Austria is set to deduct the annual e-card fee from millions of people’s November pay and pensions. From 15 November 2026, the charge for next year will amount to 26.85 euros, taken automatically from salaries or pension payments received on 1 December.
For the first time, many pensioners will also have to pay the e-card fee. Like employees, they will not need to take any action: the amount will be withheld automatically from their November salary or pension, which reaches their accounts on 1 December, reported by 5 Minuten.
The service charge has risen sharply in recent years. After almost doubling from 13.80 euros to 25 euros last year, it has now increased by the statutory adjustment factor to 26.85 euros.
According to internal estimates cited by the Association of Austrian Social Insurance Institutions, around 5.2 million people in Austria will be affected this year. Additional groups of insured people who are liable for the fee are expected to be included beyond that figure.
The e-card fee replaced the former medical certificate charge. It is a standardised contribution towards the cost of health insurance services, and all revenue goes directly into funding those services.
The fee was first introduced on 15 November 2005, when it stood at exactly ten euros. Since then, it has been adjusted annually according to a legally defined formula known as the “uprating factor”. Last year formed an exception: for budgetary reasons, the charge rose unusually sharply to 25 euros per person.
For many households, the deduction will arrive at a difficult time of year, as winter costs rise and Christmas spending approaches. Yet for the social insurance system, the fee remains a small but steady source of financing for medical care, treatment and health services across Austria.
While the payment is automatic, the scale of the charge is considerable: with millions of contributors affected, the e-card fee will once again touch a large share of the country’s workforce and pensioners.
