FAQ
Austria - Tax Return

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 2024 is 30th of April, 2025 in paper form and 30th of June, 2025 electronically.

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

In the year 2025 you can file the tax return / claim your tax refund for the year 2020 at the latest.

Deadlines for Austrian tax refunds for previous years:

• 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
• tax return for the year 2024 - till the 31st of December, 2029

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 €12 816 (the amount applicable for the tax year 2024),
• 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.