Austria VAT Guide for 2026: Rates, Registration & Filing
Austria's standard VAT is 20%, with reduced 13%, 10%, and 4.9% bands. Covers registration, OSS for cross-border sellers, and filing requirements.
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Key Takeaways
Austria applies a standard VAT (Umsatzsteuer) rate of 20% to most goods and services, including SaaS and digital products, with reduced and special rates for specific categories. A non-established business must register as soon as it makes taxable supplies, with no threshold; for EU-wide B2C distance sales, VAT is due once sales exceed the EU-wide EUR 10,000 threshold. Most financial, insurance, medical, and education services are exempt; exports and intra-EU B2B supplies are zero-rated.
Taxability Snapshot
SaaS
Taxable
Digital Goods
Taxable
Sales Tax Rates
Austria applies a standard VAT (Umsatzsteuer) rate of 20% to most goods and services, including SaaS and digital products sold to consumers. Reduced and special rates apply to specific categories:
Rate | Applies to |
|---|---|
20% (standard) | most goods and services, SaaS, and digital services |
13% (reduced) | cultural and sporting admissions, domestic flights, certain wine and plants |
10% (reduced) | food outside the 4.9% list, books, medicines, passenger transport, hotel accommodation, residential letting (basic foodstuffs 4.9% from 1 July 2026) |
Electronically supplied services are taxed where the customer is located, so a foreign SaaS seller charges Austrian VAT on B2C sales and reports it through the EU One Stop Shop (OSS).
Registration & nexus threshold
Austria uses VAT registration rules rather than US-style economic nexus. A non-established business must register as soon as it makes taxable supplies in Austria, with no threshold [2]. For cross-border B2C sales within the EU, VAT is due in the customer's country once total EU distance sales exceed the EU-wide EUR 10,000 threshold, reportable through the One Stop Shop [2]. Registration steps are in the How to Register section.
Filing frequency & deadlines
Austrian VAT returns are filed monthly, or quarterly if prior-year turnover was EUR 100,000 or less. Each preliminary return and its payment are due by the 15th day of the second month after the reporting period. An annual VAT return is also required, due 30 June when filed electronically through FinanzOnline.
Exemptions
VAT-exempt supplies include most financial and banking services, insurance, medical and healthcare services, education, and the sale or letting of immovable property (with an option to tax). Exports and intra-EU B2B supplies are zero-rated, so the seller charges no VAT but keeps the right to deduct input VAT.
Penalties
Late payment triggers a surcharge of 2% of the amount due, rising by a further 1% and another 1% at roughly three-month intervals, capped at 4%. Late or missing returns can draw a filing surcharge of up to 10% of the assessed VAT. There is no separate late-registration fine; unregistered activity is handled through back-assessment plus surcharges, and a voluntary disclosure before an audit can avoid penalties.
Sources
[1] European Commission — VAT rates (Austria 20% standard, 10% and 13% reduced)
[2] European Commission — One Stop Shop (EU-wide EUR 10,000 threshold)
[3] Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance — VAT (Umsatzsteuer)
Verified July 2026 against European Commission and Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance guidance.
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