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Quick summary
Income from a foreign depot has a fixed place on the E 1kv, the finance ministry’s supplement to the income tax return for capital income, while an Austrian depot that already withheld KESt (the withholding tax on capital income) usually needs no entry at all. On the 2025 form, the latest published, each box has a numbered Kennzahl (field code): foreign dividends and interest go in 863, gains from sales in 994, fund payouts in 898, deemed fund income in 937 and the credit for foreign tax in 998. This covers people who are tax resident in Austria. Capital income tax is federal, so the answer is the same in every state, and the codes can change with the next form year.
Declaring foreign investment income is not a single entry. The return asks for the income in pieces: gains and losses sit in separate lines, fund payouts and deemed fund income in two more, and foreign tax in its own credit boxes. Put an amount in the wrong box and the tax itself can change.
This article is the map from each kind of income to its box. The article on foreign brokers covers how the amounts are worked out, the article on KESt covers the rates and the Austrian-broker side, and the overview of foreign income covers the wider picture. The Investing & Wealth hub lists the rest.
Non-residents
Someone who is not tax resident in Austria is generally taxed only on Austrian-source income, so income from a foreign depot doesn’t go on the Austrian return. The article on non-residents with Austrian income covers that position.
International organisation staff
Staff of an organisation with a headquarters agreement in Vienna can have a tax status set by that agreement, which may change how private investment income is treated. The organisation’s HR or legal office is the first stop, and the article on international organisation staff covers what applies where.
US persons
The E 1kv is the Austrian side only. A US person’s Austrian funds and accounts can also carry US reporting duties that no Austrian form shows, and the article on US persons in Austria covers where those start.
Which form year these numbers come from
Every Kennzahl in this article comes from the E 1kv for 2025 (in German), the form for the 2025 tax year, in the version the ministry dated 27 June 2025. That is the form a reader files now. The address where a 2026 form would sit returned an error when checked on 15 October 2026, and the form listing on the citizen portal (in German) runs from 2016 to 2025 with nothing newer.
The ministry titles it a supplement (Beilage) to the income tax return E 1, for capital income (Einkünfte aus Kapitalvermögen). The guide to which return suits which reader maps situations to forms, and the article on the employee assessment covers the assessment itself.
A Kennzahl is the number printed beside each box, and it is the code that identifies the field when the form is filled in on screen. The codes belong to a form year, not to the law: a later form can renumber, split or add lines, so each code here is worth checking against the version actually being filled in.
Tip
A broker’s year-end statement rarely sorts income the way the form does. Before touching the form, split the year into dividends, interest, gains, losses, fund payouts and deemed fund income, each in euros, and map each pile to a box using the tables below.
How the form is laid out
The form’s first page is a ladder from income that gets the normal tariff down to income that gets a special rate. Each numbered point on the form has a label in German, and the three that matter for most investors are 1.1, 1.2 and 1.3.
| Point | Label (gloss) | What sits there |
|---|---|---|
| 1.1 | Einkünfte auf die kein besonderer Steuersatz anwendbar ist (income with no special rate, taxed at the normal tariff) | Interest on private loans, silent partnerships, some contract-based derivatives |
| 1.2 | Einkünfte, auf die ein besonderer Steuersatz anwendbar ist und die für einen Verlustausgleich nicht in Betracht kommen (special rate, no loss offset) | Bank deposit interest, foundation payments, some old bonds |
| 1.3 | Einkünfte, auf die ein besonderer Steuersatz anwendbar ist und bei denen ein Verlustausgleich zulässig ist (special rate, loss offset allowed) | Dividends, gains, derivatives, funds, crypto |
| 1.4 to 1.7 | KESt withheld, Liechtenstein, foreign tax credit | The credits that reduce the tax |
Points 1.2 and 1.3 come in two columns: Kapitaleinkünfte mit KESt-Abzug (capital income with KESt deducted) on the left and Kapitaleinkünfte ohne KESt-Abzug (without KESt deducted) on the right. Income from a foreign depot has no Austrian KESt, so it goes in the right-hand column. An Austrian paying agent’s income, with KESt already withheld, belongs on the left if it goes on the form at all.
The finance ministry’s page on capital income (in German) says foreign dividends and foreign savings and securities income are not subject to KESt and have to go into the return. It adds that they are taxed at the special rate of 27.50% and don’t push up the rate on the rest of the income.
The threshold on the form
The notes printed on the form say capital income is entered only if it exceeds EUR 22 in total. They call it a Freigrenze (a threshold: once it is exceeded, the whole amount counts), and say it also covers domestic income that KESt would settle and foreign income that can take the special rate.
