What evidence of registration for social insurance can employers provide?
Registration for social insurance in the posting country
Posted workers or temporary agency workers remain insured in accordance with the social insurance regulations of the posting country when the conditions listed below are met:
- The employee is posted or hired out for a period not expected to exceed 24 months at most and
- the posted or hired-out employee does not replace a worker whose posting period has expired (no successive postings).
If these conditions are met, the competent social insurance institution in the posting country will issue an A1 certificate (confirmation of existing insurance for the posted or temporary agency workers in the posting country).
Austrian social insurance regulations are applicable where the conditions outlined above are not met.
Providing the social insurance number(s) when providing notice of posting or hiring-out of workers
Before the posted or hired-out workers begin working in Austria, the employer is required to notify the Austrian Central Co-Ordinating Agency Charged with Investigating Illegal Employment (Zentrale Koordinationsstelle für die Kontrolle der illegalen Beschäftigung, ZKO), providing relevant details.
More detailed information is available under the menu item Notification requirements.
Among the details required to be provided with the notice are the social insurance numbers of the posted or temporary agency workers.
Keeping the documents showing social insurance registration available at the place of work or at another place previously disclosed in the notice
Documents providing evidence of social insurance registration are required to be kept available at the place of work in Austria.
Normally the A1 certificate is required to be kept available.
For the event that the employer or temporary work agency was not yet able to obtain the A1 certificate, the following are considered equivalent evidence of social insurance registration:
- The application for issue of the A1 certificate in German or in English translation
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In addition, a document in English or German from which can be determined the employee’s registration for social insurance in the posting country for the posting period, e.g.:
- an earlier A1 certificate issued no earlier than the beginning of the employment relationship or
- proof of wage payment or bank statements as evidence of payment of social insurance contributions in the posting country.
The obligation to keep the documents available applies to
- the employer in the case of posting;
- the user undertaking in Austria when workers are hired out temporarily on a cross-border basis.
This requirement can be met by keeping available the documents concerning social insurance registration:
- either directly at the place of work, in the case of posting especially with a contact person at the place of work
- or in the case of posting, be either with a contact person outside of the place of work (employee of the posting employer or professional legal representative)
- or with a chartered accountant, lawyer or notary public (professional legal representative) established in Austria
- or at a branch in Austria
- or at an Austrian subsidiary or parent company of the same company group.
The documents concerning social insurance registration are only allowed to be kept available at a place outside of the place of work if this was previously disclosed when giving notice of the posting or temporary agency work.
When posting or hiring out mobile workers in the transport sector, the documents concerning social insurance registration are required to be kept available in the vehicle.
Violation of the obligation to keep social security document available is punishable under administrative law (fine of up to EUR 20,000).