AUSTRIA Law and Practice Contributed by: Clemens Philipp Schindler and Mohamed Hemdan, Schindler Attorneys
Following the most recent update of the list in Febru - ary 2026, Fiji, Samoa, and Trinidad and Tobago have been removed from the list, while Vietnam and the Turks and Caicos Islands have been added to the list., so that the EU blacklist currently comprises ten juris - dictions: • American Samoa; • Anguilla; • Guam; • Palau; • Panama; • Russian Federation; • Turks and Caicos Islands; • US Virgin Islands; • Vanuatu; and • Vietnam. 5.4 Reporting Obligations and Disclosure Regimes Austria implements several mandatory reporting obli - gations, including as follows. Reporting of certain cross-border arrangements is required by the Austrian EU Reporting Requirement Act ( EU-Meldepflichtgesetz ), through which DAC6 was transposed into national law. Reporting is required for arrangements that pose a risk of tax avoidance, CRS circumvention, or obscur - ing beneficial ownership, if the first step occurred either between 25 June 2018 and 30 June 2020 or from 1 July 2020 onwards. Responsibility for reporting generally falls to interme - diaries (including those who design, market, organise, make available or manage the arrangement), although certain professionals (notaries, attorneys-at-law, certi - fied public auditors and certified public tax advisers) may be exempt. Arrangements are classified as either mandatory (reported regardless of tax advantage) or conditional (reported only if a main benefit is a tax advantage). Additionally, Austria implements transfer pricing reporting standards (including CbCR), which have been updated and amended recently by the Austrian
Transfer Pricing Documentation Act and published guidelines from the Austrian tax administration. As part of the implementation of EU Directive 2021/2101, there are also reporting obligations for financial years beginning after 21 June 2024, for the purposes of “public CbCR” ( CbCR-Veröffentlichun - gsgesetz ). More recently, Austria has implemented DAC8 (EU Directive 2023/2226), introducing the automatic exchange of information on crypto-asset income in line with the OECD reporting framework. This includes the adoption of a new Crypto Reporting Obligations Act ( Krypto-Meldepflichtgesetz ) and amendments to existing federal laws, including the Common Report - ing Standard Act and the EU Mutual Assistance Act. From 1 January 2026, crypto-asset service providers will be subject to enhanced reporting, due diligence and registration obligations, with transaction data to be reported to the competent authorities in the follow - ing year (for 2026 by 31 July 2027). Austrian tax law also includes a provision that enables the tax authorities to request from an Austrian interest payer the disclosure of the true economic recipient of the interest payments to ensure that tax-reducing payments at the payer’s level correspond to taxable income at the recipient’s level. In the case of non- compliance, the deductibility of the interest paid may be denied and further corporate income tax surcharg - es may be imposed. Beyond the reporting obligations, Austrian tax law provides for a highly relevant voluntary self-disclo - sure provision incorporated under the Austrian Fiscal Criminal Act, which enables taxpayers to avoid crimi - nal penalties for tax offences by proactively disclos - ing misconduct (and to pay the tax owed) before tax authorities detect or initiate proceedings. 5.5 Role of Tax Authorities and Enforcement Measures The Austrian tax authorities have extensive powers to detect and investigate tax fraud and evasion. The most important tools in practice are tax audits, which take place relatively regularly (every few years), where - as there is no fixed audit cycle prescribed under Aus -
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