The 2026 immigration salary floors have to be read against a salary structure paid in fourteen instalments. How the two interact when testing whether an offer qualifies.
- Rising 2026 immigration thresholds
- Dual filing calendar
- What is the minimum share capital for a GmbH?
Austria pairs one of the EU's most developed cross-border group-relief systems with a labour market where nearly every pay minimum is set by sector collective agreement rather than statute, so both tax planning and payroll require ongoing tracking rather than a fixed rulebook.
Companies structuring Austria as a regional holding or operating hub should model the group-taxation recapture liability from day one, not only the day-one deduction — and should budget payroll planning around Austria's sector-bargained wage floors rather than a single statutory number.
What a foreign hire has to satisfy in Austria. Every figure below is published on the Austria country page.
| Austria | |
|---|---|
| Main work-permit route | EU Blue Card (€55,678/year threshold, 2026) and the national Red-White-Red Card (points-based, €3,465/month threshold, 2026) are the two main routes for skilled non-EU hires |
| Minimum share capital | GmbH: €10,000 (€5,000 cash) reduced variant since 2024 · €35,000 standard variant · AG: €70,000 |
| VAT | 20% standard · 13% and 10% reduced (10% narrowing to 4.9% for select basic foods from 1 July 2026) |
| Annual accounts filing | Annual accounts filed with the Firmenbuch within 9 months of fiscal year-end; corporate tax return due 30 June of the following year (31 March of the second following year if filed via a certified tax advisor under the quota system) |
| Statutory audit | A statutory audit is mandatory once a GmbH exceeds 2 of 3 thresholds — €5M balance sheet, €10M turnover, 50 employees — for two consecutive years; small GmbHs without a compulsory supervisory board are exempt |
What makes it complex in Austria
- Rising 2026 immigration thresholds — — EU Blue Card and Red-White-Red Card minimum salary thresholds both increased for 2026, requiring monthly gross pay checks given Austria's 14-instalment pay structure.
- Dual filing calendar — — Firmenbuch annual accounts are due within 9 months of year-end, while the corporate tax return is due 30 June of the following year (31 March of the second following year under the certified tax-advisor quota system).
What is the minimum share capital for a GmbH?
Since 2024, a GmbH can be formed with a reduced minimum share capital of €10,000, of which €5,000 must be paid in cash at formation. The standard variant still requires €35,000 (€17,500 paid in). An AG requires €70,000. The reduced-capital GmbH is also subject to a lower minimum corporate tax of €125 per quarter (€500/year).
Rising 2026 immigration thresholds is one of the points HTLC Network handles for clients operating in Austria, within a single engagement that covers every other country they operate in — executed locally, governed centrally.
In Austria the scope is: Red-White-Red Card and EU Blue Card coordination for non-EU hires, including salary-threshold checks against the 2026 minimums.
See Workforce Mobility in Austria for the full scope, or the Austria country page for the statutory framework across every service.
Figures as published on the HTLC Network country pages, reviewed September 2026 and collected from public sources. They are not a substitute for advice on a specific case and should be verified before being relied on.