Registering employees

General information

Every employed person (fully and partially insured) must be registered with the competent health insurance institution by the employer before starting work.

Depending on the type of employment, there are different procedures that must be followed when registering, deregistering or reporting change notifications to the social security system.

The employees concerned include workers and employees (white-collar and blue-collar workers), regardless of whether they are employed marginally or on a casual or fixed-term basis. Independent contractors shall also register for social security.

Enterprises affected

all employers

Requirements

• The employer must have a contribution account number; as required, this shall be requested once (on the occasion of the first employee) from the appropriate health insurance provider, free of charge, generally via an online form (→ ÖGK)^{German text} (no documents required).
• The insured person must have an insurance number (→ ÖGK)^{German text}, or this must have been requested by the time of registration.

Deadlines

Employers must register all employees (both fully and partially insured) with the relevant health insurance provider.

If “on-the-spot registration” is allowed, an electronic application must be submitted within seven days of the start of statutory insurance.

Competent authority

They must be registered with the relevant health insurance provider (→ SV)^{German text}.

Procedure

The application for registration is only valid if it is sent to the health insurance provider via ELDA (→ ÖGK)^{German text} in the standard format specified by the Association of Austrian Insurance Providers.

The following information must be provided:

• employer’s data (contribution account number, etc.)
• name of employee
• insurance number or date of birth of the person concerned
• employment start date
• level of insurance cover (full or partial)
• employment sector (manual worker, white-collar worker, etc.)
• occupational pension plan start date
• whether there is a service contract 

Applications submitted in other ways, particularly in paper form, by email or by telephone, are not acceptable.

Required documents

No specific documents are required.

Costs and fees

There are no costs.

Further information

The employee must be given a copy of the full application immediately.

An infringement of the registration requirements may be penalised by an additional charge on the contribution or a late registration fine. The District Administrative Authority may impose administrative penalties for offences.

An application submitted in error, for example because the position was unexpectedly not taken up, or another health insurance provider is responsible, must be cancelled.

Further links

• Frequently asked questions: Employer (→ ÖGK)^{German text}
• CHECKLIST: First time employer (→ ÖGK)^{German text}
• contact centre for non-registered workers (→ UNDOK)^{German text}

Legal bases

sections 33 and 41 of the Allgemeines Sozialversicherungsgesetz (ASVG)

Link to form

• The electronic forms required are integrated into ELDA (→ ÖGK)^{German text} or into payroll accounts software.
• Request for an account number of contributions^{German text}

Authentication and signature

Entrepreneurs registered with the Business Service Portal (USP) can use ELDA (→ ÖGK)^{German text} and many other online systems^{German text} simply by logging in to the portal. Further information about registering can be found in the guide to registering with the Business Service Portal USP^{German text}. One-stop registration with the Business Service Portal USP provides a single point of access to various social insurance services; this is explained in a short film (→ YouTube)^{German text}.

Assistance and problem-solving services

ELDA Competence Center (→ ÖGK)