How Foreign Institutions Can Obtain Donation Deductibility in Austria

Short Summary

For­eign non-prof­it insti­tu­tions can obtain dona­tion tax deductibil­i­ty sta­tus in Aus­tria, allow­ing Aus­tri­an donors to deduct con­tri­bu­tions from their tax­es. This arti­cle pro­vides a step-by-step guide and explains the legal require­ments under Aus­tri­an tax law (espe­cial­ly § 4a EStG and the BAO). It high­lights the role of a fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria in stream­lin­ing the appli­ca­tion process. Our firm offers expert fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion and tax advi­so­ry ser­vices to help for­eign orga­ni­za­tions suc­cess­ful­ly nav­i­gate the Aus­tri­an sys­tem and secure tax-deductible dona­tion sta­tus.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Apply for Donation Deductibility in Austria

1. Check eligibility requirements

First, ensure that your orga­ni­za­tion qual­i­fies for dona­tion tax deductibil­i­ty under Aus­tri­an rules. Only non-prof­it or char­i­ta­ble orga­ni­za­tions (e.g. pub­lic-ben­e­fit asso­ci­a­tions, foun­da­tions, NGOs) can apply for this sta­tus. Ver­i­fy that your organization’s pur­pose aligns with the pub­lic ben­e­fit pur­pos­es defined in the Aus­tri­an Fed­er­al Fis­cal Code (BAO) – mean­ing your activ­i­ties must serve the pub­lic good in areas such as wel­fare, edu­ca­tion, sci­ence, cul­ture, sports, human rights, etc. The organization’s work should be altru­is­tic and exclu­sive­ly ded­i­cat­ed to these char­i­ta­ble objec­tives. In prac­ti­cal terms, you should have a found­ing doc­u­ment or statutes that meet Aus­tri­an cri­te­ria: no prof­it dis­tri­b­u­tion, no per­son­al ben­e­fits to mem­bers, assets used only for the stat­ed char­i­ta­ble pur­pose, and an “asset lock” clause on dis­so­lu­tion (any remain­ing assets upon dis­so­lu­tion must go to anoth­er tax-priv­i­leged pur­pose). (Tip: It’s advis­able to have your statutes reviewed by an expert before­hand to ensure they con­tain all pro­vi­sions nec­es­sary for tax-deductible dona­tions in Aus­tria.)

2. Register for an Austrian tax number

A for­eign orga­ni­za­tion will need an Aus­tri­an tax iden­ti­fi­ca­tion num­ber (Steuer­num­mer) before it can sub­mit the appli­ca­tion. If your enti­ty has nev­er been reg­is­tered with the Aus­tri­an tax office, you must apply for a tax num­ber. This can be done using form Verf 15a-Spend, a sim­pli­fied reg­is­tra­tion form specif­i­cal­ly for the pur­pose of dona­tion deductibil­i­ty. On this form, you pro­vide basic details about the orga­ni­za­tion (name, legal form, address) and the details of its legal rep­re­sen­ta­tives. Sub­mit the com­plet­ed form to the Finan­zamt Öster­re­ich (Aus­tri­an Tax Office) – sub­mis­sions can typ­i­cal­ly be made by mail, fax, or in per­son at any tax office ser­vice cen­ter. Once your orga­ni­za­tion is assigned a tax num­ber, you are ready to pro­ceed with the dona­tion deductibil­i­ty appli­ca­tion itself. (Note: Our firm can han­dle this reg­is­tra­tion process on your behalf as your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria, ensur­ing the paper­work is filed cor­rect­ly.)

3. Appoint a fiscal representative in Austria

Because for­eign orga­ni­za­tions usu­al­ly do not have a phys­i­cal pres­ence or office in Aus­tria, it is nec­es­sary to appoint a local tax rep­re­sen­ta­tive – “Fiskalvertreter in Öster­re­ich” – to act on your behalf. Accord­ing to Aus­tri­an pro­ce­dure, the appli­ca­tion for dona­tion deductibil­i­ty must be sub­mit­ted elec­tron­i­cal­ly by an autho­rized Aus­tri­an rep­re­sen­ta­tive, such as a cer­ti­fied tax advi­sor or audi­tor. Engage a trust­ed tax advi­so­ry firm (like ours) to serve as your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria. Your rep­re­sen­ta­tive will han­dle all inter­ac­tions with the Aus­tri­an tax author­i­ties, file the appli­ca­tion via the online por­tal, and advise you on the required doc­u­men­ta­tion. An expe­ri­enced fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria helps nav­i­gate reg­u­la­to­ry com­plex­i­ties, ensures com­pli­ance with local require­ments, and great­ly increas­es the like­li­hood of a smooth approval process.

4. Gather required documentation

Pre­pare all nec­es­sary doc­u­ments for the appli­ca­tion. The core piece is your organization’s gov­ern­ing doc­u­ment (such as statutes, arti­cles of incor­po­ra­tion, bylaws) that out­lines your pur­pose and rules. Make sure you have an up-to-date copy ready to sub­mit. If the orig­i­nal is not in Ger­man, it’s high­ly rec­om­mend­ed to pro­vide a cer­ti­fied trans­la­tion into Ger­man, as this will facil­i­tate the review by Aus­tri­an offi­cials. Ensure the doc­u­ment clear­ly demon­strates com­pli­ance with Aus­tri­an cri­te­ria (pur­pose, non-prof­it char­ac­ter, asset ded­i­ca­tion clause, etc.). You should also col­lect any evi­dence of your non-prof­it sta­tus in your home coun­try (e.g. cer­tifi­cates or reg­is­tra­tions), which can sup­port your case, though the deci­sion will rely main­ly on Aus­tri­an legal cri­te­ria. All doc­u­ments should be in a read­able elec­tron­ic for­mat (PDF). The Aus­tri­an tax office uses auto­mat­ed tools to scan your statutes for com­pli­ance, so hav­ing a clear OCR-read­able PDF is impor­tant. Your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive will assist you in com­pil­ing and for­mat­ting these doc­u­ments cor­rect­ly pri­or to sub­mis­sion.

5. Submit the application via FinanzOnline

The appli­ca­tion for dona­tion deductibil­i­ty (offi­cial­ly, the request for “Spenden­begün­s­ti­gung” sta­tus) is sub­mit­ted elec­tron­i­cal­ly through Finan­zOn­line, the online por­tal of the Aus­tri­an tax author­i­ty. Your tax rep­re­sen­ta­tive will lodge this appli­ca­tion on your behalf. The appli­ca­tion form will include details of your orga­ni­za­tion (reg­is­tra­tion data, respon­si­ble per­sons, etc.), and you will attach the sup­port­ing doc­u­ments (statutes, etc.) elec­tron­i­cal­ly. By using a pro­fes­sion­al rep­re­sen­ta­tive, you ensure the appli­ca­tion is sub­mit­ted in the prop­er for­mat and to the cor­rect depart­ment (the des­ig­nat­ed depart­ment of Finan­zamt Öster­re­ich that han­dles char­i­ta­ble sta­tus). Once the appli­ca­tion is sent, the tax office will review all infor­ma­tion. If any­thing is miss­ing or unclear, the author­i­ty may issue addi­tion­al queries or requests for clar­i­fi­ca­tion – in such cas­es, your Aus­tri­an fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive will respond and pro­vide the required infor­ma­tion.

6. Await the determination (Bescheid)

The review process by the Aus­tri­an tax office may take sev­er­al weeks or months, depend­ing on the com­plex­i­ty and vol­ume of appli­ca­tions. If your orga­ni­za­tion meets all legal require­ments, the tax office will issue a for­mal notice (Fest­stel­lungs­bescheid) grant­i­ng your orga­ni­za­tion dona­tion-deductible sta­tus in Aus­tria. Along with this notice, your enti­ty will be added to the offi­cial list of tax-priv­i­leged dona­tion recip­i­ents pub­lished by the Min­istry of Finance. This pub­lic list shows the name of each orga­ni­za­tion and the date from which the sta­tus is valid. From that effec­tive date onward, dona­tions to your orga­ni­za­tion are tax deductible in Aus­tria. (Donors can only claim tax relief for dona­tions made when the orga­ni­za­tion was list­ed as begün­stigt.) If the tax office iden­ti­fies issues with your statutes, they might grant a con­di­tion­al approval or ask for cor­rec­tions. Minor issues can some­times be cor­rect­ed with­in a grace peri­od (e.g. updat­ing your statutes with­in six months) so that the dona­tion deductibil­i­ty can still take effect retroac­tive­ly. Major issues would require you to amend your doc­u­ments and poten­tial­ly reap­ply; the deductibil­i­ty would then only count from the date the cri­te­ria were ful­ly met. Through­out this process, your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive will keep you informed and guide you through any nec­es­sary adjust­ments, work­ing to secure a pos­i­tive result.

