, click  **Apply Preset** in its account details and tick both presets: the one for the fringes and `KV Film 2026`. See [save and reuse a fringe preset](/kb/article/save-and-reuse-a-fringe-preset).
The preset does not contain the timebase. After you apply it, open the dialog and enter the days. An empty timebase, or `0`, means no ceiling.
A camera operator works 4 weeks on a corporate film in Vienna at 2,000 € a week, 8,000 € of pay. That is above the minimum fee for this film type. With the factor `1.2881` the account carries 10,304.80 €. The engagement runs 28 calendar days, and holiday compensation extends the insurance by 2 days, so the timebase is `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7 + 2`, which is 30. BV is unticked, because the employment lasts less than a month.
| Fringe | No timebase | KOSMA, 30 days | Payroll office | | ---------------------------------- | ----------- | -------------- | -------------- | | Social insurance, current pay | 1,875.47 € | 1,471.20 € | 1,471.25 € | | Social insurance, special payments | 301.93 € | 301.93 € | 301.49 € | | Employer contribution (DB) | 381.28 € | 381.28 € | 381.28 € | | Surcharge on DB (DZ) | 37.10 € | 37.10 € | 37.10 € | | Municipal tax | 309.14 € | 309.14 € | 309.15 € | | Total | 2,904.92 € | 2,500.65 € | 2,500.27 € |
KOSMA and the payroll office differ by 0.38 €, because the factor, the day limit and the rate for special payments are rounded. With a timebase of `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7`, social insurance on current pay comes to 1,373.12 €, which is 98.08 € too little. The Vienna employer levy of 2 € a week is in its own account and not in the table.
The cause: a subaccount has no tick under **Apply to subaccounts**, so its pay is not part of the base. A new subaccount always starts without a tick. Accounts can also keep their own ticks when you apply a group to several at once. KOSMA then shows:
{number} of the selected accounts kept their own subaccount fringe settings.
Open the dialog of each of those accounts, tick the subaccounts and click **Ok**.
The selected accounts do not carry exactly the same fringes, supplements, timebase or subaccount ticks. In place of  **Edit fringes & supplements**, the panel shows:
Mixed contents · Click ↺ to reset
 **Reset fringes & supplements** removes all fringes and supplements from every selected account.
Click it and confirm. KOSMA then offers **Edit fringes & supplements** again.
**Sources.** - Social insurance rates and ceilings 2026: Dachverband der Sozialversicherungsträger, Beitragsrechtliche Werte 2026; ÖGK, Arbeitsbehelf 2026 for special payments, holiday compensation, BV and freelance employees. - Housing subsidy in Vienna of 0.75 % from 1 January 2026: Vienna Provincial Law Gazette 73/2025. - DB of 3.7 %, 2.7 % from 2028: FLAG 1967, § 41. DZ by state: WKO, rates 2026. Municipal tax of 3 %: Kommunalsteuergesetz 1993, § 9. - Vienna employer levy: Wiener Dienstgeberabgabegesetz, § 5. - Holiday compensation for actors: Urlaubsgesetz, §§ 2 and 10. Employment on single days: ÖGK, Arbeitsbehelf 2026, chapter 4.2. - Special payments, holiday compensation, flat fee and premiums: Kollektivvertrag Filmschaffende, valid from 1 July 2026, §§ 5, 7, 9 to 12 and 16, with the calculation aid of the parties for 2026. - Templates 2027: minimum fees from the WKO table from 1 January 2027; expected maximum contribution base for 2027 of 247 € a day from the ÖGK newsletter 8/2026, subject to publication. - No artists' levy: Künstler-Sozialversicherungsfondsgesetz, § 5a.
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