BMF statements on the 2025 employee bonus

With the Budget Accompanying Law 2025, the employee bonus has been "relaunched" as the employee bonus 2025. This allows employers to grant tax-free allowances and bonus payments of up to €1,000 to one or more employees in 2025 for objective, business-related reasons, provided these are additional payments that have not been customarily granted until now. The "group characteristic" or "wage-shaping regulations" are no longer required as criteria, but differentiated granting must be based on objective, business-related reasons.

In a response to an inquiry dated 10.10.2025, the BMF published many examples for factual and operational differentiation, which is an essential prerequisite for the tax exemption of the employee bonus 2025. According to the BMF, justified differentiation is given for the following distinguishing criteria.

• Performance-related differentiations (e.g., based on employee performance appraisals, work results, achievement of objectives, etc.);
• Departmental and function-related differentiations (e.g. employees in the department with the highest target achievement, employees with direct customer contact or in sales, only employees below management level receive an employee bonus, etc.);
• Differentiation by working hours (full-time or part-time);
• Distinction based on working conditions (shift or night work, hazard pay, etc.);
• Differentiation by length of service and qualification.

However, according to the BMF statements, there are no discernible factual or operational reasons for differentiation:

• Higher cost of living at a location;
• Social criteria (e.g. single parents, only disabled employees, only younger or older employees, only employees with a long commute, etc.).

An important further condition for the tax-free award of an employee bonus (2025) is that it must be an additional payment that has not usually been granted hitherto. Therefore, payments based on performance agreements, regularly recurring bonus payments, or extraordinary salary increases are not eligible for tax exemption. In the opinion of the BMF, the crucial factor here is whether bonus payments have been made in the company that are reduced because of the employee bonus (moreover, the bonus model as a whole is decisive, not the payout to individual employees).

Unlike the previous regulations, the 2025 employee bonus is only income tax-free; there is an ASVG contribution obligation, and municipal tax, employer contributions, and DZ apply. Furthermore, in the opinion of the tax authorities, any employee social security contributions incurred for the tax-free employee bonus are not tax-deductible. The 2025 employee bonus can be paid tax-free until 15 February 2026.

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