Tasks and Jurisdiction
The tax offices are entitled to collect taxes and fees within their jurisdiction. ‘Tax collection (imposition)’ refers to all measures taken by the tax authorities to enforce the Austrian tax laws. The tax offices are required to exercise their jurisdiction (responsibility) ex officio.
Tax offices with general subject-matter jurisdiction perform the following tasks:
- collection of taxes and fees
- verification of completeness and legitimacy and forwarding of requests for deduction of input VAT
- enforcement (execution) of tasks assigned by other laws (e.g. Aliens Employment Act, Employment Contract Law Amendment Act, Gambling Act, Act to Combat Wage and Social Dumping )
Tax offices with extended subject-matter jurisdiction perform the following:
(§ 15 AVOG offices, tax office Graz-Stadt, tax office Bruck Eisenstadt Oberwart)
Additional tasks:
- collection of corporation tax, value added tax, foundation tax, donation levy, withholding tax on capital income as well as tax deduction on wages of certain corporations (i.e. big limited liability companies, public limited companies, foundations etc.)
- handling of tax deduction matters in respect of non-resident taxpayers
- collection of motor vehicle tax
- segmentation and allocation of the municipal tax base
- collection of income tax, corporation tax, value added tax, employer contribution as well as handling of withholding taxes in cases of non-residents (representative jurisdiction for tax offices located in Vienna)
- collection of value added tax of entrepreneurs, who run their business from abroad and have neither any fixed establishment in Austria nor make supplies from the use of real estate in Austria
- repayment (refund) of taxes according to international law
Tax office with special subject-matter jurisdiction:
(Tax office for duties, transfer taxes and games of chance)
- collection of stamp duties, legal duties, capital transfer taxes, land purchase tax, insurance tax, fire insurance tax, gambling levy and air travel levy
- repayment of requirements referred in paragraph 1 Federal Law for repatriation of consumer´s refrigerator-disposal contribution
Territorial jurisdiction in the case of immovable property is determined by the location of the property, in the case of businesses by the place from which the business is operated. In other cases territorial jurisdiction will depend initially on the domicile of the taxpayer, then on the taxpayer’s place of abode, finally on the ultimate residence in Austria or on the reason for the intervention. The tax offices are required to exercise their their territorial jurisdiction (responsibility) ex officio.
Tax office with jurisdiction over the residence (domicile) of a taxpayer:
the tax office within whose jurisdictional area a taxpayer´s residence or habitual place of abode is located.
- collection of income tax where taxpayer has unlimited tax liability
- collection of value added tax, employer contributions and association dues
- tax withholding matters
Tax office with jurisdiction over a business :
that tax office within whose jurisdictional area a corporation or a partnership is established (registered office).
- collection of corporation tax
- collection of value added tax, employer contributions and association
- assessment of income from agriculture and forestry, income from trade or business and income from self-employment
- tax withholding matters
Tax office with jurisdiction over real property:
that tax office within whose jurisdictional area the real property is located.
- assessment of income from rentals and leasing (immovable property)
- collection of value added tax and employer contributions
- related issues in tax withholding matters
- assessment of unit values (assessed values) for economic units
- segmentation of unit values for land tax purpose
- collection of land tax (real property tax)
The Ministry