The same notes say that costs connected with the income can’t be deducted, so custody fees and platform charges don’t reduce any amount entered. The article on foreign brokers covers the duty to file and the records behind each amount.
Foreign depot: the lines by kind of income
Everything in this section goes in the right-hand column, ohne KESt-Abzug, because no Austrian institution withheld anything. All amounts are in euros.
Dividends and interest on securities
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 863 | Einkünfte aus der Überlassung von Kapital (income from letting others use capital; the form names dividends and interest on securities) | Gross foreign dividends and interest on bonds and similar securities, before any foreign tax, with no costs deducted |
The line is printed with the standard special rate. The gross amount matters: a broker usually pays the dividend net of the source country’s tax, and the credit for that tax has its own boxes, covered in the next section.
Gains and losses on sales
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 994 | Überschüsse (surpluses) under realised gains, standard special rate | The total of sales that ended in a gain: shares, bonds and fund units |
| 892 | Verluste (losses) under realised gains | The total of sales that ended in a loss |
The form’s heading says surpluses and losses are entered separately and not netted against each other. The netting happens in the form’s balance, covered under losses below. The article on foreign brokers covers how the gain itself is worked out, including the acquisition cost that deemed fund income raises.
Fund income
The form’s own heading for funds is Einkünfte aus Investmentfonds und Immobilieninvestmentfonds (income from investment funds and real estate investment funds). Fund units sold at a gain or loss don’t go here; they go in the gains and losses lines above, because that line’s label names fund units.
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 898 | Ausschüttungen (distributions), standard special rate | Actual payouts from funds, in the taxable amount |
| 937 | Ausschüttungsgleiche Erträge (deemed distributed income), standard special rate | Fund income taxed each year without a payout, from the fund’s yearly figures |
| 189 | Domestic dividends earned through a fund, where KESt was already paid by the dividend-paying company | Left-hand column only, and only to bring the amount into a loss offset |
A Meldefonds (reporting fund) reports its tax figures each year to OeKB (the Oesterreichische Kontrollbank, the official reporting office), and an investor at a foreign broker takes the per-unit figure from there. The article on ETFs and funds covers what reporting status means, and the article on foreign brokers covers the arithmetic from per-unit figure to amount.
A Nichtmeldefonds (non-reporting fund) has no such figures. Under the investment fund act’s tax rules (in German), the whole payout is taxable, and the deemed income is estimated at 90% of the rise between the first and last redemption price of the year, with a minimum of 10% of the year-end price. The form has no separate lines for these funds, so the reading here is that the same two lines, 898 and 937, carry them.
Derivatives and crypto
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 995 | Überschüsse under verbriefte Derivate (securitised derivatives such as certificates and warrants), standard special rate | Gains from securitised derivatives |
| 896 | Verluste under the same heading | Losses from the same |
| 857 | Sonstige tarifsteuerpflichtige Einkünfte aus Kapitalvermögen (other capital income taxed at the normal tariff) | Includes income from non-securitised derivatives where no voluntary withholding was made |
| 172 | Laufende Einkünfte (ongoing income, such as lending and mining), crypto, standard special rate | Ongoing crypto income |
| 174 | Überschüsse aus realisierten Wertsteigerungen (surpluses from realised gains), crypto | Gains from selling or swapping crypto |
| 176 | Verluste under crypto | Losses from crypto |
The form splits derivatives by whether they are securitised. Which of the two a given instrument is turns on how it is built, and the form doesn’t list products, so a contract-based product at a foreign broker is a question for a tax adviser before it goes in 995 or 857. The article on crypto taxation covers the crypto rules; this article only places the numbers.
Interest on a foreign bank account
Contested flag
The form has a line for deposit interest without KESt, Kennzahl 861, printed with the lower special rate of 25% that the income tax act sets for deposit interest at credit institutions. The finance ministry’s capital income page says foreign savings interest is taxed at the standard special rate instead. The statute text and the form point one way, the ministry page another, and which applies to a particular foreign account is for the tax office or a Steuerberater to answer.
Losses on sales can’t offset deposit interest, as the loss rules below explain. That is why deposit interest has its own point on the form, outside the loss offset. On the form’s own lines, the 25% reading puts the amount in 861, and the 27.50% reading would put it in 863.
