Austria · VAT

VAT Registration
in Austria

We register businesses established outside Austria for Austrian VAT and run the filings.

No turnover threshold if you are not established here
One month to notify, BAO § 121
Fiscal representative outside the EU, UStG § 27 Abs. 7
Finanzamt Österreich is the office, BAO § 60

Ask whether Austria requires you to register →

Goods being loaded at a delivery bay in Austria on a working morning.

What we do, and who this is for

We act for businesses established outside Austria that have an Austrian VAT obligation, or have been told they have one: a seller with stock in an Austrian warehouse, an exhibitor charging admission at a Vienna trade fair, a contractor on an Austrian building, an online seller outside the One Stop Shop.

The rates, the exemption and the return deadlines are on our austria vat rate guide. This page answers what comes first: whether Austria requires you inside its system at all, and who may act for you before the tax office.

What an Austrian VAT registration with us includes

The decision before the paperwork.

Your turnover is tested against UStG § 19 Abs. 1 and its carve-outs first. Where the tax passes to your customer, nothing follows from it.

The questionnaire.

Form Verf 19 for a business not established in Austria, form Verf 26 for the specimen signatures, and the documents behind them.

Fiscal representation where the law requires it.

The appointment under UStG § 27 Abs. 7 with a person who qualifies under § 27 Abs. 8, and the notification it requires.

The number itself.

It follows from the questionnaire; what it is and how it is checked is on the austria vat code guide.

The returns.

Form U 30 for each advance period and form U 1 for the year, through FinanzOnline, on the dates UStG § 21 and the austria vat rate guide set out.

Correspondence with the tax office.

Queries about an amount withheld under UStG § 27 Abs. 4, and the form U 71 certificate.

Bookkeeping goes to somebody licensed.

It is reserved work in Austria (BiBuG 2014 §§ 2 and 3, WTBG 2017 § 2 Abs. 1), so we coordinate it: accounting services austria.

Do you actually have to register in Austria?

Austria sets no VAT registration threshold. The question is who accounts for the tax, and on services and works supplies to an Austrian business that is your customer.

Your Austrian turnover	Who accounts for the VAT	Does a registration follow?	Provision
Services or a works supply to an Austrian business or a public-law body, with no establishment of yours involved in the supply	your customer	no, not from that turnover	UStG § 19 Abs. 1, second subparagraph
Construction services to a customer itself contracted to supply construction services, or that usually supplies them	your customer	no, not from that turnover	§ 19 Abs. 1a
Admission to a trade fair, exhibition, conference or other event held in Austria	you	yes	carved out of § 19 Abs. 1; place of supply § 3a Abs. 11a
Letting Austrian land, taxed rather than exempt	you	yes	carved out of § 19 Abs. 1; declared in the assessment under § 20 Abs. 1
Paid toleration of the use of federal roads	you	yes	carved out of § 19 Abs. 1
Ordinary supplies of goods located in Austria, anything that is not a works supply	you	yes	§ 19 Abs. 1 reaches services and works supplies only
Only turnover you declare through the One Stop Shop or the Import One Stop Shop	you, through the scheme in your own member state	no Austrian registration	Erstattungsverordnung Art. 1 § 1 Abs. 1 Z 4
No Austrian turnover at all, but Austrian VAT paid on purchases	nobody; you reclaim it	no, the refund procedure instead	Erstattungsverordnung Art. 1 § 1 Abs. 1 Z 1

EUR 55,000 is not a registration threshold. It is the ceiling of the small-business exemption in UStG § 6 Abs. 1 Z 27, which a business qualifies for and claims, and which a business established outside the EU cannot use: the austria vat rate guide has it.