7. Leverage your donation deductibility status

Once approved, you can active­ly pro­mote the fact that your orga­ni­za­tion is rec­og­nized in Aus­tria, as this is a sig­nif­i­cant trust mark for donors. Aus­tri­an donors — whether indi­vid­u­als or com­pa­nies — will now be more inclined to give, know­ing they can claim a tax deduc­tion for their con­tri­bu­tions. For indi­vid­ual donors, the tax ben­e­fit is obtained through an auto­mat­ic report­ing sys­tem: your orga­ni­za­tion is required to report the annu­al dona­tion amounts for each donor (iden­ti­fied by name and birth­date) to the tax author­i­ties by the end of Feb­ru­ary of the fol­low­ing year. The Aus­tri­an tax office then auto­mat­i­cal­ly con­sid­ers these dona­tions in the donor’s tax assess­ment (indi­vid­u­als no longer need to man­u­al­ly list dona­tions in their tax returns, pro­vid­ed the orga­ni­za­tion reports them). As a new tax-priv­i­leged insti­tu­tion, you must arrange access to Finan­zOn­line for this data report­ing. Your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria can man­age this report­ing oblig­a­tion on your behalf, ensur­ing com­pli­ance with the data sub­mis­sion require­ments. (For con­text: busi­ness­es in Aus­tria can deduct dona­tions up to 10% of their annu­al prof­its as a busi­ness expense, and indi­vid­u­als can deduct up to 10% of their annu­al income as a spe­cial expense. While these lim­its affect donors and not your orga­ni­za­tion direct­ly, being aware of them can help in plan­ning your fundrais­ing strat­e­gy.)

8. Maintain compliance and renew annually

Impor­tant­ly, obtain­ing dona­tion deductibil­i­ty sta­tus is not a one-time event – your orga­ni­za­tion must main­tain com­pli­ance with all require­ments to keep that sta­tus. Under Aus­tri­an law, you (via your rep­re­sen­ta­tive) need to con­firm each year that your orga­ni­za­tion still meets the con­di­tions for char­i­ta­ble sta­tus. This involves sub­mit­ting a brief renew­al dec­la­ra­tion through Finan­zOn­line, typ­i­cal­ly with­in nine months after the end of your finan­cial year. In that dec­la­ra­tion, your rep­re­sen­ta­tive con­firms that the pur­pos­es and activ­i­ties remain unchanged and aligned with the approved statutes. If your statutes have been amend­ed, the updat­ed ver­sion must be pro­vid­ed. Addi­tion­al­ly, if your orga­ni­za­tion is sub­ject to a statu­to­ry audit (applic­a­ble to larg­er enti­ties), you will need an Aus­tri­an auditor’s cer­tifi­cate each year con­firm­ing that the pub­lic-ben­e­fit require­ments and prop­er account­ing stan­dards are met; this cer­tifi­cate is also filed via Finan­zOn­line. Start­ing from 2025, even orga­ni­za­tions new­ly rec­og­nized under the 2024 rules must com­ply with these annu­al con­fir­ma­tions. Fail­ure to sub­mit the renew­al or any sig­nif­i­cant non-com­pli­ance (e.g. devi­at­ing from the char­i­ta­ble pur­pose) can lead to a revo­ca­tion of the dona­tion deductibil­i­ty sta­tus by the tax office. In case of revo­ca­tion, your orga­ni­za­tion would be removed from the pub­lic list (with a ter­mi­na­tion date not­ed) and donors could no longer deduct con­tri­bu­tions after that date. There­fore, it’s cru­cial to stay on top of these oblig­a­tions. With the help of your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive, you can ensure time­ly fil­ings and ongo­ing adher­ence to Aus­tri­an reg­u­la­tions, keep­ing your hard-won sta­tus secure for the long term.

