Steuer und Rechnungsstellung Österreich
Tax and invoicing duties as they hit software. The governing texts are UStG 1994 (Umsatzsteuergesetz, VAT Act), BAO (Bundesabgabenordnung, Federal Fiscal Code), RKSV (Registrierkassensicherheitsverordnung, cash register security regulation), BarUV 2015 (Barumsatzverordnung, cash-turnover regulation), EStG 1988 and UGB. All statute references verified against RIS, consolidated version as at 2026-08-05.
Core principle: Austria has two separate document duties that developers conflate. The Rechnung under § 11 UStG exists so the recipient can deduct input VAT and carries a fixed list of mandatory elements. The Beleg under § 132a BAO is a receipt every business must hand to every cash-paying customer regardless of VAT status, amount, or whether an invoice was also issued. On top sits the Registrierkassenpflicht under § 131b BAO with a hardware signature device and the RKSV chain — an Austrian construction with no German or Swiss equivalent. A German invoicing implementation ported to Austria is missing the Beleg duty, the QR-code signature, and the Kleinbetragsrechnung threshold, and its VAT rate table is wrong.
Not tax advice
This skill produces implementation guidance and drafts, not a tax position. Before anything goes live:
- Anything that determines a tax position — whether a supply is taxable here, which rate applies to a specific product, whether Kleinunternehmer status still holds, whether an exemption is available — needs a Steuerberater. This skill tells you what the machine must be able to do, not what the answer is for a given business.
- Free first contact: WKO tax service (members), BMF Infocenter, FinanzOnline.
- Every generated invoice, receipt, or record template carries a visible
<!-- ENTWURF – steuerlich nicht freigegeben -->marker until Clemens confirms sign-off. Never remove it silently.
Never drop or soften this section in output.
Workflow
- Collect the facts before writing anything. Questions in
references/intake.md. Turnover, cash share, customer type, target countries and product type decide everything below. Unknown values become[[FEHLT: …]], never a guess. - Run the decision matrix in
references/entscheidungsmatrix.mdto get the obligation set for this business. - Read the reference file for each obligation before producing anything. Never from memory — the thresholds moved in 2025 and again on 2026-01-01 and 2026-07-01.
- Run
references/checklist.mdagainst the implementation and report findings with the section number. - Output the sign-off note, leave the draft marker in place.
Output shape. Exactly four parts, in this order:
- the artefact (invoice/receipt template, code, or finding table) with the draft marker
- the list of
[[FEHLT: …]]items Clemens must supply - adjacent open obligations in one sentence each
- the sign-off note
The section reference goes next to the statement it belongs to. Reference file names are working material and belong in none of the four parts.
Decision matrix
| Situation | What applies | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Any supply to another Unternehmer or to a juristische Person | Rechnung mandatory, § 11 Abs 1 Z 1 UStG, within 6 months | rechnung-pflichtangaben.md |
| Invoice total over 10 000 € to a business customer | Recipient UID mandatory, § 11 Abs 1 Z 3 lit b UStG | rechnung-pflichtangaben.md |
| Invoice total up to 400 € | Kleinbetragsrechnung, § 11 Abs 6 UStG | rechnung-pflichtangaben.md |
| Turnover under 55 000 € | Kleinunternehmerregelung, § 6 Abs 1 Z 27 UStG, no VAT on invoices | kleinunternehmer.md |
| Selling VAT-exempt into other EU states | EU-Kleinunternehmerregelung, Art 6a UStG, -EX identifier | kleinunternehmer.md |
| Any priced product | Rate table incl. the 4,9 % rate live since 2026-07-01 | steuersaetze.md |
| B2B supply to another EU state | Reverse charge § 19, ZM under Art 21 Abs 3 UStG | leistungsort-grenzueberschreitend.md |
| B2C digital services or distance sales into the EU | 10 000 € pan-EU threshold, then EU-OSS | leistungsort-grenzueberschreitend.md |
| Goods imported from outside the EU, ≤ 150 € per consignment | IOSS, § 25b UStG | leistungsort-grenzueberschreitend.md |
| Cash accepted (incl. card) and turnover over the thresholds | Registrierkassenpflicht § 131b BAO plus full RKSV | registrierkasse.md |
| Any cash payment received | Belegerteilungspflicht § 132a BAO — always, no threshold | beleg-132a.md |
| Invoicing a federal body | e-Rechnung via USP or PEPPOL, ebInterface or UBL | erechnung-bund.md |
| Storing invoices, receipts, DEP | 7-year retention § 132 BAO, readable and exportable | aufbewahrung.md |
| Building for small Austrian businesses generally | EAR vs Bilanzierung, Pauschalierung, SVS — orientation only | einkommensseite.md |
| Writing the actual code | Rounding, formatting, numbering, Storno, PDF, payload | implementierung.md |
Hard rules
- Rechnung and Beleg are different documents under different statutes. § 11 UStG governs the invoice and exists for the recipient's Vorsteuerabzug; § 132a BAO governs the receipt and exists so the transaction is recorded. A system that issues invoices but no receipt on cash payment breaches § 132a BAO even if every invoice is perfect.
