Bitcoin as Part of Your Salary: Getting Paid in BTC

Can you receive bitcoin as salary? In Germany and Switzerland yes, if your employer agrees and you put it in your contract. In Germany, though, the bitcoin portion may be no higher than the attachable part of your wage; the rest must be paid in euros. In Austria the legal position is unclear. Tax-wise it brings no advantage anywhere: the bitcoin portion is taxed and subject to contributions like wages. Almost always simpler is a savings plan that automatically turns a fixed share of your salary into bitcoin on payday.

What "salary in bitcoin" actually means

The idea sounds simple: part of your salary arrives not as euros in your account but as bitcoin in your wallet. In practice there are three variants that are legally quite different:

1. Genuine bitcoin wages: your employment contract says part of your pay is owed in bitcoin. The employer buys the bitcoin and transfers it to you. This is a benefit in kind, with all the rules that apply to it.
2. Euro wages, redirected: your pay stays in euros, but part of it goes not to your current account but straight to a bitcoin provider that buys for you. Legally this is an ordinary euro payment to a second bank account.
3. Your own savings plan: you receive your full salary and set up a standing order that sends a fixed amount to the provider on payday.

Variant 1 is the one that makes headlines. Variants 2 and 3 lead to almost exactly the same result and are much simpler. The following sections show why.

Germany: § 107 GewO and the ether ruling

Employment law is clearly worded here. § 107(1) of the Trade Regulation Act says: "Wages are to be calculated and paid in euros." Paragraph 2 opens a door: employer and employee may agree on benefits in kind as part of pay if this is in the employee's interest or suits the nature of the employment. And then the limit: the value of benefits in kind must not exceed the attachable part of the wage.

Whether bitcoin fits through that door was decided by the Federal Labour Court (BAG) on 16 April 2025 for a very similar case (ref. 10 AZR 80/24). An employee was to receive his commissions in the cryptocurrency ether. The court said this can be a permissible benefit in kind if, viewed objectively, it is in the employee's interest. But if its value exceeds the attachable part of the wage, the agreement is invalid to that extent. The same logic applies to bitcoin.

How much may be paid in bitcoin?

The non-attachable part must reach your account in euros. That is the amount a creditor would also have to leave you. Since 1 July 2026, the basic exemption for single people without maintenance obligations is €1’587.40 net per month. Of everything above it, 70 % is attachable; with maintenance obligations, less.

Tax and social security in Germany

For tax purposes, bitcoin pay is ordinary wages. It is taxed at its euro value on the day the bitcoin arrives in your wallet and you can dispose of it. Social security contributions are due on the same value.

The €50 monthly exemption for benefits in kind does not help here. The Federal Ministry of Finance letter of 15 March 2022 on distinguishing cash payments from benefits in kind treats established crypto assets such as bitcoin as cash payments, as tax advisers consistently read it. A benefit in kind under employment law, money under tax law: exactly this split makes payroll complicated. The ministry's newer letter on crypto assets of 6 March 2025 expressly leaves payroll questions out.

Afterwards the same rules apply as if you had bought the bitcoin yourself. The euro value on the day of receipt is your purchase price, and the one-year holding period starts that day. If you sell after that, the gain is tax-free. More in Bitcoin taxes in Germany.

Austria: legally unclear, taxed as a benefit in kind

Austria has no provision like § 107 GewO that expressly allows or forbids bitcoin wages. In 2018, asked by the newspaper Der Standard, the Vienna Chamber of Labour saw no clear legal position. We have not found a regulation or landmark ruling on it since.

In practice this means:

• Minimum pay in euros. Whatever your collective agreement sets as minimum wage or salary should be paid in money. A bitcoin portion only comes into question for amounts above that, as an additional agreement.
• Wage tax on the euro value. The bitcoin portion is a benefit in kind and is taxed like wages at its value on the day of receipt, at the progressive rate, not at 27.5 %. Social insurance contributions are also due.
• Then KESt. The taxed value counts as your purchase price. If you later sell at a gain, you pay 27.5 % capital gains tax (KESt) on the difference, as with any new holding. The details are in Bitcoin taxes in Austria.

For Austrians, bitcoin wages are therefore a route with uncertainty and no advantage. Redirecting a euro portion to an Austrian provider achieves the same. Which ones exist is shown in Buying bitcoin in Austria.

Switzerland: allowed if you agree on it

The Swiss Code of Obligations is the most open. Art. 323b CO says the money wage is to be paid in legal tender "unless otherwise agreed or customary". If you agree on bitcoin, that is permissible in principle. Paragraph 3, the truck ban, draws a line: agreements requiring you to use your wages in the employer's interest are void. A model in which the bitcoin may only sit on a platform of the employer and you cannot withdraw it to your wallet would therefore be on shaky ground. Bitcoin wages are offered mainly by companies in the crypto industry.

Tax and social security use the franc value on the day of payment. The employer shows it on the salary statement, and you pay AHV, IV, EO and ALV on it like on any wage. Afterwards the bitcoin belongs to your private assets: price gains are generally tax-free, and you declare the holding every year for wealth tax. More in Bitcoin taxes in Switzerland.

The three countries compared

As of November 2026. The table is no substitute for advice on your contract.

What speaks against genuine bitcoin wages

Even where it is allowed, genuine bitcoin pay has practical snags that a savings plan doesn't.

Who bears the price risk between payroll and transfer? Payroll needs a euro value. If the price moves 5 % between the reference date and arrival in your wallet, the payslip no longer matches. The contract has to settle this.

Your employer needs a way to buy. It must buy bitcoin from a licensed provider and send it to your wallet. Since MiCA, for withdrawals of more than €1’000 to a self-hosted wallet, the provider checks who owns it. For the employer that is extra effort with no benefit of its own. How companies hold bitcoin securely at all is shown in Bitcoin wallets for companies.

Someone pays the fees. If the employer buys, it bears spread and fees. Usually this is passed on to you via a worse rate or a deduction.

You can't change the amount quickly. If you want to buy less in an expensive market or skip a month, you need a contract change. A standing order you change in two minutes.

Changing jobs ends the arrangement. Your next employer may not offer it. Your own savings plan stays.

The simple alternative: a savings plan on payday

The goal behind bitcoin pay is usually that a fixed part of every salary should automatically become bitcoin without you deciding anew each month. A savings plan does exactly that if you set it up right.

1. Choose a provider that delivers straight to your wallet. Bitcoin-only apps such as Relai, Coinfinity or Pocket buy on every incoming payment and send the sats to your address immediately. An overview is in the Bitcoin savings plan comparison.
2. Standing order for the day after payday. If your salary arrives on the 28th, set the standing order for the 1st. That way the money is gone before you spend it.
3. Or redirect your pay. Many employers will pay net wages to two accounts on request. If you give your provider's purchase IBAN with your reference as the second account, your salary reaches the provider directly. For the employer it is an ordinary euro transfer; nothing changes for tax.
4. Think in shares. Set a percentage, say 10 % of net pay, and adjust the amount with every pay rise.

How a fixed monthly amount would have developed over the years is worked out by the savings plan calculator with every price since 2011: