FAQ
Austria

We are able to help you obtain these documents from Austria:

• Lohnzettel: certificate of taxable incomes,
• L1 forms,
• U1: it proves the entitlement to unemployment benefits after your return from abroad,
• S1: it entitles the taxpayer to use the full health care in the home country while working in different country in the EU.

In addition, we can help you obtain an EWR form to give you unlimited taxpayer status. This will enable you to claim a refund and qualify for various other tax reliefs.

The Lohnzettel is a form that every employer must give to their employees at the end of the year. It is a certificate of the employee's annual income and the taxes withheld from each month's wages for the previous calendar year.

To obtain a Lohnzettel form, contact your employer and ask them to issue the form. If you had more than one employer, you will need a Lohnzettel form from each of them.

To obtain a U1 form, you will need the following documents:

• Power of Attorney (obtained from us),
• payslips or an annual income certificate Lohnzettel,
• all employment contracts for the given period,
• all employment termination certificates for the given period,
• other documents.

It always depends on your situation. We will be happy to obtain the U1 form for you. Read how the service works or fill in the order form straight away.

The L1 form is the official document for filing your Austrian tax return. The attachments to the L1 form include:

• L1i - is used to confirm that you have no income in your home country,
• L1k - to claim child‑related allowances,
• L1k-bF - for claiming discounts in specific cases.

The process of obtaining an L1i form is a little more complicated. It is not a publicly available document, so it cannot simply be downloaded and filled in. You have to request it from the Austrian tax office, which only communicates in German. The application is made electronically and you can choose how the form is delivered:

• electronically - when filing via Finanzonline,
• by post - when filing via the Finanzamt.

State pension contribution - this cannot be refunded, but once you reach retirement age, you can apply for it in the given country across Europe.

Private pension contribution - the conditions differ from one insurance company to another, but it should be noted that if these contributions are refunded, the right to state contributions resulting from excess insurance over and above the obligations may be extinguished.

Severance pay - these contributions are paid by the employer and are mandatory in the same way as the state contributions. Contributions can be refunded in a one‑time payment, and only for non‑EU residents. The process can be started 5 years after the end of employment (i.e. if you worked in Austria until 1st of May, 2024, you will be able to claim contributions from 1st of May, 2029).

State contributions are not refundable. Anyone who has paid at least 180 months of state pension contributions in Austria and has reached the retirement age of 65 for men and 60 for women (the retirement age applies in 2023) can apply for a pension in Austria.

Only non‑EU residents can apply for a refund of their severance pay. EU residents will draw their contributions when they reach retirement age, so there is no refund.

You will need the following documents to  your severance pay:

• work contract,
• ID (ID card / passport),
• the name of the insurance company with which you are insured.

Anyone who has been contributing to a private pension can apply for it. The process varies depending on which company you are insured with. There is a possibility that you will lose the state contributions associated with this insurance by getting a refund. Both EU resident and non‑EU resident can claim a refund.

Child benefit (Familienbeihilfe) is a financial contribution for the parents of children, which is intended for the upbringing and maintenance of the child / children.

For more information on child allowances - Familienbeihilfe - see the blog article.

The  amount of child benefits depend on the age of the child.

HERE you can find not only the current monthly child benefit rates, but also the rates for previous years.

You can apply for Austrian child benefits (Familienbeihilfe) up to 5 years back.

The basic condition for entitlement to benefits is compulsory social security insurance in Austria, which you automatically get in connection with your employment. This means that if you are working in Austria, you are compulsorily insured and probably entitled to benefits.

You are also entitled to benefits if one parent works in Austria and the children live in their home country or in another EU country with the other parent.

We will be happy to help you with the benefits. Read how it works or fill in the order form straight away.

The following situations may arise:

• if the parents are married, either parent can apply for this benefit; but only one parent at a time,
• if the child's mother is unmarried or divorced, only the mother may apply,
• if the parents are divorced and the child lives in the same household as the father (the father is the sole legal representative), only the father may apply.

Yes, you can receive child benefit in your home country and apply for it in Austria. The Austrian benefit is calculated so that the final sum of the benefits from both countries is equal to the maximum amount in Austria.

The parent who lives with the child in their home country applies for Austrian compensatory allowance.

The other parent working in Austria must provide confirmation of income from employment or payslips with the application; freelancers must provide a trade certificate.

