How much has my employer actually paid into my Abfertigung NEU fund?

The Abfertigung NEU is financed by means of a defined contribution system. The employer pays a contribution amounting to **1.53 percent** of the monthly salary and any special payments. To calculate your approximate total: multiply your average gross monthly salary by 1.53 percent, then multiply by the number of months you have been employed (minus the first month, which is exempt). For example, an employee earning 3,000 euros gross for 5 years (59 contributing months) will have had approximately 2,715 euros contributed — before any investment returns generated by the MVK.

Can I access my Abfertigung NEU if I resigned voluntarily?

The accumulated capital is preserved in all types of employment termination, regardless of the duration of the employment relationship. A loss of the severance entitlement, as was the case under the Abfertigung ALT (for example in the event of self-resignation), can no longer occur. However, being able to take the money as a cash lump sum still requires three years of total contributions and a qualifying reason (such as employer dismissal). If you resigned voluntarily and have fewer than three years of contributions, the money stays in your fund — it transfers to your next employer's MVK rather than being paid out immediately.

What exactly is the social security contribution rate in Austria in 2026 and who pays it?

In 2026, the social security rate for employees in Austria is **18.07 percent** and for companies (employers) it is **20.98 percent** of gross salary. Contributions only need to be paid up to the maximum contribution base, which is **6,930 euros per month** in 2026. The employer share of 20.98 percent covers health insurance at 3.78 percent, pension at 12.55 percent, unemployment at 2.95 percent, accident insurance at 1.1 percent, and minor contributions at 0.6 percent. The Abfertigung NEU contribution of 1.53 percent is separate from and in addition to these social security rates.

Is there a minimum wage in Austria in 2026, and how does it affect my Abfertigung NEU?

Austria has no statutory minimum wage — wages are set mainly through sectoral collective agreements, which are binding even for non-union workers. In 2026, minimum salaries resulting from collective agreements most commonly range from approximately **1,800 to 2,100 euros gross per month.** This matters for your Abfertigung NEU because the 1.53 percent contribution is calculated on your total gross salary including any special payments — so even workers at the lower end of the pay scale are having meaningful contributions made on their behalf from the second month of employment. If your employer is paying below your sector's collective agreement minimum, they are also underpaying your MVK contribution. The **Arbeiterkammer (arbeiterkammer.at)** can check this for you, free of charge.

Austria 2026: The Pension Fund Your Employer Has Been Building Without Telling You

Q: What happens to my Abfertigung NEU if I work for multiple Austrian employers over my career?

This is one of the most important features of the system. An entitlement to access the Abfertigung NEU exists when there are three years of contribution payments since the start of the first contribution or the last disposal, with contribution periods from different employers counted together. Your contribution clock does not reset when you change jobs. Years of contributions with one employer carry over and combine with your next employer's contributions toward the three-year threshold.

Your employer has been depositing money into a fund in your name every single month — and there is a good chance no one has ever told you this. The Abfertigung NEU is financed by means of a defined contribution system, where the employer pays a contribution amounting to 1.53 percent of your monthly salary and any special payments. That money is sitting somewhere, growing, and it belongs to you. The question is whether you will ever claim it.

The Hidden Fund Most Austrian Workers Never Know Exists

Think about how many jobs you have had. How many times did you leave a position — quit, get laid off, finish a contract — and receive absolutely nothing on the way out? Most Austrian workers assume that is just how it goes. You work, you leave, you move on. What they do not realise is that their employer was legally required to be building a financial safety net for them the entire time.

The Abfertigung neu is the modern severance system under which employers contribute a percentage of gross salary each month to an employee's individual account with a "Mitarbeitervorsorgekasse" (MVK). The contribution rate and the conditions under which employees may access their accumulated entitlement have been subject to discussion, and employers should verify that their MVK contributions are correctly calculated against current gross salary figures, including all regular allowances.

Here is the painful part. The Severance Fund (Mitarbeitervorsorgekasse) takes 1.53 percent of gross income from the employer — it applies from the second month of employment under the Abfertigung Neu system, and the employer contributes monthly to a portable fund that the employee can withdraw as a lump sum after termination or transfer to a new employer. That fund is yours from the moment those contributions begin. If you have never heard about it, you are not alone — and right now, you may be leaving real money unclaimed.