Lines most investors never use
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 856 | Income from a silent partner stake | Tariff-taxed |
| 929 and 940 | Income with foreign tax to credit that isn’t in 856 or 857, and its credit | Tariff-taxed income that carries foreign tax |
| 858 and 859 | Zuwendungen von Stiftungen (payments from foundations) | Left and right column |
| 934 and 935 | Income from receivables acquired before 1 April 2012 | Left and right column |
| 865 | Realised gains at the lower rate | Mainly sales proceeds received from 2016 on for sales made before 2016, and gains on foreign-currency bank balances |
| 942 | Tax paid under the tax agreement with Liechtenstein | Credited against the tax |
| 943 | KESt refund for repayment vehicles | Only for plans concluded before 1 November 2010 |
Foreign tax: the credit lines
Dividends from abroad usually arrive with the source country’s tax already taken. The form gives that tax its own boxes in points 1.6 and 1.7, matched to the rate of the income.
| Kennzahl | Label (gloss) | What goes in |
|---|---|---|
| 998 | Anzurechnende ausländische (Quellen)Steuer (foreign withholding tax to be credited), income at the standard special rate | Foreign tax on income in 863, 994, 937 and the other lines at that rate |
| 901 | The same, income at the lower special rate | Foreign tax on income at the lower rate |
| 984 and 900 | The same two lines, left-hand boxes | Foreign tax on income that did have KESt deducted |
| 940 | Credit on income in 929 | Foreign tax on tariff-taxed income |
The form doesn’t repeat the column headings on points 1.6 and 1.7, so which column a box belongs to is read here from its position on the page.
The form’s notes limit what may be entered. Only foreign tax that the source country may charge under the double taxation agreement counts, the credit is capped at the Austrian tax on that income, and tax that can be reclaimed abroad can’t be entered. Tax withheld above the treaty rate is a claim on the foreign state, which the article on foreign withholding tax covers.
The ceiling of 15% on the finance ministry’s capital income page is what an Austrian paying agent may credit against KESt. In the assessment of a foreign broker’s dividends, the treaty rate governs.
Austrian depot: usually nothing to enter
An Austrian paying agent that withholds KESt settles the tax on that income, which the finance ministry calls final taxation (Endbesteuerung). The income stays off the return, although the form’s notes say the threshold above also covers such domestic income.
| Situation | What goes on the E 1kv | Why |
|---|---|---|
| KESt withheld, nothing else to claim | Nothing | The withholding settled the tax |
| A loss at an Austrian depot, gains at a foreign one | Both, each in its own column, with the KESt in 899 | The loss-offset option (below) |
| Normal-rate option chosen | All special-rate capital income, with and without KESt, plus 899 | The form’s notes say the option covers all of it |
| KESt on business capital income | In the E 1, not in 899 | The E 1kv notes assign it there |
Kennzahl 899, Einbehaltene Kapitalertragsteuer (KESt withheld), takes the Austrian KESt on the income entered. Where the loss-offset option is used for only part of the income, only the KESt on that part goes in. The article on freelancer income tax covers the business side.
An Austrian bank also offsets gains and losses itself across one person’s single-holder accounts there. Items it already offset can’t be offset a second time on the form, and the notes say the paying agent can be asked for a tax report (Steuerreporting) as proof.
Losses and the balance
Point 1.3 ends in a balance line (Saldo aus Punkt 1.3), where every amount in the left and right columns is netted, and the form’s notes set out how. The same rules are in the income tax act’s loss rules (in German), which say they apply under the normal-rate option too.
- Losses on sales, derivatives and crypto can’t offset interest on bank deposits.
- Capital income that has a special rate can’t be offset against capital income taxed at the normal tariff, which is point 1.1.
- A negative balance can’t offset other kinds of income, and it can’t be carried forward to a later year.
- The offset runs first against income at the standard special rate, and may be arranged so the foreign tax credit survives as far as possible.
The last point matters when income carries foreign tax. The form’s notes say the credit is worked out on the reduced income, and that foreign tax on income already offset by a loss can’t be entered. The article on investment losses covers the rules in depth, and the example below puts numbers on one case.
The two options: loss offset and normal rates
Two options change how the form works. One is claimed on the E 1kv itself and one on the E 1.
The loss-offset option
The Verlustausgleichsoption (loss-offset option) lets capital income that KESt already taxed be assessed together with the rest at the special rate, so that losses at one institution or abroad offset gains taxed at another. The income tax act’s rule on final taxation (in German) says the KESt is credited and any excess refunded.
On the form there is no tick box. The notes say that entering losses in the loss lines (891, 892, 895, 896, 175 and 176) is itself how the option is exercised. It can be exercised for single items, and doesn’t have to cover all the income.
For a hypothetical investor with only foreign-depot income, the offset happens in the balance anyway, because that income is declared in full. The option earns its place where an Austrian depot’s KESt and a foreign loss meet.
The normal-rate option
The Regelbesteuerungsoption (option to use the normal income tax rates) is claimed at point 8.1 of the E 1, not on the E 1kv. The income tax act’s rule on special rates (in German) allows it only for all special-rate capital income together, not for single items.
