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Tax rates in Austria

Tax Rates

Consumption Taxes

Nature of the Tax
Value Added Tax (VAT): Einfuhrumsatzsteuer
Tax Rate
Standard rate is 20% with slight variations according to where the supply is made. In Jungholz and Mittelberg, the standard rate is 19%.
Reduced Tax Rate
A reduced rate of 10% applies to most foodstuffs; books (including e-books as of 1 January 2020); hotel accommodation; restaurant meals; domestic passenger transport (except flights); residential apartment rental; supplies made by private hospitals and charitable organizations; pharmaceuticals; repairs of bikes, shoes, clothes and leather goods; feminine monthly hygiene products

A reduced rate of 13% applies to domestic flights, entrance to sporting and cultural events, animal feed, seeds, agricultural supplies and ex-vineyard sales of wines, and supplies made by artists.

Other Consumption Taxes
Custom duties are levied on non-EU imports. Excise duties are levied on tobacco (13% to 47% of price), alcohol and other beverages (according to the type) and petroleum products (approximately EUR 40 to EUR 600 per 1,000 litres). More detailed information on excise duties is available concerning tobacco products and energy products on the European Commission website.

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Corporate Taxes

Company Tax
24% (in calendar year 2023; to be reduced to 23% in calendar year 2024; was 25% until 2022)
Tax Rate For Foreign Companies
A corporation with a legal seat or place of effective management in Austria is taxed on its worldwide income.
A non-Austrian corporate tax resident not having a legal seat nor place of effective management in Austria is subject to limited taxation on certain sources of income in Austria.
Capital Gains Taxation
In general, capital gains are taxed as ordinary corporate income at 25%. A participation exemption is provided for gains derived from the sale of shares in a non-resident corporation in which the resident parent company holds more than 10% for one year or longer. Companies can choose to opt out of the exemption, resulting in capital gains becoming taxable and capital losses becoming tax deductible.
Main Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits
Deductible expenses include start-up costs; interest payments that meet the general arm's-length requirements and those resulting from the debt-financed acquisition of shares (except if the acquisition is from related parties or directly or indirectly controlling shareholders); valuation allowances for bad debts that are not calculated on a lump-sum basis; donations to charitable institutions, non-profit organizations performing research and educational activities and certain educational institutions (capped at 10% of the current year's profit), business lunches (limited to 50% of actual expenses) and advertising expenses; payments to a member of the supervisory board (up to 50%, for salaries not exceeding EUR 500,000 per person/year); payroll taxes; royalties, interest, and service fees paid to foreign affiliates, provided they are at arm's length. R&D expenses are also deductible, with a premium of 14% for R&D activities carried out in Austria.
Taxes are not deductible (with some exceptions, like payroll taxes), same as for fines and penalties.

For depreciation and amortisation, only the straight-line method is accepted, with the cost evenly spread over the useful life of an asset (with some exceptions like buildings and automobiles).
Tax losses can be carried forward without any time limit (within a limit of 75% of the taxable income for any given year, with some exceptions). The carryback of tax losses is generally not permitted.

Other Corporate Taxes
Stamp duties of 0.8% to 2% apply to certain legal transactions such as leases and hire contracts. A real estate transfer tax is levied at a rate of 3.5% (2% for transfers of agricultural and forestry land between close family members), with the fair market value being the minimum (plus a 1.1% registration fee with the land register). Certain transactions regarding the transfer of shares of companies and shares of partnerships owning Austrian real estate are taxed at a rate of 0.5%.
Both Austrian banks and foreign banks with an Austrian branch are subject to a banking tax at a rate of 0.024% (assessment bases between EUR 300 million and EUR 20 billion) to 0.029% (beyond EUR 20 billion) of the tax base.

A digital services tax ("Digitalsteuer") applies at a rate of 5% to multinational companies with worldwide revenue of at least EUR 750 million and yearly domestic revenue of at least EUR 25 million from providing online advertising services.