Do the math for a second. If you earn 3,000 euros gross per month, your employer is depositing 45.90 euros into your fund every single month. Over five years of employment, that is over 2,754 euros before any investment returns — money that is legally yours, and that nobody sent you a letter about.

What the Law Actually Says

With the Betriebliches Mitarbeiter- und Selbständigenvorsorgegesetz (BMSVG), Austrian severance law was fundamentally changed. In place of the old performance-based severance system, a new system was introduced on 1 July 2002. In this new contribution-based system, the severance entitlement is funded by ongoing employer contributions.

For employees whose employment relationship began on or after 1 January 2003, the BMSVG applies — and therefore so does the Abfertigung NEU. That means virtually every worker who entered the Austrian labour market in the past two decades is automatically covered. Since 1 January 2008, freelance workers (freie Dienstnehmer) have also been included in the Abfertigung NEU — covering all freelance service relationships subject to compulsory insurance under the General Social Insurance Act (ASVG) that last longer than one month.

As a rule, the employer decides with which occupational pension fund to conclude the contract. There are eight occupational pension funds in Austria. That means your employer has already chosen one on your behalf, and contributions have been flowing into it on your behalf — whether you knew the fund existed or not.

The crucial point that almost nobody talks about: this amount is collected by the respective competent health insurance institution and forwarded to an occupational pension fund selected by the employer. Your contribution is bundled into your existing social security payment and passed along automatically. It happens in the background, invisibly, every month.

The Real Numbers for 2026

Every figure below has been verified from official sources for the current year.

Category	Figure	Source
Abfertigung NEU employer contribution rate	1.53 percent of gross monthly salary + special payments	usp.gv.at / sozialministerium.gv.at (BMSVG)
Contribution start date	From the 2nd month of employment	usp.gv.at
Number of licensed MVK funds in Austria	8	usp.gv.at
Employee social security rate (regular salary)	18.07 percent of gross	PwC Tax Summaries / Trading Economics (Federal Ministry of Finance)
Employer social security rate (regular salary)	20.98 percent of gross	Trading Economics (Federal Ministry of Finance, Dec 2026)
Social security max contribution base	6,930 euros/month	usp.gv.at (official, 2026)
Income tax — tax-free threshold	0 percent up to 13,539 euros/year	BMF Tax Book 2026 / checkeverything.at
Income tax — bracket 2	20 percent from 13,539 to 21,992 euros/year	BMF 2026 (§ 33 EStG)
Income tax — bracket 3	30 percent from 21,992 to 36,458 euros/year	BMF 2026 (§ 33 EStG)
Income tax — bracket 4	40 percent from 36,458 to 70,365 euros/year	BMF 2026 (§ 33 EStG)
13th/14th salary tax rate	6 percent flat (first 620 euros tax-free)	BMF 2026
Family Burden Equalisation Fund (FLAF)	3.7 percent of gross (employer only)	PwC Tax Summaries Austria

Austria uses seven tax brackets in 2026: 0 percent up to 13,539 euros annual taxable income, 20 percent up to 21,992, 30 percent up to 36,458, 40 percent up to 70,365, 48 percent up to 104,859, 50 percent up to 1,000,000 and 55 percent above. Bracket thresholds rose by 1.7333 percent on 1 January 2026 under inflation indexation.

Put these numbers into real-world context. If you earn 2,500 euros gross per month — a perfectly common salary in Vienna — your employer is legally depositing 38.25 euros every month into your MVK. Over a 10-year career with that employer, that is 4,590 euros before any fund growth. If the MVK invests that money well, the total pot could be meaningfully higher. In contrast to the stepwise increase provided for in the Abfertigung ALT (old severance payment scheme), the entitlement from the Abfertigung NEU grows continuously. There is no cliff edge, no waiting period before it starts accumulating — every euro paid in is yours.

What Your Employer Will Never Tell You

Here is what most people never find out: you do not lose your Abfertigung NEU when you quit. This is the single most important thing to understand about this system, and it is almost never communicated to workers at the time of resignation.

Under the old system (Abfertigung ALT), if you resigned voluntarily, you lost everything. The new system dismantled that penalty entirely. The accumulated capital is preserved in all types of employment termination, regardless of the duration of the employment relationship. A loss of the severance entitlement, as was the case under the Abfertigung ALT (for example in the event of self-resignation), can no longer occur. Read that again. You can quit your job today and the money is still yours.

