REPORTING DEADLINE FOR CLAIMING THE ELECTRICITY DUTY EXEMPTION FOR PHOTOVOLTAIC SYSTEMS

In order to promote environmentally friendly energy production, the amendment to the Electricity Duty Act exempts self-consumption of self-generated electrical energy from photovoltaic systems from electricity duty retroactively as of 1 January 2020. The recently issued implementation decree (ElAbgG-UmsetzungsVO, BGBl II of 19.2.2021) regulates the conditions under which the exemption can be claimed and, in particular, provides for certain reporting obligations for energy producers. On 25 March 2021, the Austrian Ministry of Finance also published an order (GZ 2021-0.178.440 of 25 March 2021) on this electricity duty exemption.

Pursuant to Sec. 3 of the decree, the commissioning of a photovoltaic system for which an exemption pursuant to § 2 Z 4 Electricity Duty Act is claimed must be notified to the tax office in writing or electronically within 4 weeks. This also applies to existing systems for which a tax exemption is claimed as of 1 January 2020. Pursuant to Sec. 7 (3) of the decree, the tax office allows for a subsequent notification also until March 31, 2021.

According to the order issued by the Austrian Ministry of Finance, an informal notification is sufficient and is primarily intended to provide information on the existence of the system as a prerequisite for any further random checks.

In this notification, companies must also confirm the non-existence of EU-legal reasons for exclusion pursuant to Sec. 3 (6) of the decree and provide evidence upon request.

A breach of the notification and reporting obligation should not lead to an exclusion from the tax exemption, but may constitute a financial administrative offence.

In case the tax exemption shall be claimed for periods prior to April 1, 2020 (January to March 2020) companies must also report information on the fulfillment of the requirements of the Regulation on de-minimis-aid (Regulation (EU) No. 651/2014) by March 31, 2021 at the latest. In particular, information on subsidies claimed in the past three fiscal years that are subject to this EU Regulation, pursuant to Section 7 (4) of the decree has to be reported to the tax office.