Social security contributions paid by the employer amount to a total of 21.13% (maximum assessment basis of EUR 5,670/month), so divided:
- Sickness: 3.78%
- Unemployment: 3%
- Pension: 12.55%
- Accident: 1.10%
- Miscellaneous: 0.70%

Furthermore, the employer is liable to the Family Burdens Equalisation Levy at the rate of 3.9%, the municipal tax on payroll at the rate of 3% of monthly gross salaries and wages, and a public transportation levy equal to EUR 2 per week/employee in the city of Vienna. A contribution to the Chamber of Commerce is levied at a rate between 0.34% and 0.42% of monthly gross salaries paid, according to the province. Local authorities also levy other taxes, for example, on rubbish collection and on entertainment.

Other Domestic Resources
Federal Ministry of Finance

Country Comparison For Corporate Taxation

  Austria OECD United States Germany
Number of Payments of Taxes per Year 12.0 10.1 10.6 9.0
Time Taken For Administrative Formalities (Hours) 131.0 163.6 175.0 218.0
Total Share of Taxes (% of Profit) 51.4 41.6 36.6 48.8

Source: Doing Business, Latest available data.

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Individual Taxes

Tax Rate

Personal Income Tax (EUR) Rate (%)
0 - 11,693 0
11,694 - 19,134 20
19,135 - 32,075 30
32,076 - 62,080 42
62,081 - 93,120 48
93,121 - 1,000,000 50
Above 1,000,000 55
Special Payments (13th or 14th month salary or bonus) ranging from 6% to 55% (first EUR 620 is tax-free)
Allowable Deductions and Tax Credits
Expenses incurred towards creating, protecting or preserving employment income are generally deductible, including expenses for professional books, maintaining two households and membership dues to professional organisations. A standard deduction of EUR 132 is granted for employees' work-related expenses. Automatic tax credits are provided based on the number of income-earning individuals and children in a household. Business losses or rental losses can be offset with other categories of income. Other deductions include church tax (capped at EUR 400), donations to charitable organizations (limited to 10% of the current year’s taxable income), and tax consulting fees. Via the employer, it will be possible for employees to receive non-taxable flat rate expenses for homeworking in the years 2021 to 2023 in the amount of up to EUR 3 per home office day, capped at EUR 300 per calendar year.

Tax relief is provided for taxpayers who incur extraordinary expenses (e.g. funeral costs, medical expenses for special treatments not reimbursed by health insurance), with limits depending on the income and family status (with a retention rate ranging from 6% to 12%).

Personal allowances generally take the form of tax credits and include a transportation tax credit (EUR 421) and for sole wage earners, single taxpayers, and sole earners of unmarried couples EUR 520 with one child, EUR 704 with two children, EUR 232 for each additional child.
A monthly tax-free cash payment for children up to age 18 or up to 24 if still in school, or handicapped (up to age 25 under certain conditions), is granted by the government upon formal request. Different monthly allowances are eligible for children based on their age and circumstances: EUR 120.60 per month for kids below three years old, and EUR 129.00 per month for those between the ages of three and ten. For children aged between ten and 18 years old, the monthly allowance is EUR 149.70. For orphans and students between 19 and 24 years old (25 in certain situations) the monthly allowance stands at EUR 174.70. Furthermore, a child care allowance (Kinderbetreuungsgeld) is granted for newborn children.

Special Expatriate Tax Regime
In case of non-residents, an extra EUR 9,567 are added to the tax computation base when the income tax is computed.

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Double Taxation Treaties

Countries With Whom a Double Taxation Treaty Have Been Signed
Austrian Ministry of Finance
Withholding Taxes
Withholding tax rates are:
Dividends: 25%/0% (paid to another Austrian company if the recipient company holds at least 10% of the shares in the distributing company)/ 27.5% for individuals;
Interest: 0% (loan interest paid to a non-resident company)/25% (silent partner corporation)/25% for resident companies/27.5% for individuals
Royalties: 0% (resident company or individual)/20% (non-resident)
Bilateral Agreement
The United Kingdom and Austria are bound by a double taxation treaty.

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Latest Update: March 2024

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