- Card payment is a Barumsatz. § 131b Abs 1 Z 3 and § 132a Abs 1 BAO both classify payment by Bankomat- or Kreditkarte, comparable electronic payment forms, Barschecks and vendor-issued vouchers accepted in lieu of money as cash. A card-only shop with a physical till is not outside the cash register rules.
- The Kleinunternehmer threshold is 55 000 €, and it is an actual turnover figure. § 6 Abs 1 Z 27 UStG, in force since 2025-01-01. The last sentence of the provision says explicitly that the calculation does not use the base of assessment under assumed tax liability — so the old net-conversion arithmetic is gone. Exceeding it by up to 10 % keeps the exemption to the end of the calendar year; beyond 10 % it ends at that moment.
- Kleinbetragsrechnung is 400 € gross, not 250 € and not 150 €. § 11 Abs 6 UStG. The same simplification applies to any invoice from a Kleinunternehmer regardless of amount, and is excluded for intra-EU supplies and for reverse-charge cases billed under Austrian rules.
- The recipient UID threshold is 10 000 € gross. § 11 Abs 1 Z 3 lit b UStG. Below it, name and address of the recipient suffice. This has no German equivalent and is regularly omitted by ported implementations.
- Austria has four general VAT rates, not three. 20 % standard (§ 10 Abs 1), 13 % (§ 10 Abs 3), 10 % (§ 10 Abs 2), and 4,9 % on the basic foodstuffs in Anlage 3 (§ 10 Abs 1a, BGBl. I Nr. 37/2026, in force since 2026-07-01), plus the territorial 19 % for Jungholz and Mittelberg (§ 10 Abs 4). A rate table without 4,9 % is out of date.
- An issued invoice is never edited. § 11 Abs 12 UStG: VAT shown that is not owed is owed on the strength of the document until the invoice is corrected towards the recipient. § 11 Abs 14: anyone who shows VAT without making a supply owes it. Corrections are separate documents with their own number, referencing the original.
- Invoice numbers must be sequential and uniquely identifying. § 11 Abs 1 Z 3 lit h UStG requires "eine fortlaufende Nummer mit einer oder mehreren Zahlenreihen, die zur Identifizierung der Rechnung einmalig vergeben wird". Generate it inside the same transaction that persists the invoice, never from a client-side counter.
- Seven years, from the end of the calendar year. § 132 Abs 1 BAO for books, records and belegs; § 11 Abs 2 UStG for invoice copies, including authenticity, integrity and legibility of electronic invoices for the full seven years.
- Never invent a UID, a rate, a threshold, or a Kassenidentifikationsnummer. Missing values become
[[FEHLT: …]]in the artefact and in the report.
False friends
Assumptions carried over from Germany or Switzerland. None of these is the Austrian position.