Legal Requirements and Process Under Austrian Tax Law

Understanding donation deductibility (Spendenbegünstigung)

In Aus­tria, Spenden­begün­s­ti­gung refers to the frame­work allow­ing dona­tions to cer­tain orga­ni­za­tions to be tax deductible for the donor. Unlike gen­er­al non-prof­it sta­tus (which can grant tax exemp­tions to the orga­ni­za­tion itself for cor­po­rate or VAT pur­pos­es), dona­tion deductibil­i­ty is a tax ben­e­fit for donors. Essen­tial­ly, if some­one donates to an approved orga­ni­za­tion, they can reduce their tax­able income by the amount of the dona­tion (sub­ject to legal lim­its). The key statute is § 4a of the Aus­tri­an Income Tax Act (EStG 1988), which stip­u­lates that only dona­tions to spe­cif­ic types of orga­ni­za­tions can be writ­ten off. Those orga­ni­za­tions must either be explic­it­ly named in the law or, more com­mon­ly, for­mal­ly rec­og­nized by the tax author­i­ties and list­ed on the government’s reg­istry of eli­gi­ble char­i­ties. Dona­tions to enti­ties not on this list (or made at a time when the enti­ty wasn’t yet approved) are not deductible. For for­eign char­i­ties, obtain­ing this sta­tus is cru­cial to unlock access to Aus­tri­an donors who increas­ing­ly expect that their con­tri­bu­tions are tax-effec­tive.

Criteria according to § 4a EStG and the BAO

To be grant­ed dona­tion deductibil­i­ty sta­tus, an orga­ni­za­tion must meet strin­gent cri­te­ria ground­ed in Aus­tri­an law, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the BAO’s sec­tions on char­i­ta­ble, benev­o­lent, and reli­gious pur­pos­es (§§ 34–47 BAO). Here are the fun­da­men­tal require­ments:

