As of: July 2026 · Part 5 of the series “Reclaiming Withholding Tax” · Giulia Uggias-Sproß, Steuerberaterin (M.A. Taxation)
Austria withholds one of Europe’s highest dividend withholding rates at 27.5%. 12.5 points are reclaimable — but only if you don’t skip a step that almost no guide puts first.
On 1 January 2019 Austria introduced a procedure that, in this form, exists in no other country in this series. It is now set out in § 240a of the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code: persons with limited tax liability must submit a pre-notification in electronic form via a dedicated web form before applying. The application itself can then be filed solely with the signed printout of this pre-notification (§ 240a para. 2 BAO) — which is why the pre-notification is the entry ticket to the whole procedure.
If this pre-notification is missing, the application is no longer possible — no refund is then made. This is not a formal defect that can be cured by supplement. It is a condition of admissibility.
Second particularity: the pre-notification is only admissible after the end of the year in which the tax was withheld. For dividends from 2026 you can pre-notify at the earliest in 2027. An in-year application is excluded.
Example — gross dividend of €5,000 from Austrian shares:
Without a reclaim you pay noticeably more on an Austrian dividend than on a German one — for a neighbouring country with a shared language and identical currency.
The filing deadline is five years from the end of the year of the dividend payment. The legal basis is § 240 para. 4 of the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code, in force since 1 January 2023. This provision sets a uniform five years for all treaty refunds and expressly overrides any shorter period agreed in the treaty.
This point matters more than it looks: before 2023 only a four-year period applied to German applicants under the treaty, and older specialist articles therefore still cite four years to this day. For applications running today that is superseded — the five years under § 240 para. 4 BAO govern.
Five years is comfortable — but it tempts you to defer. And because the pre-notification is a separate, upstream step and the German tax office’s certificate of residence takes time, a start in December is too late here as well.
One application per calendar year must be filed. Unlike in Switzerland, several years cannot be bundled into one procedure — which considerably increases the effort when catching up over several years.
The procedure is thus a hybrid: starting electronically, ending on paper. Anyone doing only one part or the other has done nothing.
According to the information available to us, the Austrian administration charges no fee for processing — unlike France, a procedure that pays off even for medium amounts.
The pre-notification is skipped. By far the most expensive mistake, because it leads not to a query but to inadmissibility.
Application is made in-year. Nothing works for the current year. Anyone wanting in November 2026 to reclaim the dividend received in May 2026 must wait until 2027.
Anlage KAP is forgotten with foreign custody accounts. With domestic accounts the bank usually applies the creditable withholding tax automatically. With foreign accounts you must declare it yourself — otherwise you give away the 15 points on top of the 12.5.
Several years are packed into one application. One application per calendar year. A combined application over three years will not be processed.
A joint application is filed for a joint account. Spouses with a joint account cannot reclaim together. The Austrian Administrative Court has held (VwGH 28 June 2022, Ra 2020/13/0053) that a spousal community has no application entitlement of its own — each co-holder must file a separate application for their share of the withholding tax. Anyone holding a joint account should plan for double filing.
Austria, as an EU member state, falls under the EU directive on withholding tax relief, applicable from 1 January 2030. It provides for relief at source or a fast-track procedure with a limited processing time. Until then the current two-stage procedure remains.
Austria is procedurally demanding, but fee-free and with a long deadline — the constellation in which a structured catch-up of several years at once is most likely to pay off.
G-Tax Consulting advises on international tax law and the taxation of investments with cross-border ties. We advise in German, English, Russian and Italian.
This article reflects the legal situation as of July 2026 and does not replace individual tax advice.
