Corporate Tax in Austria: Rates for Foreign-Owned Companies

Corporate tax in Austria is a flat 23% on company profits, charged once at the federal level with no separate municipal or trade tax on top. An Austrian GmbH is taxed the same whether its owners are Austrian or foreign, which makes the country a clean, predictable base for international entrepreneurs and holding structures. This guide explains the rate, the minimum tax, how dividends and holdings are treated, and what foreign owners need to know. It is general information, not tax advice, and rules change.

Austria corporate tax at a glance

The 23% corporate income tax rate

Austrian companies pay corporate income tax, the Körperschaftsteuer, at a single flat rate of 23% on their taxable profit. The rate applies the same way whether profits are kept in the company or paid out to shareholders. It reached 23% in 2024, having been reduced from 25% to 24% in 2023 and then to 23%, which puts Austria comfortably in the mid-range of EU corporate rates.

The tax falls on companies that are resident in Austria, meaning they have their legal seat or their effective place of management in the country. That covers the limited liability company (GmbH), the stock corporation (AG), and other corporate bodies. If you are weighing where to base a GmbH in Austria, the headline number to plan around is this 23%.

Minimum corporate tax (Mindestkörperschaftsteuer)

Austria charges a minimum corporate tax that is due even in a year when the company makes a loss. It is modest, and it is not a penalty: it works as an advance that you can credit against real tax in later, profitable years.

So a newly acquired Austrian GmbH that has not yet turned a profit still owes €500 for the year, paid in quarterly instalments. Once the company is profitable, those amounts reduce the corporate tax you would otherwise pay, so over time they are not a true extra cost. This minimum has applied to a GmbH at €500 per year since 1 January 2024.

No trade tax: a single national rate

This is where Austria differs sharply from its larger neighbour. In Germany, a company pays corporation tax plus a solidarity surcharge and a municipal trade tax (Gewerbesteuer), which together push the effective rate to roughly 30%, varying by town. Austria has no equivalent municipal trade tax. Corporate profits are taxed once, at the federal level, at 23%.

That single-rate design has two practical benefits. The total is lower than Germany’s, and it is predictable: you do not need to factor in a local multiplier that changes depending on which municipality you register in. For a side-by-side picture, see our guide to corporate tax in Germany.

Dividend and withholding tax (KESt)

Corporate tax is charged at the company level. When the company then distributes profit to its shareholders, a separate withholding tax on dividends (Kapitalertragsteuer, or KESt) applies. The rate depends on who receives the dividend:

• Corporate shareholders: 23%.
• Individual shareholders: 27.5%.

Those headline rates are not the end of the story, because Austria gives generous relief to keep profits from being taxed twice inside a group. Dividends paid by one Austrian company to another Austrian company are generally exempt at the corporate level. And where the recipient is an EU parent company, the withholding tax can fall to 0% under the EU Parent-Subsidiary Directive, provided the parent has directly held at least 10% of the capital for one year and meets substance requirements. Understanding the tax on dividends from an Austria GmbH is essential before you design how profit flows out.

Participation exemption and holding companies

Austria is a well-known base for holding companies, and the reason is the participation exemption, which can make dividends and capital gains from qualifying shareholdings tax-free.

• Domestic participations: dividends a company receives from another Austrian company are generally excluded from the tax base, with no minimum stake and no minimum holding period.
• International participations: dividends and capital gains from a foreign subsidiary are exempt where the Austrian company holds at least 10% of the share capital for at least one year.

Combined with Austria’s broad treaty network, this makes the country attractive for grouping European investments under one roof. If you are building such a structure, our guide to a holding company in Europe covers how a DACH holding can fit together.

Want to understand your company’s tax position? Request a free callback with our lawyers, with no commitment. Talk to our team.

Group taxation (Gruppenbesteuerung)

Beyond the participation exemption, Austria offers a formal group taxation regime, the Gruppenbesteuerung. It lets a corporate group pool its results so that profits in one company can be offset against losses in another.

To form a tax group, the parent must directly or indirectly own more than 50% of the shares in the members. The taxable results of the domestic group members are then attributed to the group parent and taxed together. Losses from foreign group members can be used too, but only up to 75% of the combined profit of the domestic members. A group must commit for at least three years; leaving early reverses the benefits. For corporate groups with both profitable and loss-making arms, this regime is one of the clearest Austrian holding company tax benefits.

