New rules to facilitate tax refunds in Austria
Austria has entered its peak season for tax refunds as of March 1, 2026. With annual payslips submitted to the tax office by the end of February, residents can now claim refunds for the 2025 tax year.
The employee tax assessment, officially known as tax equalization, can result in significant payments. Previous cases have shown that refunds of several thousand euros are possible. However, experts warn that people who rely on the automatic calculation usually receive much less money than those who submit their claims actively.
A major change affects digital filing through FinanzOnline. Since October, registration has only been possible using ID Austria or two-factor authentication. Simple username and password access is no longer sufficient. Currently, around 84 percent of applicants use FinanzOnline for their tax submissions.
From January 2026, a new support option is available. Taxpayers can now be represented free of charge by trusted individuals such as relatives or friends. This service is especially helpful for pensioners and people with limited digital skills, and already about 5,500 Austrians are making use of it.
Tax equalization is particularly beneficial for people with work-related additional expenses, children eligible for tax deductions, and teleworking costs. For 2025, most adjustments are linked to inflation and affect tax allowances and negative income tax. The former home office allowance has been renamed the teleworking allowance, with unchanged eligibility rules. For self-employed workers, the revenue limit for the basic flat-rate allowance has been raised to 320,000 euros per year.