For people who live and work in Austria
Clear, independent guides to tax, banking, pensions and property in Austria, in English.
Written for EU and international professionals, freelancers, business owners and families dealing with Austrian rules in a second language.
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Deep dives
Arbeitnehmerveranlagung: refunds, the automatic version and the five-year window
How Austria’s employee tax assessment settles payroll tax, why arrivals often get money back, and how long a claim stays open.
The E 1kv line by line: where each kind of investment income goes
Where each kind of investment income goes on the E 1kv, from foreign dividends and fund income to losses and the two options.
Mortgages in Austria: how fixed rates, variable rates and early repayment work
How Austrian housing loans handle fixed and variable rates, what a lender can charge for repaying early, and which lending standards have lapsed.
Kleinunternehmerregelung in Austria: the small-business VAT exemption
How Austria’s small-business VAT exemption works: what turnover counts, what happens when a business passes the limit, and what it gives up.
Holiday homes and second homes in Austria: the rules by state
How each Austrian state restricts holiday homes and second homes, what municipalities charge, and what unlawful use can cost an owner.
Rent increases in Austria: how the index cap works
How Austria now limits index-linked rent rises, which flats the cap covers, and what changes for older leases and their index clauses.
Austria’s nine states compared: where the money rules differ
What changes at an Austrian state line, from land and rent rules to childcare and social assistance, and what stays federal everywhere.
How pensions are taxed in Austria: withholding, credits and the 14 payments
How Austria taxes a pension through the payer, which credits and contributions apply, and what several pensions or a company pension change.
Electricity, gas and heating in Austria: what the bill is made of and how to switch
What an Austrian electricity or gas bill is made of, how switching supplier works, and who pays for heating.
Austrian pension tax abroad: when Austria still taxes it
Who taxes an Austrian pension once the recipient lives abroad, how the treaty decides, and what the PVA withholds.
Foreign broker tax in Austria: what you declare yourself
What a foreign broker doesn’t do for Austrian tax, and how residents cover fund figures, acquisition cost, dividends and euro conversion themselves.
Co-insuring family members in Austria: Mitversicherung and the supplementary contribution
How co-insurance with the ÖGK works for children, a spouse and other relatives, what the supplementary contribution is, and when it falls away.
Sick pay in Austria: continued pay from the employer and Krankengeld
What employees in Austria are paid when sick: the employer’s continued pay first, then Krankengeld from the ÖGK.
Household costs in Austria: what a budget is made of
The recurring costs a household in Austria meets, from rent and energy to the ORF-Beitrag and e-card fee, and where each is explained.
Sonderzahlungen: how the 13th and 14th salary are taxed in Austria
How Austria taxes the 13th and 14th salary at fixed rates, when the annual sixth runs out, and what a bonus changes.
Home-office allowance in Austria: what ends and what stays
How Austria’s tax-free home-office allowance and the related deductions work, what the enacted budget law abolishes, and what stays deductible.
Buying property in Austria: what it costs beyond the price
The taxes, fees and commissions on top of an Austrian purchase price, who charges each, and when they fall due.
Exit tax when leaving Austria: the deemed sale of shares, funds and crypto
How Austria taxes shares, funds and crypto as if sold when you leave, and when the tax can be deferred.
Social insurance contributions for employees in Austria: shares and ceilings
Which social insurance contributions come off an Austrian employee’s pay, what the employer adds on top, and where the ceilings stop them.
Freelancer income tax in Austria: profit, the return and prepayments
How a freelancer’s profit becomes an Austrian income tax bill, and why the return, prepayments and SVS recalculation arrive together.
Pendlerpauschale and Pendlereuro: how the commuter allowance works in Austria
How Austria’s commuter allowance and commuter credit are worked out from distance and public transport, and how employees claim them.
From gross to net in Austria: how 14 payments become take-home pay
How Austrian gross pay becomes net across 14 payments: the contribution ceilings, the tariff, the lower tax on the 13th and 14th.
ETF tax in Austria: reporting and non-reporting funds
How Austria taxes fund income every year, what reporting and non-reporting status changes, and who does the work at each broker.
Leaving Austria: what happens to your Austrian pension
Austria doesn’t refund pension contributions when you leave. How the account, foreign years and the later claim work.
Social insurance in Austria: who insures you and what it costs
Who insures employees and the self-employed in Austria, what each branch costs, and how a job and a side business combine.
Having a child in Austria: benefits, costs and paperwork
What a birth costs under ÖGK cover, which benefits replace pay, and the registrations that follow.
Can foreigners buy property in Austria? The Grundverkehr rules by state
Who needs state approval to buy Austrian property, how the nine states decide, and the holiday-home rules for everyone.
Foreign income and Austrian tax: what residents still declare
How Austria taxes residents’ foreign income, why tax paid abroad doesn’t settle it, and what the tax office already sees.
Austrian or international broker: what changes for tax
Whether a broker withholds Austrian KESt matters more than where it’s based. How both routes work for foreign residents.
How to read an Austrian payslip, line by line
Every line on an Austrian payslip explained: gross pay, the 13th and 14th salary, social insurance, wage tax, and the November e-card fee.
Leaving Austria for good: the financial exit checklist
Deregistering, the final tax year, exit tax on shares and funds, pension credit, the severance fund and family allowance: what Austria expects when you leave.
Neue Selbstständige or trade licence: how Austria classifies freelance work
Why the work itself decides whether an Austrian freelancer needs a trade licence or counts as new self-employed, and how SVS insurance differs between the two.
Austria’s Investment Tax: KESt on dividends, interest and capital gains, explained with examples
Austria taxes investment income at flat rates, with no allowance. How KESt applies to interest, dividends and gains, and when you declare it yourself.
How your Austrian pension is calculated: the Pensionskonto explained
How each year of Austrian pay becomes pension credit on your Pensionskonto, and how that balance becomes a monthly pension.
Renting in Austria: deposits, Mietrecht and your rights as a tenant
Which Austrian rental rules apply to which flats, and what they mean for rent, deposits, increases and moving out.
SVS registration and contributions for the newly self-employed
How new freelancers and trade licence holders in Austria register with the SVS, what the contributions are, and why the year-three catch-up bill arrives.
ÖGK health insurance: what’s covered and what you pay
What ÖGK cover includes for employees and their families, and where Wahlarzt visits and hospital stays still cost money.
Austrian tax residency rules: the 183-day test and the Wohnsitz test
Austria taxes worldwide income if you have a home here or stay over six months. How the Wohnsitz and habitual-abode tests work, and where the 183-day idea misleads.
Austrian banks for foreigners compared
How Austria’s four major banking groups, the statutory basic account, and digital alternatives compare for newly arrived residents.
How Austria’s progressive income tax brackets actually work
How Austria’s seven income tax brackets work, why a higher bracket only touches the top slice, and where the 13th and 14th salary fit.
Austrian bank account without a Meldezettel: what applies
Austrian law asks for photo ID, not a Meldezettel. How the Basiskonto right covers newcomers before they register.
Meldezettel: registering your address in Austria, step by step
What the Meldezettel form is, who must file it within three days of moving in, and what happens if you miss the deadline.
First month in Austria: the financial admin checklist
What to register, and by when, in your first month in Austria: address registration, social insurance, a bank account and, for the self-employed, the tax office.