Overtime in Part-Time Work: Special Rules, Special Pitfalls
Part-time employees frequently work extra hours — and encounter rules that differ from those for full-time staff. Particularly in connection with the planned tax exemption for overtime surcharges, part-time work is a special case that is often misunderstood.
You can check at any time how much your additional hours currently bring in net in the <a href="/en/overtime-calculator">overtime calculator</a> — the part-time situation is explicitly taken into account there.
Extra Work Is Not the Same as Overtime
In the part-time context a distinction is made between extra work and overtime. Extra work refers to the hours a part-timer works beyond their contractual working time as long as they remain below regular full-time. Only when the full-time threshold is exceeded does one speak of genuine overtime in the narrower sense.
This distinction is relevant to the surcharge. Whether a part-timer receives the same surcharge for extra work as a full-timer for overtime depends on the collective or employment contract. The principle of equal treatment matters: part-timers may not be placed at a disadvantage compared with full-timers without an objective reason.
Why the Planned Tax Exemption Often Doesn't Apply
The draft bill on the tax exemption of surcharges contains a decisive restriction: only surcharges for hours above a collectively agreed or contractual full-time week of at least 34 hours are favoured. This is intended to prevent the benefit from applying to minor extra work.
For part-timers this means: someone working 30 hours a week who does five extra hours is still below the 34-hour reference with those hours. Under the draft there would be no tax exemption for that extra work. Only hours beyond the full-time threshold would be favoured — a point many part-time employees overlook.
Important: The law is so far only a draft and, as of July 2026, had not been passed. The exact design of the full-time reference may still change during the legislative process.
A Worked Example
Suppose you work part-time at 30 hours a week and perform five hours of extra work with a 25-percent surcharge. Under current law, base pay and surcharge are taxed normally. Since your weekly hours are below 34, the planned reform would also bring no tax advantage in this case — your extra work would be taxed identically in both scenarios. The <a href="/en/overtime-calculator">overtime calculator</a> reports exactly this and displays a corresponding note when weekly working time is below 34 hours.
What Part-Timers Can Do
First check your contract: from how many hours does extra work apply in your case, and is a surcharge paid? Document your hours carefully. And keep an eye on the legislative process — should the 34-hour reference be adjusted, more part-timers could benefit in the future.
Conclusion
In part-time work, extra work is usually to be treated like regular wages for tax purposes, and the planned tax exemption for surcharges often does not apply because of the 34-hour threshold. Those who know their situation and document their hours avoid false expectations. Calculate your case concretely before planning around tax advantages.