If one parent suspects that the other parent is receiving benefits illegally, the competent Austrian authority, FinanzOnline, should be contacted to investigate.

When the child reaches the age of 18, child benefits will be paid only for:

• studying at university until the age of 24,
• preparation for a future profession up to the age of 24,
• volunteering for an approved organisation up to the age of 25,
• disability up to the age of 25.

No. The parent applies for child benefits after the child turns 18. If the conditions for receiving child benefit are met from the age of 18, the child benefits are paid to the parent. The child can request that the benefits be paid into his / her bank account. However, this requires the written consent of the parent.

The application must be accompanied by:

• E 411 form,
• birth certificate of the child / children,
• work contract,
• marriage certificate / divorce decree / death certificate,
• certificate of school attendance (for school‑age children),
• certificate of studies via E 402 form (for children studying at university).

It takes on average 2 ‑ 6 months to get child benefits.

The deadline for filing the tax return is:

• 30th of April - in paper form,
• 30th of June - electronically

for the previous calendar year.

The deadline for filing the tax return for the year 2023 is 30th of April, 2024 in paper form and 30th of June, 2024 electronically.

You can apply for a Austria up to 5 years back.

In the year 2024 you can file the tax return / claim your tax refund for the year 2019 at the latest.

Deadlines for Austrian tax refunds for previous years:

• tax return for the year 2019 - till the 31st of December, 2024
• tax return for the year 2020 - till the 31st of December, 2025
• tax return for the year 2021 - till the 31st of December, 2026
• tax return for the year 2022 - till the 31st of December, 2027
• tax return for the year 2023 - till the 31st of December, 2028

In Austria, there is a 3‑day protection period that applies to all taxes. After these three days, the tax office will impose a late filing penalty of 2% of the tax.

You can deduct the following expenses on your Austrian tax return:

• general - these are expenses related to employment, education or job search (travel costs, course costs, mobile phone charges),
• other (home office, family bonus, additional insurance),
• extraordinary - these are expenses related to chronic illness or disability. This includes costs on dental or medical aids.

You will need the following documents to file your tax return:

• a confirmation of taxable income (Lohnzettel) from each employer,
• L1i form if you have worked in Austria for less than 6 months,
• EU/EWR form (Bescheinigung EU/EWR),
• other documents proving entitlement to tax credits (child's birth certificate...).

The Lohnzettel (L16) is a form that every employer must give to their employees at the end of the year. It is a certificate of the employee's annual income and the taxes withheld from each month's wages for the previous calendar year.

To obtain a Lohnzettel form, contact your employer and ask them to issue the form. If you had more than one employer, you will need a Lohnzettel form from each of them.

The L1i form is an attachment to the L1 form. It serves as proof that you have no income in your home country and your only source of income is from Austria. On the basis of this form, you will be considered an Austrian tax resident and can thus benefit from other advantages of the Austrian tax system.

The tax office will process the tax return and then pay the overpayment. The whole process takes on average 2 ‑ 8 months from the time the tax return is filed.

After filing your tax return, the tax office will send you a tax assessment stating the amount of tax and the due date.

The tax office may send a refusal of tax assessment / payment of the refund for several reasons: missing mandatory attachment to the tax return, tax return not filled in correctly, etc.

We will be happy to help you with the processing of the letter. Arrange a consultation and one of our tax specialists will contact you. Read how the consultation works or fill in the order form straight away.

The obligation to file a tax return in Austria depends on several factors. In certain cases, you are obliged to file a tax return if:

• you have an unlimited tax liability in Austria,
• you earn more than €11 693 (the amount applicable for the tax year 2023),
• you have more than one income subject to income tax,
• the tax office has submitted you to file,
• you have business income,
• you have income from the sale of a property on which you have paid income tax.

You can also file a tax return voluntarily (if you are not required to file) and get a refund of some of the tax you paid, as well as claim any statutory benefits and allowances.

PD U1 form (Confirmation of periods to be taken into account for unemployment benefits) is a confirmation of employment abroad during which your employer paid unemployment insurance contributions on your behalf.

The form is issued by the foreign employment office after the employment termination and is submitted to the employment office in your home country or the country where you are claiming unemployment benefits.

You will need to present this document when you return from abroad to your home country or another EU country to claim unemployment benefits.