• Approved pub­lic-ben­e­fit pur­pose: The organization’s objec­tives must fall with­in the approved cat­e­gories (char­i­ta­ble or benev­o­lent caus­es). These include activ­i­ties that ben­e­fit the gen­er­al pub­lic in areas like relief of the poor, edu­ca­tion, sci­ence, art and cul­ture, health, youth and elder­ly care, envi­ron­men­tal pro­tec­tion, sports, and more. The BAO pro­vides an exten­sive list of what counts as gemein­nützig (char­i­ta­ble) or mildtätig (benev­o­lent). For exam­ple, advanc­ing edu­ca­tion or pro­tect­ing the envi­ron­ment would be con­sid­ered char­i­ta­ble, where­as help­ing peo­ple in urgent need is benev­o­lent. Your found­ing doc­u­ments should explic­it­ly state one or more of these pur­pos­es.
• Exclu­sive and direct use for the pur­pose: The orga­ni­za­tion must pur­sue its pub­lic-ben­e­fit goals exclu­sive­ly and direct­ly. This means all activ­i­ties and funds are direct­ed toward the char­i­ta­ble mis­sion with­out inter­me­di­ate non-char­i­ta­ble steps. If the orga­ni­za­tion has any sec­ondary (non-char­i­ta­ble) objec­tives, they must be strict­ly sub­or­di­nate to the main pur­pose and clear­ly iden­ti­fied as such in the statutes.
• Non-prof­it char­ac­ter (self­less­ness): The orga­ni­za­tion can­not be run for prof­it. No div­i­dends or prof­its can be dis­trib­uted to mem­bers, founders, or insid­ers. Any sur­plus income must be rein­vest­ed into the organization’s char­i­ta­ble activ­i­ties. There should be a clear pro­hi­bi­tion in the statutes against pri­vate ben­e­fits: nei­ther mem­bers nor relat­ed per­sons should receive any pecu­niary advan­tages from the funds (aside from rea­son­able com­pen­sa­tion for ser­vices, if applic­a­ble). Aus­tri­an guide­lines also sug­gest that admin­is­tra­tive expens­es should be rea­son­able (not exceed­ing rough­ly 10% of total expen­di­tures) to ensure that the major­i­ty of funds go to the cause.
• Asset ded­i­ca­tion clause: A crit­i­cal require­ment is the asset-lock pro­vi­sion in case of dis­so­lu­tion. The statutes must stip­u­late that if the orga­ni­za­tion is dis­solved or its char­i­ta­ble pur­pose ceas­es, all remain­ing assets will be trans­ferred to anoth­er orga­ni­za­tion with sim­i­lar tax-priv­i­leged pur­pos­es or oth­er­wise used for char­i­ta­ble aims as defined by law. This clause ensures the assets accrued with tax-ben­e­fit­ed dona­tions remain in the pub­lic ben­e­fit sphere. Aus­tri­an author­i­ties pay spe­cial atten­tion to this clause (as per § 4a(2) EStG and relat­ed BAO reg­u­la­tions); omis­sion or improp­er word­ing here is a com­mon rea­son for rejec­tion.
• Legal form and loca­tion: Only legal enti­ties qual­i­fy – typ­i­cal­ly cor­po­rate bod­ies such as asso­ci­a­tions, foun­da­tions, non-prof­it LLCs, etc. Indi­vid­u­als or part­ner­ships can­not obtain dona­tion deductibil­i­ty sta­tus for them­selves. For for­eign enti­ties, Aus­tri­an law requires that the orga­ni­za­tion be based in an EU Mem­ber State or a coun­try with com­pre­hen­sive admin­is­tra­tive assis­tance agree­ment (for exam­ple, coun­tries that exchange tax infor­ma­tion with Aus­tria). This is to ensure over­sight and trans­paren­cy. Addi­tion­al­ly, for­eign orga­ni­za­tions should appoint a local agent or rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria for offi­cial com­mu­ni­ca­tions, which ties into the role of a fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive.
• Com­pa­ra­ble for­eign orga­ni­za­tions: Aus­tria, fol­low­ing EU non-dis­crim­i­na­tion prin­ci­ples, allows for­eign char­i­ties to qual­i­fy if they are “com­pa­ra­ble” to Aus­tri­an ones. In prac­tice, this means your organization’s struc­ture and pur­pose should close­ly mir­ror what Aus­tri­an law demands of its domes­tic non-prof­its. If your NGO already ful­fills sim­i­lar cri­te­ria in its home coun­try (as many EU juris­dic­tions have anal­o­gous char­i­ty laws), it is like­ly deemed com­pa­ra­ble. How­ev­er, you still must go through Austria’s own recog­ni­tion process to be list­ed.

Application process overview

The process to obtain dona­tion deductibil­i­ty in Aus­tria has been stream­lined in recent years. As of 2024, thanks to a legal reform (Gemein­nützigkeit­sre­for­mge­setz 2023), vir­tu­al­ly all orga­ni­za­tions with char­i­ta­ble pur­pos­es can apply (pre­vi­ous­ly, some cat­e­gories like sports or art were exclud­ed, but now they are includ­ed). The appli­ca­tion must be filed elec­tron­i­cal­ly and in coop­er­a­tion with an Aus­tri­an tax pro­fes­sion­al:

