AUSTRIA Trends and Developments Contributed by: Raphael Holzinger, Julia Hochreiter, Matthias Jancura and Claudia Synek, Grant Thornton Austria
lawyer is sufficient. The admissibility of the share transfer and the identity of the persons involved must be verified and both parties must be informed of the legal consequences of their declarations and any other require - ments for the transfer to be effective. • On the other hand, the articles of association of a FlexKapG must still be drawn up in the form of a notarial deed. • The acquisition of own shares by a FlexKapG is permitted under certain conditions, based on stock corporation law. Shares can be cancelled compulsorily or after acquisition by the company. • A conditional capital increase is permitted and is only carried out to the extent that an irrevocable conversion or subscription right is utilised. Such a capital increase can only be resolved for specific purposes (eg, to grant subscription rights to creditors of financing instruments or to prepare the merger of sev - eral companies). • In order to give shareholders a broad scope for capital procurement, the admissibility of issuing financing instruments with subse - quent subscription or conversion rights (eg, convertible bonds and income bonds, bonds with warrants and profit participation rights) is The advertising levy ( Werbeabgabe ) of 5% applies to the publication of advertisements in printed publications (eg, adverts) and on radio and television (eg, commercials), as well as to the use of areas and spaces for the distribution of advertising messages (eg, posters). Advertis - ing on the internet or in digital form is exempt from the advertising levy. As of 2020, online advertising services provided in return for pay - ment in Austria have been subject to a 5% digi - tal service tax. The advertising levy will remain stipulated in law. Digital service tax
in place alongside the digital service tax. This is intended to ensure that advertising is taxed equally, regardless of the form in which it is pro - vided. Digital service tax is applicable to companies that provide or contribute to online advertising services in return for payment and that generate a domestic turnover of at least EUR25 million and a worldwide turnover of at least EUR750 million per financial year from the provision of online advertising services. Online advertising providers are liable for digital service tax. As the new government in Austria enforces digitalisa - tion, the digital service tax gains more impor - tance. Online advertising services are advertising placements on a digital interface – in particu - lar, in the form of banner advertising, search engine advertising, etc. An advertising service is deemed to have been provided domestically if it is received on the device of a user with a domestic IP address and is aimed at domestic users in terms of content and design. The basis for calculating the new digital tax is the remuneration that the online advertising provider receives from a client. Expenses for advance services provided by other online advertising providers may be deducted from this. The digital service tax is a self-calculated tax. It must be paid monthly, at the latest by the 15th of the second month following the month in which the tax claim arises. An electronic annual return must be submitted by March 31st of the follow - ing year. Pillar Two In recent years, the international community has highlighted the importance of the introduction of
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