Austria: 2023 Crypto Tax Ordinance in Force

Jan 20, 2023 Benn-Ibler Rechtsanwälte

On 1 January 2023, the Ordinance on the Tax Assessment of Cryptocurrencies (Verordnung zur Ermittlung der Steuerdaten von Kryptowährungen) came into force.

If the exact crypto purchasing costs or the purchasing dates are not known to the withholding agent, the taxpayer must provide the following information to the withholding agent:

• The acquisition date(s) or acquisition period(s);
• acquisition costs;
• information as to whether a tax-neutral exchange has taken place (i.e., an exchange of one cryptocurrency for another cryptocurrency).

The withholding agent can specify the content and structure of such information, whereby transmission by external service providers is allowed. The withholding agent must check the plausibility of the information provided by the taxpayer, whereby a standardised computer-aided verification system may be used.

In the case of successive purchases, the moving average price in euros must be stated as purchasing costs. This applies to all units of the same cryptocurrency at a cryptocurrency address or in a wallet.

Should there be any crypto units at an address or in a wallet that acquired before 1 March 2021 (old stock), the following shall apply:

• Taxpayers can choose which units are sold or transferred first.
• In case of doubt, the unit acquired earlier is deemed to be sold or transferred first.
• If a ranking is made as part of capital gains tax deduction, this ranking shall also apply to tax assessment.

In the case of current income from cryptocurrencies, the value of the cryptocurrencies received at the time of inflow shall be deemed that of their acquisition costs. Their value is determined from:

• The stock exchange price; if such a value does not exist,
• the price obtained from a cryptocurrency trader; or otherwise
• the price from a generally recognised web-based list that reflects current purchase prices for cryptocurrencies.

BGBl II 455/2022 (13.12.2022)