| Plausible wrong assumption | Actual position in Austria |
|---|---|
| Kleinbetragsrechnung up to 250 € (§ 33 UStDV, Germany) | 400 € gross, § 11 Abs 6 UStG |
| No receipt duty beyond the invoice | § 132a BAO: a Beleg for every cash payment, to every customer, no threshold, and the customer must take it out of the premises (§ 132a Abs 5) |
| TSE / technische Sicherheitseinrichtung as in the German KassenSichV | RKSV: a qualified signature/seal creation unit under eIDAS, a JWS chain, and FinanzOnline registration. Not interchangeable with a German TSE |
| Recipient VAT ID only needed for intra-EU supplies | Also needed on any domestic B2B invoice over 10 000 €, § 11 Abs 1 Z 3 lit b UStG |
| USt-IdNr., § 27a UStG | UID-Nummer, format ATU plus eight characters |
| Kleinunternehmer threshold 22 000 € / 25 000 € (Germany) | 55 000 €, § 6 Abs 1 Z 27 UStG |
| Reduced rate is a single 7 % / 2,6 % rate | 13 %, 10 % and 4,9 % coexist with different Anlagen |
| E-books at the standard rate | 10 %, § 10 Abs 2 Z 9 UStG, unless wholly or mainly video or music content or advertising |
| Invoice must be issued "unverzüglich" | Six months after the supply, § 11 Abs 1 Z 1 UStG; 15th of the following month for intra-EU reverse-charge services, § 11 Abs 1 Z 2 |
| Retention 10 years (Germany, § 147 AO) | Seven years, § 132 Abs 1 BAO |
| Switzerland is "almost EU" for VAT | Third country. No ZM, no OSS, no reverse charge under Art 196 MwStSystRL; Swiss import VAT and possibly Swiss VAT registration apply |
Common mistakes
| Mistake | Why it is wrong |
|---|---|
One vat_rate column with 20 / 10 | Misses 13 % and the 4,9 % rate live since 2026-07-01 |
| Invoice number derived from a timestamp or UUID | Not a fortlaufende Nummer under § 11 Abs 1 Z 3 lit h UStG |
| Gaps in the number series "because a draft was discarded" | Series must be explainable end to end; drafts must not consume numbers |
| Editing a sent invoice in place | § 11 Abs 12 UStG; the wrong VAT stays owed until a correction document exists |
| Rounding per line and per invoice inconsistently | Produces a Steuerbetrag that does not match Entgelt × Steuersatz; see implementierung.md |
| Kleinunternehmer invoice showing 0 % VAT | Wrong. The invoice shows no VAT and carries the exemption reference, § 11 Abs 6 UStG |
| Receipt without the machine-readable code once a Registrierkasse is in use | § 132a Abs 8 BAO plus § 11 RKSV |
| Startbeleg created but never verified | § 6 Abs 4 RKSV requires the check and the protocolled result |
| DEP kept only in the POS database | § 7 Abs 3 RKSV: quarterly unalterable backup to external media, retained under § 132 BAO |
| Storing only a rendered PDF | § 132 Abs 2 and 3 BAO require complete, ordered, content-identical reproduction and, on demand, export to a data carrier |
| Charging Austrian VAT on all EU B2C sales | Above 10 000 € pan-EU the place of supply moves to the customer's state, Art 3 Abs 5 and Art 3a Abs 5 UStG |
Reference files
Each carries the statutory basis with dates, the mandatory content, a ready template or working code with [[PLACEHOLDER]] slots, and checkpoints.
references/intake.md— intake questionnaire before the first artefactreferences/entscheidungsmatrix.md— business type and turnover in, obligation set outreferences/rechnung-pflichtangaben.md— § 11 UStG elements, thresholds, deadlines, German invoice templatereferences/kleinunternehmer.md— § 6 Abs 1 Z 27 UStG, 2025 reform, Art 6a EU scheme,-EX, Regelbesteuerungreferences/steuersaetze.md— § 10 UStG rates including 4,9 % from 2026-07-01, digital products, e-booksreferences/leistungsort-grenzueberschreitend.md— reverse charge, ZM, EU-OSS, IOSS, Germany and Switzerlandreferences/registrierkasse.md— § 131b BAO, RKSV, DEP, signature chain, QR payload, FinanzOnline, Belegcheckreferences/beleg-132a.md— § 132a BAO Beleg content, German receipt templatereferences/erechnung-bund.md— IKTKonG, USP and PEPPOL, ebInterface versions, boundary toeinvoicing-eureferences/aufbewahrung.md— § 132 BAO retention, electronic form, export duties for a SaaSreferences/einkommensseite.md— EAR vs Bilanzierung, Basispauschalierung, SVS, short with a hard pointer outreferences/implementierung.md— rounding, formatting, numbering under concurrency, Storno, PDF and payloadreferences/checklist.md— pre-ship checklist producing findings, not reassurance