1. Tax num­ber acqui­si­tion: If not already obtained, reg­is­ter for an Aus­tri­an tax ID (using the spe­cial Ver­f15a-Spend form for for­eign char­i­ties).
2. Elec­tron­ic sub­mis­sion via rep­re­sen­ta­tive: Pre­pare your appli­ca­tion through a tax con­sul­tant or audi­tor in Aus­tria who will sub­mit it via the Finan­zOn­line sys­tem. The law man­dates this elec­tron­ic sub­mis­sion route — an impor­tant point for for­eign appli­cants who might be used to paper fil­ings.
3. Review by tax author­i­ties: The Finan­zamt Öster­re­ich (specif­i­cal­ly the depart­ment han­dling char­i­ty mat­ters) will eval­u­ate your appli­ca­tion. They may involve experts to review your statutes in detail. This process checks com­pli­ance with § 4a EStG and BAO require­ments.
4. Deci­sion – Bescheid: If every­thing is in order, the author­i­ty issues a Bescheid (for­mal deci­sion) rec­og­niz­ing your orga­ni­za­tion. If there are issues, they might issue a pre­lim­i­nary refusal with an invi­ta­tion to cor­rect spe­cif­ic points. Through your rep­re­sen­ta­tive, you’ll have the chance to address any short­com­ings (e.g., by amend­ing your statutes and resub­mit­ting).
5. List­ing: Once approved, your orga­ni­za­tion is added to the offi­cial list on the Ministry’s web­site (search­able by name and also con­tain­ing the effec­tive dates). Being on this list is cru­cial — it’s the ref­er­ence that donors, employ­ers, and tax offices use to ver­i­fy deductibil­i­ty.
6. Ongo­ing com­pli­ance: The sta­tus doesn’t expire auto­mat­i­cal­ly, but as not­ed, you have year­ly oblig­a­tions to con­firm com­pli­ance. Aus­tri­an law doesn’t require a full re-appli­ca­tion each year, but it does require an annu­al state­ment of con­tin­ued eli­gi­bil­i­ty (and an auditor’s con­fir­ma­tion for larg­er bod­ies). This ensures that orga­ni­za­tions remain true to their char­i­ta­ble com­mit­ments and that any sig­nif­i­cant changes are report­ed.

For for­eign orga­ni­za­tions, one prac­ti­cal aspect is ensur­ing an address for ser­vice in Aus­tria. Aus­tri­an admin­is­tra­tive pro­ce­dures typ­i­cal­ly require a domes­tic address for offi­cial cor­re­spon­dence ( Zustel­ladresse ). By appoint­ing a fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive or process agent, you sat­is­fy this require­ment. All offi­cial let­ters (like the Bescheid or any queries) will be sent to the Aus­tri­an address, and your rep­re­sen­ta­tive will act on them accord­ing­ly. This set­up is not only legal­ly required but also ben­e­fi­cial – hav­ing some­one on the ground who under­stands the lan­guage and bureau­cra­cy pre­vents mis­com­mu­ni­ca­tion and delays.

In sum­ma­ry, Aus­tri­an tax law pro­vides a path­way for for­eign char­i­ties to ben­e­fit from domes­tic tax incen­tives, but it requires mir­ror­ing Aus­tri­an stan­dards of char­i­ty gov­er­nance and fol­low­ing the for­mal appli­ca­tion route. By dili­gent­ly prepar­ing your doc­u­ments and lever­ag­ing local exper­tise, a for­eign orga­ni­za­tion can indeed obtain dona­tion tax deductibil­i­ty in Aus­tria and enjoy the asso­ci­at­ed fundrais­ing advan­tages.

Fiscal Representative in Austria and Our Services

Nav­i­gat­ing Aus­tri­an tax reg­u­la­tions can be chal­leng­ing for for­eign enti­ties – this is where a fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria becomes invalu­able. As a firm spe­cial­ized in assist­ing inter­na­tion­al clients, we offer com­pre­hen­sive sup­port to for­eign entre­pre­neurs and non-prof­its engag­ing with the Aus­tri­an tax sys­tem. Our ser­vices are tai­lored to ensure you meet all require­ments effi­cient­ly and cor­rect­ly. Here’s how we can help as your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria:

