Complaint against a tax assessment (Austria)
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This document is in German
The PDF you download is in German — that is the language it has to be filed in, so it is not translated. Everything on this page is here to tell you what it says.
The complaint (Bescheidbeschwerde) against an assessment of Austria's tax office, the Finanzamt Österreich — an income tax or VAT assessment, for example — under § 243 of the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code (BAO), due within one month of service (§ 245 BAO). It contains what § 250 BAO requires: the assessment, the points contested, the changes sought and the grounds. Optional: suspension of collection (§ 212a BAO), since a complaint does not stop payment, direct referral, an oral hearing and a panel at the Federal Fiscal Court. Submit through FinanzOnline, by post or fax: an e-mail is no submission at all (§§ 85, 86a BAO). In German.
What you fill in
The details the document asks for.
- Sender
- Sender's address
- Phone
- Tax office and its PO box (the large-business office only if it keeps your tax account)
- City
- Date
- Austrian tax number (Steuernummer)
- Assessment: kind and period (e.g. income tax assessment 2025)
- Date the tax assessment was issued
- Date of service (DataBox: the day it arrived; if left at the post office: the first day it could be collected)
- Which points of the assessment you contest (e.g. expenses not allowed, or the whole assessment), in German
- What changes you ask for (e.g. allow expenses of €2,400), in German
- Grounds: what is wrong with the assessment and why, with facts and evidence, in German
- Evidence
- Whether the complaint should go straight to the Federal Fiscal Court, without the tax office's preliminary decision
- Oral hearing before the Federal Fiscal Court: whether you ask for one
- Decision by a panel (Senat) instead of a single judge: whether you ask for one
- Suspension of collection of the disputed amount until the complaint is decided: whether you ask for it
- Amount whose collection is to be suspended (only if you ask for it)
- How that amount is worked out (the additional payment under the assessment minus the figure sought in the complaint), in German
Preview
This document is produced for you. Your answers are typed into it and the finished PDF is yours to keep.
Common questions
- By when must a complaint against an Austrian tax assessment be lodged?
- Within one month of service (§ 245 Abs 1 BAO): served on 15 October 2026, the deadline ends on 16 November 2026, because 15 November 2026 is a Sunday (§ 108 Abs 2 and 3 BAO). An assessment in the FinanzOnline DataBox counts as served when it arrives there (§ 98 Abs 2 BAO), a letter without proof of delivery on the third working day after posting (§ 26 Abs 2 ZustG), a registered letter left at the post office on the first day it can be collected. If time is short, ask for an extension first (§ 245 Abs 3 BAO).
- Can a complaint be e-mailed to the tax office in Austria?
- No. At the tax office an e-mail is no submission at all, not even a defective one — the deadline would be missed (§§ 85, 86a BAO). Lodge the complaint through FinanzOnline, by fax, by post or in person. Days in the post do not count (§ 108 Abs 4 BAO) if the letter is addressed to the right tax office and handed to Österreichische Post AG; with another carrier it must arrive in time. Keep the posting receipt or the fax report.
- Must the tax be paid in Austria even though a complaint is pending?
- Yes: a complaint does not stop payment (§ 254 BAO). With an application to suspend collection (Aussetzung der Einhebung, § 212a BAO) — a choice in this document, or made separately later — the disputed amount can be left uncollected until the complaint is decided, and while the application is pending no enforcement may be taken (§ 230 Abs 6 BAO). In so far as the complaint fails, suspension interest of two percentage points above the base rate is charged; under €50 it is not (§ 212a Abs 9 BAO).
- What must a complaint under § 250 of the Austrian BAO contain?
- The assessment it is aimed at, the points contested, the changes sought and the grounds (§ 250 Abs 1 BAO). Bare figures are not grounds: say which facts are right and why the assessment treats them wrongly, and attach the receipts. If something is missing, the tax office orders it to be supplied within a set time (§ 85 Abs 2 BAO). Whether your grounds hold is not something the document judges; a tax adviser (Steuerberater) can.
- What do an oral hearing, a panel and direct referral mean at Austria's Federal Fiscal Court?
- The Federal Fiscal Court (Bundesfinanzgericht) holds an oral hearing only if it is requested in the complaint or in the request for referral (§ 274 Abs 1 BAO); the same goes for a decision by a panel (Senat) rather than a single judge (§ 272 Abs 2 BAO). A later letter is too late. If direct referral is requested, the tax office issues no preliminary decision, provided it passes the complaint to the court within three months (§ 262 Abs 2 BAO). The document records your choice; a tax adviser can advise.
How you can sign this document
- Print it and sign by hand. The signature lines in the document are left blank on purpose — sign on them in ink.
- Sign it yourself with a qualified electronic signature. If you already hold a QES — Evrotrust, B-Trust, StampIT, ZealiD or any qualified provider on the EU Trusted List, on a card, a USB token, in a mobile app or in the cloud — our signing guide explains step by step how to sign this exact file without invalidating it. Step-by-step help, and a way to check it worked
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Related documents
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The application to Austria's tax office, the Finanzamt Österreich, to set aside a tax assessment whose ruling is wrong, under § 299 of the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code (BAO) — the route once the one-month deadline for a complaint has passed. It must be lodged within one year of notification of the assessment (§ 302 BAO), names the assessment and says why it is wrong; a new assessment is issued together with the setting aside. Whether to set it aside is at the tax office's discretion. Through FinanzOnline, by post or fax: an e-mail is no submission at all (§§ 85, 86a BAO). In German.
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