The draft of the BBG 2025 on the tax-free employee bonus 2025 was approved

In our blog post dated 15 May 2025, we already reported on the draft regulations for the tax-free employee bonus 2025 as part of the Austrian Budget Accompanying Act 2025 (BBG 2025).

The draft for the BBG 2025 was subsequently approved during the parliamentary process by the Austrian National Council on 16 June 2025 and by the Austrian Federal Council on 26 June 2025.

It is particularly noteworthy that the draft for the tax-free employee bonus 2025 was approved without any substantive amendments in both the Austrian National Council and the Federal Council. Only a structural adjustment was made: the regulations for the tax-free employee bonus 2025 are now found in section 124b subsec. 478 EStG (Austrian Income Tax Act).

Thus, it remains possible in 2025 to grant individual employees a tax-free employee bonus of up to EUR 1,000. However, the employee bonus for 2025 is subject to social security contributions and additional payroll-related costs (employer contribution, employer contribution surcharge and municipal tax) will apply.

Contrary to previous regulations, as of 2025, a group characteristic is no longer required for tax exemption. Furthermore, authorisation by the applicable collective agreement or through a company agreement is no longer a requirement for the tax-free granting of the employee bonus 2025. Regarding the conditions and content restrictions for the tax-free employee bonus 2025, we refer to our last blog post on this topic.

In conclusion

We welcome the adoption of the regulations for the tax-free employee bonus 2025, as the elimination of the group characteristic and the requirement for collective agreement authorisation significantly simplifies implementation in practice.

Autor:innen:

Barbara Mechtler

Carina Siess

Markus Wimmer