• Full-Ser­vice Appli­ca­tion Han­dling: We act as your autho­rized rep­re­sen­ta­tive and han­dle the entire dona­tion deductibil­i­ty appli­ca­tion process from start to fin­ish. This includes obtain­ing the Aus­tri­an tax num­ber, prepar­ing the Finan­zOn­line elec­tron­ic appli­ca­tion, upload­ing all nec­es­sary doc­u­ments, and liais­ing with the tax office on your behalf. By entrust­ing us with the sub­mis­sion, you avoid com­mon pit­falls and ben­e­fit from our famil­iar­i­ty with the sys­tem. We under­stand exact­ly what the tax offi­cials look for, which doc­u­ments need empha­sis, and how to present your case con­vinc­ing­ly. Our goal is to make the appli­ca­tion as smooth as pos­si­ble, so you can secure the dona­tion tax ben­e­fit sta­tus with­out unnec­es­sary delays.
• Statute Review and Advi­so­ry: One of the biggest hur­dles for for­eign orga­ni­za­tions is ensur­ing that their gov­ern­ing doc­u­ments meet Aus­tri­an legal stan­dards. Our team will review your statutes (and oth­er found­ing doc­u­ments) and com­pare them against the cri­te­ria of § 4a EStG and the BAO. If we iden­ti­fy any gaps or red flags – per­haps the absence of a dis­so­lu­tion clause or an unclear state­ment of pur­pose – we will advise you on how to amend the word­ing. We can even coor­di­nate with legal experts to draft nec­es­sary addi­tions in line with Aus­tri­an require­ments. This proac­tive approach saves time: address­ing issues upfront means your appli­ca­tion is more like­ly to be approved on the first sub­mis­sion.
• Ongo­ing Com­pli­ance Sup­port: Obtain­ing sta­tus is just the begin­ning. We pro­vide ongo­ing sup­port to main­tain your tax-deductible dona­tions sta­tus in Aus­tria. This includes han­dling the annu­al con­fir­ma­tion fil­ings to renew your sta­tus, man­ag­ing the donor data sub­mis­sions each year (ensur­ing your donors’ con­tri­bu­tions are report­ed cor­rect­ly for their tax pur­pos­es), and alert­ing you to any changes in law or pro­ce­dure that might affect your oblig­a­tions. Fur­ther­more, if your orga­ni­za­tion under­takes any tax­able activ­i­ties in Aus­tria (for exam­ple, run­ning a fundrais­ing event with sales or oper­at­ing any trade to sup­port your cause), we offer guid­ance on reg­is­tra­tion for tax­es like VAT and ensure you remain com­pli­ant. Our Aus­tri­an fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tion ser­vice is holis­tic – cov­er­ing not just the Spenden­begün­s­ti­gung process but any fis­cal duties you may encounter.
• Com­mu­ni­ca­tion and Rep­re­sen­ta­tion: As your local rep­re­sen­ta­tive, we han­dle all com­mu­ni­ca­tion with Aus­tri­an author­i­ties. You won’t need to wor­ry about lan­guage bar­ri­ers or miss­ing impor­tant notices. From respond­ing to infor­ma­tion requests by the Finan­zamt, to fil­ing any appeals or clar­i­fi­ca­tions if need­ed, we’ve got you cov­ered. Our clients often appre­ci­ate that we serve as a sin­gle point of con­tact: you get updates and advice from us, and we take care of the tech­ni­cal dis­cus­sions with tax offi­cials. This ensures noth­ing gets lost in trans­la­tion and that your organization’s inter­ests are effec­tive­ly rep­re­sent­ed at all times.

By part­ner­ing with us, you gain a trust­ed ally in Austria’s reg­u­la­to­ry land­scape. We pride our­selves on mak­ing com­plex pro­ce­dures under­stand­able and man­age­able. With our exper­tise, many for­eign orga­ni­za­tions have suc­cess­ful­ly achieved what once seemed daunt­ing – full com­pli­ance and favor­able sta­tus with­in the Aus­tri­an tax sys­tem. We are ready to do the same for you.

In sum­ma­ry, our firm stands ready to be your “one-stop” solu­tion: a fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria who will guide you step-by-step, from the ini­tial con­sul­ta­tion through to the suc­cess­ful grant­i­ng of dona­tion deductibil­i­ty and beyond. We com­bine tech­ni­cal knowl­edge with a per­son­al­ized approach, ensur­ing you feel con­fi­dent and informed through­out the process. Let us han­dle the bureau­cra­cy while you focus on your core mis­sion – togeth­er, we’ll open the door for Aus­tri­an donors to sup­port your cause in the most tax-effi­cient way pos­si­ble.

Fis­cal Rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria – Your Part­ner for Dona­tion Deductibil­i­ty