Input VAT deduction and invoice requirements

You can deduct the tax on goods and services another business supplied in Austria for your business and showed separately on an invoice. A purchase counts as made for your business if at least 10 % of its use is business use. If you are taxed on payments received (cash accounting for VAT), you must also have paid the invoice; exceptions apply, among others, above EUR 2,000,000 prior-year turnover.

An invoice above EUR 400 needs these details (§ 11 Abs. 1 Z 3 UStG): name and address of supplier and customer, quantity and usual description of the goods or type and extent of the service, date or period of supply, the net price and tax rate, the tax amount, the issue date, a sequential invoice number and the supplier's VAT number. For an exempt supply the invoice must note the exemption; small businesses need not show a VAT number.

If the total exceeds EUR 10,000, your VAT number must also appear when the supplier is based or has a permanent establishment in Austria and you buy for your business. If the tax liability passes to you (reverse charge), the invoice shows your VAT number and a note on the transfer of liability, but no separate tax amount (§ 11 Abs. 1a UStG).

For invoices up to EUR 400 gross a simplified invoice is enough (§ 11 Abs. 6 UStG): supplier name and address, quantity and description of the goods or type and extent of the service, date of supply, price and tax in one amount, the tax rate and the issue date. Customer name, invoice number and VAT number may be missing. If supply and invoice dates are the same, a note such as „Rechnungsdatum = Lieferdatum“ is needed. You work out the input VAT from the gross amount: EUR 198 at 20 % gives EUR 33. The simplification does not apply to distance sales or to supplies in other EU countries that require an invoice.

Electronic invoices, including a PDF sent by e-mail, count as invoices if you as recipient agree and the authenticity of origin, integrity of content and legibility are ensured (§ 11 Abs. 2 UStG).

There is no deduction where you use purchases for exempt supplies, for example as a small business. For passenger cars, estate cars and motorcycles, deduction is generally excluded (§ 12 Abs. 2 Z 2 lit. b UStG). Vehicles with CO₂ emissions of 0 g/km follow the general rules (§ 12 Abs. 2 Z 2a UStG); for passenger and estate cars the reasonableness cap (Angemessenheitsgrenze) still applies.