2009 turnover tax statistics

2009 results

In the year under review 642 785 taxpayers generated a taxable turnover of €583.6 billion, of which €176.4 billion was tax-exempt. Taxable turnover was distributed between the two main tax levels of 20% and 10% in a ratio 79:21. Revenue for turnover tax totalled €22.3 billion in the year under review, including €14.9 billion in acquisition tax for imports from the EU and €3.0 billion in import turnover tax for imports from non-EU countries.

Turnover levels

Most of the taxpayers were in the lower turnover levels. While two thirds (66.5%) of all assessed entities had a taxable turnover of up to €100 000, their share of turnover amounted to only 2.1%. By contrast 0.15% of all taxpayers (with a taxable turnover of more than €70 million) generated half (49.4%) of total turnover. The average taxable turnover was €0.91 million.

Economic branches

The economic branches with the highest turnover were wholesale and retail trade, and manufacturing with a share of 53% of total turnover. Wholesale and retail trade also had the largest number of “genuine” enterprises with around 98 000 cases. The large number of 137 199 cases (at just over 21% the highest proportion of all taxpayers) in the “real estate activities” branch is due to the fact that this branch also comprises all the family households from properties with freehold dwellings which, although subject to turnover tax, are not enterprises in the traditional sense of the word.

Legal forms

80% of all persons and entities assessed for turnover tax were subject to income tax, the remainder being subject to corporation tax; of the latter, 78% were limited liability companies (Gesellschaften mit beschränkter Haftung, GmbH). In Austria one enterprise in seven had this legal form. 49% of total turnover was generated by these limited liability companies. Joint stock companies (Aktiengesellschaften) contributed 13% to the turnover volume even though only 0.2% of all enterprises had this legal form. 61% of all enterprises were sole proprietorships, yet their share of total turnover was only 8%.

Regional structure

Consideration of turnover tax according to regional aspects is problematic insofar as the tax assessment is made at the company’s place of domicile as a matter of principle. This distorts the picture in the case of banks and store chains in particular, as turnover is not recorded solely at the location at which it is generated. For this reason, any description according to regional aspects fails to provide an accurate picture of the Austrian economy. According to turnover tax statistics, 35% of all turnover was generated in Vienna (by just under 24% of all taxpayers), with a further 30% produced in Upper Austria and Lower Austria.

Note: The brochure 2009 Turnover Tax Statistics (in German only), complete with all tables, can be downloaded as a PDF file free of charge. Simply click the Publications sheet (see below).