Prepayments of income tax and income tax return

To calculate income tax, all of the taxpayer's income from one year is added together. Special expenses and exceptional costs are subtracted from the total income value. The resulting income forms the basis for calculating income tax, the so-called tax base.

Employees can also deduct income-related expenses from the assessment basis, whereby all employees are entitled to a flat-rate allowance for income-related expenses of 132 Euro per year.

The progressive income tax rate is applied to the income in order to calculate the income tax. Afterwards tax credits (e.g. single-earner or single-parent tax credit, Family Bonus Plus, etc.) are subtracted from the income tax.

A certain level of basic income (minimum subsistence level) remains tax-free for all unrestricted taxpayers. The tax-free basic income amounts to an annual sum of at least:

• For employees: 18,782¹ Euro (in 2024, in 2023: 17,111 Euro)
• For the self-employed: 12,816 Euro

¹⁾ without other salaries (in particular 13th/14th month’s salary); the fact that the tax-free basic income is higher than the basic level of 12,816 Euro is due to additional tax credits (transportation deduction and transportation deduction supplement).

Legal bases

• section 2 paragraph 2 Einkommensteuergesetz (EStG)
• other salaries: section 67 EStG

The prepayments of income tax must be made by the following dates:

• 15 February
• 15 May
• 15 August
• 15 November

Deadlines for submission of the tax return:

• Submission of tax return in paper form: 30 April of the following year
• Electronic submission (via FinanzOnline): 30 June of the following year

These deadlines may be extended in response to a justifiable request. Such a request can also be submitted via FinanzOnline under Input/Applications/Extension of deadline.

Please note

You may also qualify for a longer deadline if you are represented by a tax advisor.

Submitting the tax return

Income tax is collected as part of the assessment process. For this purpose, an income tax return must be submitted to the tax office (generally electronically via FinanzOnline).

For employees, since tax is deducted by the employer, the employees themselves are not required to submit a tax return as a rule. In certain cases, however, they are subject to compulsory assessment, for instance if during the calendar year they have, at least for a time, received two or more incomes simultaneously that were subject to wage tax. Further information on reasons for compulsory assessments can be found on the BMF website (see further links). In particular, if you are resident in Austria and receive your income from an employer located outside Austria, or if you live abroad and receive an Austrian income, it may be useful to find out from the tax office what you need to do regarding the correct assessment of income tax.

Those subject to wage tax will have their income tax assessed by means of the ‘employee assessment (→ oesterreich.gv.at)’ process. Applications for employee assessment can be submitted to the tax office electronically via FinanzOnline. Using the appropriate forms, it is also possible to send the application by post or to submit it in person to the tax office. Should this result in a retrospective tax demand, the application for employee assessment can be withdrawn unless there are grounds for compulsory assessment.

Please note

Before starting to use FinanzOnline, a one-time registration is required. You can register with FinanzOnline online on the FinanzOnline home page, in person at a tax office or in writing.

On the FinanzOnline home page, under 'online registration’, an electronic registration form can be opened and registration details entered. Only natural persons can submit an initial online registration to FinanzOnline.

Assessment and decision

Once the income tax return has been submitted to the tax office, the tax office carries out the assessment and calculates the income tax according to the tax rate.

The advance payments made in the amount of the expected income tax are credited against the calculated income tax. If the income includes income from an employment relationship in addition to income as an entrepreneur, the wage tax withheld is deducted from the income tax. This is because wage tax is only a special form of income tax. Capital yields tax (KESt) and property income tax (ImmoESt) are also deducted where applicable.

An assessed income tax liability must be paid within one month - calculated from the date of delivery of the decision.

Further links

• Income tax return and income tax assessment (→ BMF)^{German text}
• FinanzOnline (→ BMF)^{German text}
• Tax Authority Austria (→ BMF)^{German text}
• Employee assessment (→ BMF)^{German text}
• Wage tax in international context (→ BMF)^{German text}
• The Tax Book (→ BMF)^{German text}
• The Tax Book − English (→ BMF)
• Tax regulations for foreign income (→ AK)^{German text}

If you disagree with the income tax assessment (e.g. if the assessment differs from your return or it includes items that had not yet been precisely determined), you can, within one month of it being issued, submit an appeal against the assessment to the competent tax office, by providing a declaration and justification of the amendments you would like.

As with the income tax assessment, appeals against the prepayment assessment can be submitted to the tax office supported by a declaration and justification for the requested amendments.

Appeal deadline

Within one month of the issuing of an assessment