Tax Authority for Large Traders (FAG)
 

The Tax Authority for Large Traders is a tax authority with nationwide responsibility over large traders, financial service providers, groups of companies, foundations and funds, as well as non-profit building associations.

The Tax Authority for Large Traders (FAG) is located in Vienna. The managing director of the Tax Authority for Large Traders is assisted by two legal unit heads for support in the management.

The competence of the Tax Authority for Large Traders has two aspects: On the one hand, the Tax Authority for Large Traders is responsible only for tax payers that

  • exceed the sales revenue threshold of more than € 10 million,
  • are part of a multinational group of companies within the meaning of the VPDG,
  • provide financial services,
  • have a particular legal form,
  • have been recognised by a state government as a non-profit building association,
  • are part of a group of companies pursuant to § 9 of the Corporate Income Tax Act 1988, or that
  • fall under the horizontal monitoring, or for which such control has been requested.

The tax payers falling under the responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders due to exceedance of the turnover threshold must be engaged in entrepreneurial activities by maintaining a business enterprise, a permanent establishment or an economic business operation in Austria. This definition also includes partnerships within the meaning of company law and other co-partnerships, if pursuant to § 189 I 3 of the UGB they are obliged to prepare accounts.

The responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders always exists in any case if the two most recently announced sales revenues or the turnover declared in the two most recent annual turnover tax returns pursuant to § 1 I 1 of the Austrian Value Added Tax Act 1994 have exceeded more than € 10 million each.

Regardless of whether the limit of € 10 million in turnover or sales revenue is exceeded, the Tax Authority for Large Traders is responsible for those tax payers who are listed in a country-specific report. These are companies or business units that are part of a multinational group of companies within the meaning of the § 2 I of the VPDG which reported a total turnover of at least € 750 million in the previous business year. This embedding into a multinational group of companies entails cross-border issues that make a special responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders appear necessary. These are, for example, questions in the context of transfer pricing, offsetting of interest or licences, or the like.

Furthermore, tax issues in the context of financial services companies are typically more complex than is the case with other industries. Therefore, all the companies supervised within the meaning of the § 2 of the Austrian Financial Market Authority Act (Finanzmarktaufsichtsbehördengesetz) mentioned therein and thus to be supervised by the FMA, the ECB and the European supervisory authorities (EBA, EIOPA, ESMA) and the ESRB, fall under the responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders.

Likewise, the Tax Authority for Large Traders is responsible for all foundations and funds (under the Austrian Private Foundations Act or under the Federal Foundations and Funds Act 2015 or comparable provincial laws). This also applies to comparable foreign private foundations. Therefore, the Tax Authority for Large Traders is the only tax authority responsible for collection of the foundation income tax.

If the group leader or at least one group member already falls under the responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders or if these are companies with their registered office outside Austria, the Tax Authority for Large Traders has responsibility over the entire group of companies.

The second aspect of the responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders is a factual one:

The Tax Authority for Large Traders is responsible for the collection of all federally regulated taxes for the above-mentioned tax payers. Exempt from this are levies that were previously payable pursuant to § 19 of the Tax Administration Organisation Act 2010 by the Tax Authority for Fees, Transfer Taxes and Gambling, or have been levied in accordance with § 63 BAO by the Customs Authority Austria. Tasks that fall within the scope of general competence of the Tax Authority Austria do not fall within the competence of the Tax Authority for Large Traders.

The Tax Authority for Large Traders is in any case responsible for collection of the wage tax of those employers who fall within its personal responsibility as tax payers.

The general responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders includes in any case matters of research premiums pursuant to § 108c of the Austrian Income Tax Act 1988 or the energy tax rebate pursuant to the Energy Tax Reimbursement Act.

The responsibility of the Tax Authority for Large Traders is expanded to include areas that do not fall within the scope of tax collection, such as the imposition of capital gains tax to the recipient of the capital yields, the matters of the Health and Social Welfare Subsidies Act, and the apportionment and allocation of the municipal tax base of entrepreneurs. In addition, the Tax Authority for Large Traders is responsible, among other things, for the repayment of levies on the basis of international treaties, the repayment or refund of capital gains tax or withholding tax pursuant to § 99 of the Austrian Income Tax Act 1988  even if the applicant does not meet the requirements for Large Traders.

Tasks in the Tax Authority for Large Traders

In addition to the general tasks of a nationwide tax authority, there are other activities incurred at the Tax Authority for Large Traders. For example, you will receive answers to frequently asked questions about specific tasks on the following topics, among others:

  • Tax Collection
  • Tax Rulings
  • Horizontal Monitoring
  • Auditing of fixed costs
  • Research premium
  • International tax refund (diplomats)
  • Capital gains tax refund
  • Liquidity audit
  • Multilateral controls (MCL)
  • Mutual agreement proceedings, dispute settlement procedures and advance pricing agreements (APA)

The horizontal monitoring is carried out by one or more bodies of the Tax Authority for Large Traders.