Income tax return (Austria)
The income tax return is the written declaration of a taxpayer about his income situation. It serves as the basis for determining the income tax to be assessed .
The income tax return is prepared by the taxpayer or his authorized representative (usually a tax advisor ) and submitted to the responsible tax office - usually electronically.
A distinction must be made between the income tax return and the employee tax return . With the employee tax assessment, income tax is also assessed, but it is intended for taxpayers who have only earned income taxable in the assessment year . If other income needs to be declared in a calendar year, a change to the income tax declaration must be notified to the tax office.
Obligation to submit an income tax return
Anyone whose income has met one of the following conditions in the assessment year is required to submit an income tax return:
- In addition to income subject to wage tax, other income totaling 730 euros was achieved and the total income exceeded the amount of 12,000 euros (excluding final taxed investment income)
- provided that there was no income subject to wage tax, if at least income totaling 11,000 euros was achieved
- if there is other income from private property sales , from which the real estate income tax has not been calculated and paid
- if there is income from capital assets that are not subject to capital gains tax (e.g. foreign investment income)
- if business income was obtained that was determined by accounting .
In addition, an income tax return is mandatory if you are asked to submit it by the tax office - for example by sending official forms.
The Austrian Income Tax Act provides for individual taxation . Therefore, all taxable persons who are obliged to submit a separate income tax return have to submit a separate tax return - a joint assessment of (spouses) partners or families is not possible.
Form of explanation
In principle, income tax returns must be submitted electronically to the responsible tax office via FinanzOnline . There are exceptions to this for people for whom this is unreasonable due to a lack of technical requirements and for people who submit the income tax return themselves and whose previous year's turnover did not exceed 30,000 euros.
As a rule, the income tax return must be submitted to the competent tax office in the home. This is the tax office, which is responsible for the location of the main residence according to the central register of residents .
The Income Tax Act prescribes the use of the official forms, if such are available. For the income tax return, these are usually Form E1 for persons with unlimited tax liability and Form E7 for those with limited tax liability, including the relevant enclosures. The form E2 serves as a filling aid.
Supplements (extract)
- E1a: for business income from self-employed work or income from business operations as a sole proprietorship
- E1b: for income from renting and leasing land and buildings
- E1c: for flat-rate income from agriculture and forestry as a sole proprietorship
- E1kv: for income from capital assets
- E11: for income from participation in partnerships / communities (e.g. KG , OG , rental community, etc.)
- L1ab: Supplement to take account of extraordinary loads
- L1k: for taking into account a child allowance , maintenance deduction , extraordinary burden for children
- L1d: for special consideration of special editions
- L1i: for income from employment without wage tax deduction (e.g. foreign income from an employment relationship) and additional information if certain cross-border criteria are met
Deadlines
The federal tax code stipulates that the income tax return must be submitted by April 30 of the year following the tax year. If the submission is made electronically via FinanzOnline, this period has been extended to June 30th. The deadline can be extended by the tax office with a justified request.
In the case of taxpayers who submit the declaration through a tax representative, there are sometimes even longer deadlines.
If these deadlines are not met and a delay is not excusable, the tax office can impose a late fee of up to 10% of the income tax. The tax office also has the option, after prior warning, to force the submission of the declaration by imposing penalties of up to 5,000 euros per case.