Who accounts for the tax, and whether a registration follows. Sources: UStG 1994 § 19, in force from 24 December 2025, the Erstattungsverordnung, Art. 1 § 1 and USP, Assessment procedures, 1 January 2026. The last sentence of § 19 Abs. 1 keeps the supplier liable for that tax.

read downwards: the first yes ends the question

rung 01
Is the supply a service or a works supply to an Austrian business or a public-law body, with no establishment of yours involved, and none of the three carve-outs in play?
The carve-outs: admission to an event held in Austria, taxed letting of Austrian land, paid toleration of the use of federal roads.

yes →
Your customer accounts for the tax
No registration follows from that turnover. UStG § 19 Abs. 1, second subparagraph, and § 19 Abs. 1a for construction services.
rung 02
Is all of your Austrian turnover declared through the One Stop Shop or the Import One Stop Shop?

yes →
No Austrian registration
You declare through the scheme in your own member state. Erstattungsverordnung Art. 1 § 1 Abs. 1 Z 4.
rung 03
Did you make no Austrian turnover at all, but bear Austrian VAT on purchases?

yes →
The refund procedure instead
Erstattungsverordnung Art. 1 § 1 Abs. 1 Z 1.
otherwise
Anything left: ordinary supplies of goods located in Austria, the carved-out services, taxed letting.

registration
You account for the Austrian tax yourself
§ 19 Abs. 1 reaches services and works supplies only.

Austria sets no registration threshold, so no figure decides these rungs.

The § 19 Abs. 1 test comes first, then the One Stop Shop, then the refund procedure.

Fiscal representation for a business established outside the EU

Inside the EU a choice, outside it a duty.

A business with no residence, seat or establishment in Austria may appoint a fiscal representative and notify the tax office: UStG § 27 Abs. 7 says "kann". A business established nowhere in the Community that makes taxable Austrian supplies must, and that person is also its agent for service.

The duty has a hole in it.

It does not reach supplies for which the recipient bears the tax under § 27 Abs. 4. If your customers account for everything you supply here, the obligation may not arise.

A treaty can switch it off.

It falls away where your state has a mutual assistance agreement with Austria comparable to Directives 2010/24/EU and 2011/16/EU and Regulation (EU) No 904/2010, declared by ordinance of the Minister of Finance. We located none on 17 September 2026, so no country is named here.

Who Austrian law admits as a fiscal representative	On what condition
Wirtschaftstreuhänder, chartered accountants and tax advisers	a residence or seat in Austria
Rechtsanwälte, lawyers	a residence or seat in Austria
Notare, notaries	a residence or seat in Austria
Spediteure, freight forwarders	membership of the trade association within the Austrian Economic Chamber
any other entrepreneur	a residence or seat in Austria, admitted by the tax office on application, revocable at any time, on being able to meet the tax obligations

Neither paragraph says whether the representative answers for the tax, or may ask for a guarantee, so we state neither. With the Import One Stop Shop, § 27 Abs. 9 applies both to every Art. 25a Abs. 1 Z 2 supply, wherever supplied.

The closed list in UStG 1994 § 27 Abs. 8, in force from 1 January 2023, and its admission route. The Ministry restates it on Tax Representative, 1 January 2026, naming the Graz-Stadt office.

A meeting table and files in an Austrian professional office.

Not sure whether Austria requires a representative for your business?

Send what you sell, where it goes and who buys it. We answer on the obligation, never on your own tax position, which Austrian law reserves to a licensed Steuerberater.

Ask whether Austria requires you to register · Start your onboarding

How an Austrian VAT registration runs

The obligation starts.

With the first Austrian turnover that you, not your customer, must account for. No figure has to be reached first.

One month to notify.

BAO § 120 Abs. 1 requires notice of the circumstances creating a VAT liability and Abs. 2 of the start of an independent activity; § 121 gives one month.

The office is Finanzamt Österreich.

BAO § 60 Abs. 2 Z 2 makes it competent in any case for VAT of businesses run from abroad with no Austrian establishment or property turnover.

The questionnaire goes in.

Verf 19 with Verf 26, your register excerpt or articles, and the original proof of registration as an entrepreneur at home.

The representative is appointed and notified.

Under § 27 Abs. 7 those are one obligation, and the person must be someone § 27 Abs. 8 admits.

The number, then the returns.