The second thing nobody tells you: your entitlement is fully portable. The employee must notify the occupational pension fund of the desired disposal in writing within 6 months of termination of the employment relationship. Miss that window and you could lose the ability to make a move. So set a reminder the day you leave any job in Austria.

Third — and this is where workers get caught out — the right to actually withdraw the money as cash only kicks in after three years of contributions. An entitlement to access the Abfertigung NEU exists when there are three years of contribution payments since the start of the first contribution or the last disposal, with contribution periods from different employers counted together, and in specific circumstances such as dismissal by the employer. This means contribution years from multiple different jobs add up. You do not start the clock from zero every time you change employers.

Here are three things you can do right now:

Contact your health insurance provider (ÖGK — oegk.at) to find out which MVK your employer has registered you with — they are required by law to have this information.
Log into FinanzOnline (finanzonline.bmf.gv.at) to check your employment and contribution history, which can help you calculate how many contribution years you have accumulated.
Contact the Arbeiterkammer (arbeiterkammer.at) — Austria's Chamber of Labour — which offers free, legally backed advice to every employee about their Abfertigung NEU entitlement and the three-year access rules.

Austria vs the Rest of Europe

Austria's Abfertigung NEU is genuinely unusual in Europe, and understanding that makes you realise how valuable it is. Germany, your largest neighbouring economy, has no equivalent mandatory portable pension fund for all workers. In Germany, genuine severance payments are generally exempt from social security contributions, but severance is fully taxable as extraordinary income. In practice, German workers receive severance only when formally dismissed — and negotiating that payout often means going through lawyers or a labour court. There is no fund quietly accumulating in your name from day one.

The statutory minimum wage in Germany has been 13.90 euros gross per hour since January 1, 2026. That translates to roughly 2,300 euros gross per month for a full-time worker — and yet German workers have no Austrian-style MVK pot waiting for them when they leave. Meanwhile, Austria has no statutory minimum wage — wages are set mainly through sectoral collective agreements, which are binding even for non-union workers, with coverage broad across most working groups. In 2026, minimum salaries resulting from collective agreements most commonly range from approximately 1,800 to 2,100 euros gross per month. Add the mandatory 1.53 percent MVK contribution on top of that, and Austria's worker protections — while sometimes less visible than Germany's headline minimum wage — are in some respects more generous once you look under the surface.

Also worth noting: the Austrian government is currently consulting on planned amendments to the BMSVG, with proposed changes including the creation of a standard product for transferring pension entitlements and a legal right to transfer MVK entitlements, planned to come into force partially on 1 January 2027 and partially 1 January 2028. The system is actively being strengthened — which makes understanding it now even more important.

How to Claim What You Are Owed

Do not leave this money on the table. These are the exact steps you need to take.

Find your MVK. Ask your employer directly which Betriebliche Vorsorgekasse (BV-Kasse) manages your contributions. They are legally required to tell you. You can also contact the ÖGK (oegk.at), which collects contributions and forwards them — they have records of where your money has gone.
Request your account statement. Once you know your MVK, contact them directly and request a full account statement. The occupational pension fund must comply with the disposal request within 5 working days of the end of the second calendar month after notification. You have legal rights here — they cannot simply ignore your enquiry.
Check your contribution years. If you have worked for multiple Austrian employers since January 2003, your contribution periods add up across employers. Contact the Sozialministeriumservice (sozialministeriumservice.at) or the Arbeiterkammer (arbeiterkammer.at) for help calculating your total.
Notify within 6 months of leaving a job. The employee must notify the occupational pension fund of the desired disposal in writing within 6 months of termination of the employment relationship. This is a hard deadline. Miss it and your options narrow significantly.
Decide: cash out or transfer. Once you have access (after three contribution years and qualifying circumstances), you can take the funds as a lump sum payout — taxed at a favourable rate — or transfer the entire amount to your new employer's MVK to keep building. For long-term financial planning, the transfer option is often superior. Speak to the Arbeiterkammer for free personalised advice.
Use the EuroDuty tools to understand your full picture. Before making any decision, calculate your exact net salary and understand all the deductions affecting your take-home pay with the free EuroDuty salary calculator. Then use the EuroDuty salary comparator to see how your total compensation stacks up against equivalent workers across all 27 EU countries.