The form’s notes add three things. There is no automatic comparison, so the tax office doesn’t check whether the tariff or the special rate is cheaper. Costs still can’t be deducted, except for crypto. Income in point 1.1 is untouched, because it always takes the normal tariff.
Point 3 of the form, Anrechnungsausschluss (credit exclusion), applies when the normal-rate option is used and the taxpayer’s partner claims the Alleinverdienerabsetzbetrag (sole-earner tax credit), or the taxpayer received Familienbeihilfe (family allowance) in the year. Then KESt is refunded only above the credit amounts, and foreign income without KESt carries a compulsory minimum tax. Point 3 has a tick box and a months field, and no Kennzahl.
For a hypothetical resident whose total income lies in the lower tariff brackets, the tariff on the capital income can come out below the special rate, which is the case the option exists for. The comparison is individual, and it is where a Steuerberater earns the fee.
A foreign-broker year entered line by line
Illustration
A hypothetical single employee, tax resident in Vienna all year, holds one accumulating reporting ETF and one foreign share at a foreign broker and fills in the E 1kv for the tax year.
Assumptions: salary is irrelevant, because this income never touches payroll. Not a US person, not international organisation staff, no Austrian depot, no other capital income, and no sole-earner or child credit involved, so point 3 stays empty. The year is , so the 2025 form and its Kennzahlen apply. The special rate printed on that form is the 27.50% used below. All numbers are hypothetical and are not any real fund’s or company’s data.
The ETF is held in 200 units. The fund’s report, published during , shows deemed distributed income of EUR 1.80 per unit. A foreign share paid a gross dividend of EUR 1,600.00 after conversion into euros, and the source country withheld EUR 240.00, an assumed treaty rate of 15%. The same year is worked through, with the conversion and cost steps, in the foreign broker article.
The entries. All three go in the right-hand column, ohne KESt-Abzug.
| Kennzahl | Entry | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| 937 | Deemed distributed income: 200 units at EUR 1.80 | EUR 360.00 |
| 863 | Gross foreign dividend | EUR 1,600.00 |
| Balance, point 1.3 | The form’s total of the above | EUR 1,960.00 |
| 998 | Foreign tax to be credited | EUR 240.00 |
Kennzahl 899 stays empty, because no Austrian KESt was withheld. The cost correction for the ETF units isn’t an E 1kv entry at all: it is a record kept for the day the units are sold.
The tax the assessment computes. EUR 1,960.00 at 27.50% is EUR 539.00. Less the credit of EUR 240.00, which sits within both the assumed treaty rate and the Austrian tax on the dividend (EUR 440.00), leaves EUR 299.00 due. That matches the foreign broker article: EUR 99.00 on the deemed income plus EUR 200.00 on the dividend.
With a loss added. Suppose the same year also had a sale of the foreign share at a loss of EUR 200.00. It goes in Kennzahl 892, and the balance falls to EUR 1,760.00. The offset is arranged against the fund income first, so the credit stays at EUR 240.00 and 998 doesn’t change. The tax is EUR 484.00 less EUR 240.00, so EUR 244.00 is due, EUR 55.00 less than before, which is the special rate on the loss. Left out of 892, the loss is simply lost, since it can’t be carried forward.
Bottom line
The E 1kv gives every kind of investment income its own box, and a foreign depot’s income goes in the right-hand, no-KESt column: dividends in 863, gains in 994 and losses in 892, fund payouts in 898, deemed fund income in 937 and foreign tax in the 998 credit box. An Austrian depot that withheld KESt usually needs nothing unless a loss offset or the normal-rate option is wanted. These Kennzahlen are the 2025 form’s, and the next form year can change them.
Getting help
The boxes are the easy part. Which fund is a reporting fund, which line a contract-based product belongs in, what the treaty rate is on a given dividend and whether either option pays are questions that depend on individual facts. A Steuerberater (licensed tax adviser) can advise and prepare the return, and the member directory of the Chamber of Tax Advisers and Auditors (KSW) shows who is licensed, searchable by location.
The directory has no language filter, so English support is a question for the first contact. For questions about the form itself, the route is the tax office (Finanzamt Österreich), the office that processes the return, and its contact options are on the finance ministry’s website.
Official sources
- Form E 1kv for 2025, supplement for capital income, Federal Ministry of Finance (in German)
- Capital income in the narrower sense (Kapitalerträge im engeren Sinn), Federal Ministry of Finance (in German)
- Income tax act: special rates on capital income, Legal Information System of the Republic (in German)
- Income tax act: loss offsetting rules, Legal Information System of the Republic (in German)
- Income tax act: final taxation and the loss-offset option, Legal Information System of the Republic (in German)
- Investment funds: the fund income rules, Legal Information System of the Republic (in German)
