Central Services (ZS)

The Central Services are a nationwide institution of the Federal Finance Administration with a support function. The scope of the Central Services extends to the entire federal territory.

The areas of responsibility of Central Services include ensuring uniform interpretation of the law, as well as verification of all clearing by the federal tax authorities and the Anti-Fraud Office by audit bodies within the meaning of § 115 of the Federal Budget Act 2013 and § 129 of the BHV 2013, the development, setting up and optimisation of IT solutions for budget management within the scope of the tasks of a budget-managing body (§ 6 II BHG 2013), the training and further education of employees of the Ministry of Finance by holding relevant courses and seminars, and support in the area of data processing and IT infrastructure.

The Central Services have their legal basis in § 64 BAO as amended by the 2nd Financial Organisation Reform Act – 2. FORG (Federal Law Gazette Part I № 99/2020). According to the Ordinance on the Determination of the Headquarters of the Federal Finance Administration Institutions (FORG Adjustment Ordinance, Federal Law Gazette II № 579/2020) is the head office of the Central Services in Vienna. The Central Services consist of the following organisational units:

The overall management of Central Services is carried out by the Head. He/she is responsible in particular for the organisational, personnel, economic and financial management of Central Services. He/she is also the head of the Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs. The Head of the Federal Academy of Finance permanently deputises for the Head of the Central Services for the area of the Federal Academy of Finance, as well as generally in case of absence in matters of the Central Services.

The overall management of Central Services is carried out by the Head. He/she is responsible in particular for the organisational, personnel, economic and financial management of Central Services. He/she is also the head of the Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs. The Head of the Federal Academy of Finance permanently deputises for the Head of the Central Services for the area of the Federal Academy of Finance, as well as generally in case of absence in matters of the Central Services.

Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs

Within the scope of its core tasks, the Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs pursues the following goals:

  • Ensuring uniform interpretation of the law throughout the country
  • Ensuring the inter-agency exchange of experience and information
  • Contributing to practical enforcement
  • Link between the offices of the Federal Finance Administration and the Federal Ministry of Finance
  • Checking the budgetary requirements at the offices and checking the cancellation of tax debts

The competence of the Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs is based on the legal matters that are enforced by the Federal Finance Administration (with the exception of those of the Special Responsibilities Unit at the Tax Authority Austria).

Depending on the legal matter, the tasks are carried out by the experts of the Central Specialised Unit for Legal Affairs according to the assigned use.

Federal Academy of Finance

The Federal Academy of Finance is the central training institution for all service authorities and staff positions in the Ministry of Finance.

More about the tasks and organisation of the Federal Academy of Finance.

Predictive Analytics Competence Centre

The Predictive Analytics Competence Centre deals with the performance of a risk assessment of the levy processes by means of predictive analytics methods and an associated effective prediction of the necessary control and audit measures as well as the evaluation of the results. According to the tasks of the individual subject areas, the centre is divided into two teams.

The Predictive & Advanced Analytics team covers all areas from development to maintenance and optimisation of statistical and mathematical methods and models. It also includes data preparation and data analysis.

The Tax & Customs Analytics team deals with fiscal and customs-specific tasks and analyses. This concerns data from the assessment as well as from the auditing of taxes and ranges from the creation of risk profiles and further development to support in risk assessments.

The experts from the PACC also participate in the implementation of international anti-fraud projects.

IT Coordination

The IT coordinators are involved in particular in the implementation of the targeted automation goals and concepts of the Federal Ministry of Finance. They ensure that the IT equipment and IT procedures are used as intended and are the regional point of contact for the offices of the Federal Finance Administration on site.

Data Management

The data management team performs the following agendas for the entire Federal Finance Administration:

Development, establishment and optimisation of IT solutions for budget management within the scope of the tasks of a budget-managing body (§ 6 II of the Federal Budget Act 2013) for the entire Ministry of Finance

Participation in the implementation and operation of business administration tools for planning, analysis and reporting (e.g. expectation and forecast calculations, scenario techniques)

Master data maintenance: User networking budget to organisational management and cost and activity accounting

The colleagues of the data management team are based in Klagenfurt am Wörthersee.