Collection of VAT

The following information is addressed to foreign entrepreneurs regarding the collection of VAT.

If the supplier

• has neither his residence, registered office, habitual abode nor a fixed establishment in Austria, and
• makes a taxable supply of goods or services in Austria for which the reverse charge system does not apply (supplies of goods except supplies of contract work taxable as supplies of goods; toleration of the use of toll roads for consideration; rental of immovable property),

and

• if the recipient of the supply is a public legal entity or an entrepreneur for whose business the supply is carried out,

then the recipient of the supply is obliged to collect the amount of VAT payable on such supply, and to pay this amount in the name and on behalf of the entrepreneur making the supply. The payment must be made to the tax office which is responsible for the entrepreneur making the supply.

Where the requirements for the collection of VAT are met, the recipient of the supply is obliged to pay the amount of VAT attributable to such supply, even if the foreign entrepreneur has not separately indicated the VAT on his invoice.

Only VAT owed by the foreign entrepreneur as a result of a taxable supply of goods or services in Austria must be paid to the tax office (i.e. there is no obligation to pay if the tax liability arises based on invoicing).

In order to ensure the smooth implementation of this rule, we recommend that the supplier provide additional information on the invoice, for instance in the following way:

“...the VAT shown on this invoice must be paid in my (our) own name and on my (our) own account to the account of the tax office of Graz- Stadt (IBAN: AT70 6000 0000 0553 4681; BIC BUNDATWW; bank routing number: 60.000) with regard to the taxpayer registration number xxx/xxxx.”

The foreign entrepreneur (not the recipient of the supply) must include in his preliminary VAT return or annual return (boxes 000 and 022 or 029) the supplies for which VAT has been paid to the tax office by the recipient of the supply:

In any case the foreign entrepreneur himself must pay to the tax office the amount of VAT on supplies made to private persons (non-entrepreneurs except public legal entities) 

The entrepreneur may apply for the issue of a certificate confirming that he has a fixed establishment in Austria by submitting the form U 71.