Receipts in Austria: retention periods, Werbungskosten and business expenses

In short: In Austria you must keep receipts for seven years, counted from the end of the calendar year they relate to (§ 132 BAO). Documents relating to real estate must be kept for up to 22 years. This applies to businesses and to employees who claim Werbungskosten (work-related expenses) in their annual tax assessment: receipts are not sent in, but must be produced if the tax office asks. Digital copies are allowed as long as they remain complete, unchanged and readable.

Whether you are an employee in Vienna, a sole trader in Graz or a freelancer in Innsbruck, you deal with receipts, and the rules in Austria differ from Germany and Switzerland in a few places. The retention period is shorter, the small-invoice limit is higher, and you are even obliged to take the till receipt with you.

This article explains the retention obligation under the Bundesabgabenordnung (BAO, the Austrian Federal Fiscal Code), which receipts you need for Werbungskosten as an employee and for business expenses as a self-employed person, and how to organise your digital filing so the tax office and your tax advisor are satisfied.

How long do you have to keep receipts in Austria?

Seven years. § 132 BAO requires books, records and the associated receipts to be kept for seven years. The period starts at the end of the calendar year for which the entry was made or to which the receipt relates. An invoice dated 3 February 2026 must therefore be available until 31 December 2033.

Two extensions matter:

• If a tax procedure or court case is pending in which the documents are relevant, they must be kept until it ends, even beyond the seven years.
• Documents relating to real estate (purchase, construction, major repairs) must be kept for up to 22 years because of the input VAT adjustment rules in the Austrian VAT Act.

For comparison: Switzerland requires 10 years, Germany 8 years for accounting vouchers since 2025. The German rules are explained in How long to keep receipts in Germany.

Can receipts be kept digitally in Austria?

Yes. § 132 BAO allows storage on data carriers if a complete, orderly, content-identical and true-to-original reproduction is guaranteed at any time until the period expires. A scan of a paper receipt meets this if it shows the whole receipt legibly, is not altered afterwards and can be retrieved within the period. The paper can then be discarded; the original is only needed for special documents such as certified contracts.

In practice, for a till receipt from the hardware store: photograph it, save it as a PDF, check the date and amount, file it in a folder for the year. Belego turns this into a single step: the app crops the photo, saves it as a PDF and reads amount, date, merchant and category. Everything stays on your device, and the export for one year delivers all PDFs plus a CSV list. This matters most for thermal receipts, which are often unreadable after two or three years while the retention period still has four years to run.

Which receipts do you need for Werbungskosten in Austria?

As an employee you need a receipt for every Werbungskosten item showing the payment, the date and the type of expense, even though you do not submit it with the annual assessment (Arbeitnehmerveranlagung). The tax office can request receipts afterwards, and then you have to produce them. The Austrian Ministry of Finance explicitly recommends keeping receipts for seven years.

A flat allowance for Werbungskosten of 132 euros per year is already built into payroll. Actual expenses therefore only make a difference once they add up to more than 132 euros. Typical items that require receipts:

• Work equipment: laptop, tools, professional literature, work clothing that qualifies as a uniform. Purchases above 1,000 euros are depreciated over their useful life.
• Training, further education and retraining: course fees, exam fees, travel costs.
• Internet and telephone: the work-related share, estimated and justified.
• Travel costs on business trips that the employer does not reimburse.
• Membership fees for professional associations and staff representation bodies.

The commuter allowance (Pendlerpauschale) and the Pendlereuro need no purchase receipt but a calculation using the Ministry of Finance's commuter calculator. For the home office allowance, the days reported by the employer on the annual pay slip count. For a comparison with Germany, where the same term works slightly differently, see Werbungskosten in Germany.

Which receipts do self-employed people need for business expenses?

As a sole trader or freelancer you need a receipt for every business expense showing the service, the amount, the date and the supplier. Without a receipt the expense is struck out in an audit, and without an invoice there is no input VAT deduction. Two Austrian particularities make everyday life easier:

1. The small-amount invoice (Kleinbetragsrechnung) in Austria applies up to 400 euros gross (§ 11 (6) UStG). Up to that amount a till receipt with the seller's name and address, date, type and quantity of the supply, gross amount and VAT rate is enough. Your name does not have to appear.
2. The obligation to issue receipts (Belegerteilungspflicht, § 132a BAO) has required businesses since 2016 to issue a receipt for cash payments, and requires you as the customer to accept it. So you almost always get a receipt; you just have to take it with you.

If a receipt is missing anyway, you can write an Eigenbeleg (self-made receipt) as in Germany; it counts for income tax, not for VAT. The requirements are described in The Eigenbeleg. Hospitality costs are only half deductible and only if an advertising purpose can be shown; note the occasion and participants on the receipt. What counts as a business expense is broadly similar in Germany and Austria; the article on business expenses and receipts gives an overview.

How to organise receipts for the seven years

One folder per year, inside it one folder per month, and each receipt as a PDF with date, merchant and amount in the file name. That is the whole system. It works on a computer, in an app and for your tax advisor alike.

A realistic routine for a sole trader:

1. Photograph the receipt on the day of purchase, check the category, add a short note (client, project, occasion).
2. At the end of the month export the month: ZIP with PDFs and CSV, into the year folder on your computer, then back it up.
3. In January send the annual export to your tax advisor together with the bank statements.
4. Every January delete the folder whose period has expired (in 2026: receipts up to 2018), except where proceedings are pending or real estate is involved.

How to prepare the handover so the firm bills fewer hours is covered in Handing receipts to your tax advisor.

Note: This article is general guidance, not tax advice. The law, official guidance and the information you receive from your tax office or tax advisor (Steuerberater) take precedence.

Frequently asked questions

Do I have to upload receipts to FinanzOnline with my employee tax assessment?

No. No receipts are submitted with the Arbeitnehmerveranlagung, neither on paper nor in FinanzOnline. You only enter the amounts. The tax office can, however, request receipts within the period, usually by a supplementary request with a deadline of a few weeks. Anyone who cannot produce the receipts then loses the deduction.

Is a bank statement enough as a receipt in Austria?

For income tax a bank statement combined with a description of the expense can serve as proof if no other receipt exists. For input VAT it is not enough, because it shows neither the supply nor the VAT rate. So keep the invoice or till receipt and use the bank statement only as a supplement.

Does the retention obligation also apply to private individuals without a business?

The obligation in § 132 BAO applies to taxpayers who keep books or records. For private individuals it applies indirectly: anyone claiming Werbungskosten, special expenses or extraordinary burdens must be able to produce the receipts on request, and the tax office can amend assessments within the limitation periods. Seven years is a good rule of thumb for private receipts too.

What happens if I lost receipts and the tax office asks for them?

The tax office can estimate or strike out the expense. First try to obtain a replacement: a copy of the invoice from the merchant, an order confirmation from the online shop, a bank statement showing the payment. For small amounts with no replacement, a self-made receipt with date, payee, amount and purpose can help. It is often accepted if plausible, but there is no guarantee.