How foreign-owned companies are taxed

A common question from international clients is whether owning an Austrian company through a foreign parent or as a non-resident individual changes the tax. The short answer is no, the rate is the same 23%. What changes is the scope of what Austria taxes:

• A company that is resident in Austria (including a foreign-owned Austrian GmbH) is taxed on its worldwide income.
• A non-resident company without an Austrian seat or management is taxed only on its Austrian-source income, for example profit from a permanent establishment in Austria, gains on Austrian real estate, or dividends from Austrian subsidiaries.

So buying or forming an Austrian GmbH puts a foreign owner squarely inside the standard 23% system on the company’s worldwide profit, and there is no nationality or residency barrier to ownership. Our guides to company formation in Austria and opening a business bank account in Austria walk through the practical setup, and the tax obligations of a foreign GmbH owner often go hand in hand with the Austrian business residence permit.

VAT and other taxes

Corporate tax is separate from value-added tax. Austria’s standard VAT (Umsatzsteuer) rate is 20%, with reduced rates for certain goods and services. VAT is charged on sales and reclaimed on inputs; it is a tax on consumption, not on company profit, so it sits alongside the 23% corporate tax rather than adding to it. Companies that employ staff also deal with payroll and social-security contributions, which are outside the scope of this corporate-tax guide but matter for the total cost of running an Austrian entity.

The global minimum tax (Pillar Two)

Austria has implemented the OECD’s Pillar Two global minimum tax, ensuring a 15% effective minimum through the income inclusion rule (from 2024) and the undertaxed profits rule (from 2025). This is aimed at large multinational groups, generally those with consolidated revenue above €750 million. For an ordinary small or medium-sized Austrian GmbH, Pillar Two does not change the 23% rate or the figures above.

R&D and other incentives

Austria backs research with a concrete cash incentive. The research premium (Forschungsprämie) is 14% of qualifying R&D expenditure, paid as a refundable premium rather than a deduction, which means a company can benefit even in a loss year. An expert opinion from the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) confirms that the spending qualifies, and for subcontracted research the eligible base is capped at €1 million a year. Austria does not operate a patent box, so the research premium is the headline corporate incentive.

Filing, deadlines and compliance

An Austrian company files an annual corporate tax return and pays the tax in instalments through the year. The key obligations are:

• Tax year: the calendar year by default, though a company’s financial year may differ.
• Annual return: due by 30 June of the following year. If you are represented by an Austrian certified tax advisor, the deadline is extended, generally running from 1 October of the following year up to 31 March of the second following year.
• Prepayments: corporate tax is prepaid in quarterly instalments, with a final settlement after the assessment.
• Electronic filing: the annual corporate tax return and VAT return must be filed electronically.

Missing deadlines can trigger interest, penalties, or an audit, so most foreign owners delegate the filing and bookkeeping to a local advisor. We can handle the full compliance cycle for companies we set up or transfer.

Austria vs Germany vs Switzerland

Where you base a DACH company has a real effect on the tax bill. The headline picture:

Austria sits between high-tax Germany and the lower Swiss cantons, with the advantage of a single, predictable national rate and a strong holding regime inside the EU. For the full comparison, see Germany vs Switzerland vs Austria, our notes on corporate tax in Switzerland, and the wider context in our guide to low-tax countries in Europe. If you are still choosing an entity type, types of companies in Germany explains the GmbH, UG, AG, and KG forms that recur across the region, and an Austrian e-commerce GmbH shows how the rate applies to an online business.

Frequently asked questions

Official sources

• Austria, taxes on corporate income — PwC Worldwide Tax Summaries
• Austrian Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) — bmf.gv.at
• Corporate income tax (official business portal) — USP.gv.at

Want clarity on your Austrian tax position?

Contact Müller Konsult for help with an Austrian GmbH, from acquisition or formation to ongoing tax compliance. We explain your obligations, recommend a structure, and keep you on track for every deadline. Müller Konsult · Königsallee 27, 40212 Düsseldorf · +49 211 5403 8800 · info@gmbhforsale.com · Request a callback

Reviewed by Stefan Stelthove, Corporate & Commercial Lawyer, Müller Konsult. Last updated 7 June 2026. This is general information, not tax advice.

Related: Buy a GmbH in Austria · Company formation in Austria · Corporate tax Germany · Corporate tax Switzerland · Tax haven Europe