The tax number comes off the questionnaire and goes on every letter afterwards: the tax number guide. No authority publishes a processing time, so none is stated here.

from the first Austrian supply to the first advance return

01
The obligation starts
With the first Austrian turnover that you, not your customer, must account for. No figure has to be reached first.
02
Notice to Finanzamt Österreich
BAO § 120 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2; the office is fixed by BAO § 60 Abs. 2 Z 2.
within 1 month · § 121
03
Verf 19 and Verf 26 filed
With your register excerpt or articles and the original proof of registration as an entrepreneur at home.
04
Fiscal representative appointed and notified, where required
One obligation under UStG § 27 Abs. 7, with a person § 27 Abs. 8 admits.
→ no official processing time is published
05
The tax number, and the VAT number with it
Both follow from the questionnaire, and the tax number goes on every letter afterwards.
06
The first advance return
Form U 30 for the advance period, through FinanzOnline, on the dates UStG § 21 sets.

The one month in BAO § 121 is the only published timing in this sequence, and it runs before the file is prepared.

The only published timing here is the one month in BAO § 121, and it runs before the file is prepared.

What you supply

Form Verf 19, the questionnaire for a business not established in Austria
Form Verf 26, the specimen signature sheet, in the original
Your commercial register excerpt, or the articles of association
Original proof of registration as an entrepreneur at home
What you sell: goods, services or a works supply
Where the goods are when supplied, and where stock is held
Whether your Austrian customers are businesses, public bodies or consumers
The date the Austrian activity started: the clock runs from it
Any VAT number you hold in another member state
Whether any of it goes through the One Stop Shop or Import One Stop Shop

The official list stops there. Provider pages add a power of attorney, German translations and signatory identification; no official source we read requires them.

The deadlines, the office and the refund floors

Every date below is a registration or a refund date; the return dates belong to the VAT guide.

What	When	Where	Provision
Notice that an Austrian VAT liability has begun	within one month of the event	Finanzamt Österreich	BAO § 120 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2 with § 121
Notice of the fiscal representative	with the appointment itself	the tax office	UStG § 27 Abs. 7
Refund claim, business established elsewhere in the EU	within nine months of the end of the calendar year the claim arose in	the electronic portal of your own member state	Erstattungsverordnung Art. 1 § 3 Abs. 1
Refund claim, business established outside the EU	within six months of the end of the calendar year the claim arose in	Finanzamt Österreich, on the official form, with the invoices and import vouchers in the original	Art. 1 § 3a Abs. 1
Minimum refund	EUR 400, or EUR 50 where the period is the calendar year or the last period of one	both routes	Art. 1 § 3 Abs. 2 and § 3a Abs. 2
Not refundable at all outside the EU	input VAT on fuel		Art. 1 § 3a Abs. 2, last sentence

A refund claim and a registration are alternatives, not stages: the portal states an assessment is not available on request where the refund conditions apply.

Sources: BAO § 60, in force from 1 January 2021, UStG 1994 § 27, and the Erstattungsverordnung, BGBl. Nr. 279/1995, Art. 1 § 1 and Art. 1 § 3a.

What goes wrong, and how each one is handled

Your customer paid your VAT to the tax office.

That is UStG § 27 Abs. 4 working as designed. A business or public-law body buying from a non-established supplier withholds the VAT, pays it in the supplier's name, and is liable for the shortfall if it does not. You still declare the supply.

You have an Austrian establishment.

Then the withholding should not apply, and the Ministry publishes the remedy: form U 71 for a fixed-establishment certificate.

You registered late.

The duty ran from the event, so the periods in between are still due and filing them is part of the work. The surcharges are on the austria vat rate guide.

You bought a company instead.

A company that has never traded has not shown the entrepreneur status the number turns on, so it arrives without one and without a trade licence: the ready-made companies page.

You were told to wait for a threshold.

There is none. The first Austrian turnover you must account for puts you inside the system.

A supplier invoice and a laptop on a desk during an Austrian VAT check. — Both are in English on Collection of VAT, 1 January 2026.

Want the Austrian position checked before the first invoice?

Send the supply, the customer and where the business is established.

