Russia added to EU’s “blacklist”

Special attention necessary where Russian participating interests are involved The most recent meeting of the EU finance ministers (ECOFIN) resulted in changes to the list of non-cooperative jurisdictions for tax purposes. On 14 February 2023, the finance ministers of the EU member states resolved to add four jurisdictions to the blacklist. Besides the Russian Federation, […]

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EU Member States unanimously adopted the EU directive on global minimum tax (“Pillar II”)

On 15 December 2022, the Council of the EU formally adopted the directive on ensuring a global minimum level of taxation for multinational enterprise groups and large-scale domestic groups in the Union. Hungary was the last EU member state to agree to the EU directive, the required unanimity has been reached. Therefore, EU member states […]

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Romania: Obligatory Public Country-by-Country Reporting (CbCR) beginning in 2023

On 21 December 2021, a new EU Directive (“Directive (EU) 2021/2101”) entered into force. Under the Directive, companies are required to publish a so-called “report on income tax information” (“Public CbCR”). Romania was the first EU Member State to implement the directive into national law. Therefore, for financial years beginning on or after 1 January […]

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New approach to withholding tax relief for personnel leasing

For the Austrian Ministry of Finance (BMF), the ruling of the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) of 23 April 2021 (Ra 2020/13/0089) provided the impetus to conduct a pragmatic overhaul of withholding tax relief in the form of the Ordinance on Withholding Tax Relief for Personnel Leasing. Initial situation As foreign employers are subject to limited […]

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New VwGH case law on the PE definition in tax treaty law

A new decision of the Austrian Supreme Administrative Court (VwGH) (22.6.2022, Ro 2020/13/0004) was recently published regarding the definition of a “fixed place” under tax treaty law. For a fixed place to exist, a taxable person must have power of disposal over it. For Austrian tax purposes, a decisive hallmark of the existence of a […]

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Changes concerning withholding tax for Software-as-a-Service and Infrastructure-as-a-Service

Under many Austrian double tax treaties, the remuneration for “industrial, commercial or scientific equipment” is treated as royalties subject to withholding tax (WHT). In a change from the previous interpretation, the Austrian Ministry of Finance has now stated that intangible assets (e.g. software) do not fall under the category of “equipment”. This has significant implications […]

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Changes for airbnb, willhaben and other platforms: publication of consultation draft of the Austrian Digital Platform Reporting Requirement Act (DPMG), also known as “DAC 7”

The EU’s DAC 7 Directive, which was published at the start of 2021, envisages an annual reporting requirement for digital platforms, whether they are resident within or outside the EU, as well as provisions on the automatic exchange of information (see Newsletter of 11 August 2021). The goal is to use automatic exchange of information to create […]

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Austrian Tax Court declares horizontal group to be permissible

In a decision of 31 March 2022 (RV/7104573/2020), the Austrian Federal Tax Court (BFG) has stated – contrary to the wording of Sec 9 Austrian Corporate Income Tax Act (KStG) – that a company group between Austrian affiliates is permissible even if the joint parent company is resident abroad and does not have a branch in Austria. […]

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Remote working simplifications with Germany due to COVID-19 set to expire

The Austrian Consultation Agreement with Germany contains special rules concerning the application of the double taxation treaty, which were introduced due to the pandemic. Accordingly, employers that are resident in Germany would not be deemed to have created a permanent establishment (“PE”) in Austria if an employee who is resident in Austria works from a […]

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Amendment of the Austria-UAE tax treaty

Last summer, Austria signed a Protocol amending the Double Taxation Treaty (DTT) with the United Arab Emirates (UAE) of 2003. The document provides for significant changes in certain areas. The Protocol was ratified in Austria at the end of 2021. In the UAE, government approval for the Protocol has been granted, although final ratification has […]

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