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. Social insurance stops at the maximum contribution base (Höchstbeitragsgrundlage), 231 € per calendar day. You set the charges up once, and every wage account then calculates them the same way. 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 these groups next to `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 template `OEFI_2026` already contains the four groups from steps 2 and 3, the supplements from step 7 and the presets from step 8. Every account budgeted in weeks already carries the timebase `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7`. If you create the budget from it under **New Budget**, you still enter the DZ of your state in `AT 2026` and `AT 2026 freie DN`. `AT 2026 Darsteller` carries the Vienna values: outside Vienna, change social insurance to `20.98` with a limit of `48.46` and enter your DZ. You also enter the factor in **X** (step 4) and the holiday compensation days (step 6), and you apply the groups (step 5).
Create one account for the money, for example `Social Charges`. Every fringe below collects in this account. 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`. 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 (step 4), which make up one seventh of it. The two social insurance rows therefore split the rates:
BV, DB, DZ and the municipal tax have no ceiling. DB falls to 2.7 % from 2028.
The maximum contribution base is 6,930 € a month, which is 231 € per calendar day. **Limit Per Day** is the highest charge per day, so it takes the full rate of 21.23 %:
If you enter 231.00 itself, or 18.20 % × 231.00, 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 first row is `17.98` with a limit of `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). No housing subsidy is due for them. Without special payments, their ceiling is 8,085 € a month, 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.
The calculation aid of the parties to the agreement calculates the holiday compensation on pay plus special payments, which gives 1.2881. The text of the agreement bases it on the pay alone, which gives 1.2708. With 1.2881 the budget is on the safe side. The factor applies to a weekly flat fee (Wochenpauschalgage) as well.
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`.
Every charge then follows on its own, because it calculates on the account total.
The selected accounts must have nothing applied yet, or carry exactly the same: the same fringes and supplements, the same timebase and the same subaccount ticks. 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. 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 `ACCOUNT_QTY * 7`, the calendar days of the engagement. Click **Ok**. KOSMA gives every selected account the same fringes, subaccount ticks and timebase.
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 extends the insurance by the days of untaken leave. These 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`. 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. If the same person worked for you in the last twelve months, BV is due from the first day. Otherwise, untick **Employee benefit fund (BV)** in the account of such a short employment.
If an actor's contract pays special payments, apply the crew group from step 2 or 3 to that account, with a factor in **X** that your payroll office gives you. Otherwise, apply `AT 2026 Darsteller` and leave **X** at 1. Your payroll office decides whether an actor is employed, a freelance employee or self-employed. If an actor is employed on single days at irregular intervals, each day is an employment of its own, with a ceiling of 231 €. Enter the contract days as the timebase, and give each actor their own account.
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 %** carries the premium, **Worktime %** how often you expect it. 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 those rows carry 150 or 200. The other rows carry the premium alone. A Sunday or public holiday also earns a paid day of rest, and a night before Sunday, before Monday or after a holiday earns paid rest of up to one day. Budget it as an extra day in the quantity.
A weekly flat fee covers 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, leave the rows for the first two overtime hours and for Saturday unticked.
The agreement calculates the night, Saturday, Sunday and holiday premiums on the hourly rate of the minimum fee table (minimum fee × 4.33 ÷ 173). KOSMA calculates them on the pay in the account. Where the pay is above the minimum, KOSMA budgets these premiums too high.
**Automatically add wage fringes to supplements** is not ticked in every account. 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 as the fringes, on the **Supplements** tab. The subaccount selection there is separate from the fringes, so you can keep premiums on the shoot alone. If the account has subaccounts, tick **All** or the shoot subaccounts under **Apply to subaccounts** on this tab too. 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.
You do not need to do this. We have worked it through for you, and it only shows that the rates are right. The gross-net calculator of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) works per month and assumes 14 monthly salaries a year. In the calculator, enter a monthly gross salary, employee, Vienna, with DZ and BV included.
In KOSMA, create an account with 1 × 3,000 €, enter `7/6` in **X**, the month plus its share of the two special payments, apply `AT 2026 Wien` and enter `30` as the timebase. Do the same with 8,000 €.
| Fringe | KOSMA, 3,000 € | BMF, 3,000 € | KOSMA, 8,000 € | BMF, 8,000 € | | ---------------------------------- | -------------- | ------------ | -------------- | ------------ | | Social insurance, current pay | 637.00 € | 636.90 € | 1,471.20 € | 1,471.24 € | | Social insurance, special payments | 102.55 € | 102.40 € | 273.47 € | 236.54 € |
For special payments the BMF column shows the holiday and Christmas bonuses spread over twelve months. At 8,000 € the two bonuses come to 16,000 € a year, above the annual ceiling of 13,860 €. The BMF calculator caps them at that ceiling. KOSMA does not.
At 3,000 € the calculator shows 111.00 € DB, 10.80 € DZ, 90.00 € municipal tax and 45.90 € BV, which matches the rates of 3.7, 0.36, 3 and 1.53 %.
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. If you applied the group to several accounts and some of them kept their own subaccount ticks, KOSMA shows:
{number} of the selected accounts kept their own subaccount fringe settings.
Open the dialog of that account, 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. - 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. - No artists' levy: Künstler-Sozialversicherungsfondsgesetz, § 5a. - Cross-check: BMF gross-net calculator, 2026.
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