Ask whether Austria requires you to register →

How this page is kept accurate

Last updated 17 September 2026. Every rule is cited to the paragraph that sets it, in the version named beside it, and the links go to the Bundeskanzleramt's open-data consolidated text. Where nothing official exists this page says so: no processing time, no exempt country, nothing on the representative's own liability. This is not tax advice; a particular business's position is for a licensed Austrian Steuerberater.

Frequently asked questions

Does a foreign business have to register for VAT in Austria?

Only where it has Austrian turnover that it, and not its customer, has to account for. On services and works supplies to an Austrian business the tax passes to the customer (UStG § 19 Abs. 1), and no registration follows from that turnover. Ordinary supplies of goods, admission to events and taxable letting of land are different.

When does a foreign business not need an Austrian VAT registration?

In three cases on the business service portal's own list: it has generated no Austrian turnover at all, or all of its Austrian turnover is turnover on which the tax passes to the recipient, or all of it can be declared through the One Stop Shop. Austrian VAT borne on purchases is then reclaimed through the refund procedure.

Does my business need a fiscal representative in Austria?

If it is established outside the EU and makes taxable supplies in Austria, UStG § 27 Abs. 7 requires one, except for supplies on which the recipient bears the tax under § 27 Abs. 4. A business established inside the EU may appoint one and is not required to. A mutual assistance treaty can remove the duty.

Who is allowed to act as a fiscal representative in Austria?

UStG § 27 Abs. 8 admits chartered accountants and tax advisers, lawyers and notaries with a residence or seat in Austria, and freight forwarders belonging to the trade association within the Austrian Economic Chamber. Any other entrepreneur with a residence or seat in Austria must be admitted on application if it can meet the tax obligations, revocably.

Is there a VAT registration threshold in Austria?

No. EUR 55,000 is the ceiling of the small-business exemption in UStG § 6 Abs. 1 Z 27, which a business has to qualify for and claim out of liability, and which is not open to a business established outside the EU. The exemption itself is on our guide to the austria vat rate.

How long does an Austrian VAT registration take?

No Austrian authority publishes a service standard or an average, so this page gives no figure. What you can control is the file: the right questionnaire for a business not established in Austria, complete constitutional documents, and the original proof that the business is registered as an entrepreneur in its home state.

Which tax office handles VAT for a business based outside Austria?

Finanzamt Österreich. BAO § 60 Abs. 2 Z 2 makes it competent in any case for the collection of VAT from businesses that run their enterprise from abroad and have neither an Austrian establishment nor turnover from Austrian property. The Ministry's English pages of 1 January 2026 route foreign businesses to its Graz-Stadt office.

What forms does a business not established in Austria file?

Form Verf 19, the questionnaire on the issue of a tax number and VAT number for a business whose registered office or establishment is not in Austria, and form Verf 26, the specimen signature sheet, with the register excerpt or the articles. Returns are U 30 and U 1. The forms for an Austrian company are different: austria vat code.

How do I claim Austrian VAT back if I am not registered?

Through the refund procedure in the Erstattungsverordnung, BGBl. Nr. 279/1995. A business established elsewhere in the EU applies through its own member state's electronic portal within nine months of the end of the year the claim arose in. A business established outside the EU applies to Finanzamt Österreich within six months, with the invoices in the original.

My Austrian customer withheld the VAT and paid it to the tax office. Is that right?

Probably. Under UStG § 27 Abs. 4 a business or public-law body receiving a taxable supply from a supplier with no Austrian residence, seat, habitual abode or establishment has to withhold the VAT and pay it in the supplier's name, and is liable for the shortfall if it does not. The supply still goes in your own return.

What is VAT registration for?

It puts a business on the Austrian VAT register so that it can account for the tax on its own Austrian supplies, deduct the input VAT attributable to them, and file the advance and annual returns. Where the tax passes to the customer instead, none of that follows from those supplies.

How late can an Austrian VAT registration be made?

There is no cut-off, and missing the deadline does not defer the duty. BAO § 120 Abs. 1 and Abs. 2 with § 121 give one month from the event that created the liability, and the periods between that date and the registration are still due. Filing them is part of the work.

Get registered, or find out whether you have to