Stricter Real Estate Tax Rules in Austria from July 2025: BG 2025 reform changes how share deals and property companies are taxed

Brief Summary

Austria’s 2025 Tax Reform intro­duces sig­nif­i­cant changes in the real estate acqui­si­tion tax sys­tem, espe­cial­ly for cor­po­rate share trans­fers and real estate com­pa­nies. These changes apply from July 1, 2025 and require ear­ly prepa­ra­tion. Heinz Kobled­er – Tax Advi­sors acts as your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria, ensur­ing legal cer­tain­ty and com­pli­ance.

Background of the Legal Amendment

As part of the imple­men­ta­tion of the 2025–2029 gov­ern­ment pro­gram, the tax-relat­ed sec­tion of the BBG 2025 was pub­lished for review on May 2, 2025. A key com­po­nent con­cerns the Real Estate Trans­fer Tax Act (GrEStG). The goal is to close tax loop­holes, espe­cial­ly regard­ing so-called share deals, which have so far allowed avoid­ance of real estate trans­fer tax.

What’s Changing Under the BBG 2025?

1. Shareholding threshold reduced to 75%

Under cur­rent rules, real estate trans­fer tax is trig­gered if 95% of com­pa­ny shares are acquired by one par­ty. Start­ing July 2025, this thresh­old is reduced to 75%, and the obser­va­tion peri­od is extend­ed from 5 to 7 years.

2. Capital companies now included

The rules now apply to cap­i­tal com­pa­nies (e.g. GmbHs), not just part­ner­ships, widen­ing the tax net to many typ­i­cal real estate hold­ing struc­tures.

3. Introduction of “real estate company” definition

A new legal cat­e­go­ry defines a real estate com­pa­ny as one where:

• The company’s pri­ma­ry assets con­sist of real estate, or
• Rev­enue comes main­ly from sell­ing, rent­ing or man­ag­ing prop­er­ties

Such com­pa­nies are now explic­it­ly sub­ject to real estate trans­fer tax for share trans­ac­tions and restruc­tur­ings.

4. Taxation of indirect share transfers

Even indi­rect trans­fers through group struc­tures (e.g. sub­sidiaries, hold­ing chains) can now trig­ger tax­a­tion. This aims to stop tax avoid­ance using com­plex cor­po­rate setups.

5. New tax burden on restructurings

Reor­ga­ni­za­tions like merg­ers, spin-offs or con­tri­bu­tions in kind may now result in tax lia­bil­i­ties — even if no mon­e­tary trans­ac­tion occurs — with a pos­si­ble tax rate of 3.5%.

Why This Matters for Foreign Investors

For­eign investors with Aus­tri­an real estate inter­ests should review their struc­ture. Key risks include:

• Share trans­fers being mis­tak­en­ly untaxed
• Group reor­ga­ni­za­tions unin­ten­tion­al­ly trig­ger­ing Aus­tri­an tax
• Legal uncer­tain­ty with­out local exper­tise

Heinz Kobled­er – Tax Advi­sors can act as your fis­cal rep­re­sen­ta­tive in Aus­tria to ensure:

• Tax com­pli­ance
• Effi­cient struc­tur­ing
• Prop­er doc­u­men­ta­tion and fil­ing

Conclusion

The BBG 2025 intro­duces a fun­da­men­tal shift in how Aus­tria tax­es share-based real estate trans­ac­tions. Multi­na­tion­al groups and for­eign investors must pre­pare ear­ly to avoid tax expo­sure. Heinz Kobled­er – Tax Advi­sors is your reli­able part­ner for com­pli­ant and tax-effi­cient imple­men­ta­tion.