VAT Guide for Businesses with Customers in Austria

VAT Rates in Austria

Austria's standard Value Added Tax (Umsatzsteuer (USt)) rate is 20%, with some goods and services exempt from Austrian VAT, such as financial services, postal services, medical services, etc.

VAT rates in the Austrian regions of Jungholz and Mittelberg are as follows:

• 19% (Standard VAT Rate) – applies to all taxable supplies, with certain exceptions

VAT Registration Thresholds in Austria

• VAT registration threshold for domestic established sellers: EUR 35,000
• VAT registration threshold for non-established sellers: No registration threshold
• VAT registration threshold for intra-EU distance selling of goods and B2C telecommunications, broadcasting & electronic services (TBE): EUR 10,000 (net) per calendar year
• VAT registration threshold for non-resident, non-EU based suppliers of electronically supplied services (ESS): No registration threshold

Austrian VAT Number Format

• For individuals, Austria has a 9-character Tax Identification Number (the hyphen and the slash are not mandatory in all cases).
• For businesses, the structure of the Austrian VAT number (UID-Nummer) starts with the prefix “AT” (country code), followed by the letter “U” (Umsatzsteuer) and by 8 unique digits.

• For individualsFormat: 99-999/9999
• For businessesFormat: ATU12345678

Austria VAT ID Validation

Need to look up and validate VAT numbers in Austria?

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VAT on Electronically Supplied Services (ESS) in Austria

Digital Services in the European Union (EU) are often referred to as electronically supplied services (ESS). Austria applies the harmonized EU VAT rules for ESS.

• For B2B supplies of such services, the general place of supply rule for services should be taken into consideration.
• For B2C supplies, the EU ESS rules should apply to foreign companies selling to consumers in Austria (B2C).

Under the EU’s B2C ESS rules, until the sales value reaches EUR 10,000 (including distance sales of goods), the seller can charge VAT where it is resident. Once the sales exceed the threshold, the seller should register for VAT in Austria, or choose to account for the VAT under the EU’s One Stop Shop (OSS) regime.

VAT Rate: 20% VAT is typically applied to the sale of affected electronically supplied services.

Will your business need to pay VAT on digital services in Austria in 2023?

Learn More About VAT on Digital Services in Austria

Marketplace & Platform Operator Rules in Austria

Austria applies the harmonized European Union’s (EU) VAT rules for marketplace & platform operators.

Supply of goods

A marketplace is deemed to have received and supplied the goods themselves. This transaction is split into two supplies:

• A supply from the underlying supplier to the marketplace (deemed B2B supply)
• A supply from the marketplace to the final customer (deemed B2C supply).

This rule covers the following:

• Distance sales of goods imported to the EU with a value not exceeding EUR 150
• Supplies of goods to customers in the EU, irrespective of their value, when the underlying supplier is not established in the EU (both domestic supplies and distance sales within the EU are covered).

Supply of services

When electronically supplied services are sold through an intermediary, e.g. a marketplace for applications, the intermediary is deemed to have received and supplied the services themselves. Therefore, the VAT liability shifts to the intermediary from the underlying supplier.

Invoice Requirements in Austria

The Austrian VAT Act requires indicating the following mandatory content on an invoice:

• Document & general transaction information
  • Date of issue
  • Date of supply of goods or services, or the period over which the supply of services extends
  • Sequential number of the invoice
• Supplier information
  • Name, address, and VAT number
• Customer information
  • Name, address, and VAT number (indicating the customer’s Austrian VAT number is mandatory if the amount is more than EUR 10 000 and the taxable person is established in Austria)
• Financial transaction information
  • Quantity
  • Description of the goods or services supplied
  • Currency
  • Consideration for the goods or services
  • Applicable VAT rate
  • VAT amount
  • VAT amount expressed in EUR if the invoice currency is other than EUR
• Additional information that may be required:
  • Reference to VAT exemption
  • Reference to reverse charge mechanism
  • Reference to self-billing
  • Exchange rate conversion method

E-Invoicing & Digital Reporting for Austria

Austria introduced mandatory e-invoicing for Business-to-Government (B2G) transactions in 2014.

Austria has SAF-T as well, which was introduced in 2009 as per OECD guidelines. It is required on an on-demand basis when the tax authority requests it.

Learn more about E-Invoicing and Digital Reporting in Austria

Governmental Body Responsible for E-invoicing and Digital Reporting in Austria

Federal Ministry of Finance

• Useful websites: Unternehmensservice, e-Rechnung

VAT Payments and Returns in Austria

Full VAT Returns

Austria does not provide simplified VAT returns for VAT-registered non-resident taxpayers supplying electronically supplied services. Instead, they can avoid VAT registration in Austria and use the EU One-Stop Shop (OSS) return.

Penalties in case of late filings or misdeclarations

In the case of the late filing of VAT returns and payments, the Austrian Tax Authority may enforce the following penalties:

• A penalty of up to 10% of the VAT due for the late submission of a VAT return.
• The late payment of VAT is subject to a penalty of 2% of the total payable VAT amount. A second penalty equivalent to 1% of the outstanding VAT is imposed if the VAT payment is not paid three months after the due date. A third penalty, equal to 1% of the outstanding VAT, is charged if the VAT is unpaid three months after the second penalty was issued.