Austrian Ministry of Finance updates its decree on the acceptance of foreign forms for certificates of residence

Overview

For Austrian-sourced income generated by a resident of a foreign state, it is generally possible to obtain relief at source from Austrian withholding tax (WHT) based on the relevant double taxation agreement (DTA) between Austria and the resident state. Consequently, no or only reduced WHT would have to be withheld by the domestic payor and the foreign income recipient would receive the payment without deduction. The prerequisite for this, however, is that the foreign tax administration uses the official Austrian forms ZS-Q1 for individuals and ZS-Q2 for corporations, which are mandatory under the DTA Relief Regulation, to certify the residency of the foreign income recipient. Accordingly, proof of residency on a foreign form is generally not accepted by the Austrian tax administration.

Decree of the Ministry of Finance

However, with the decree BMF-010221/0027-IV/8/2019 as of 29 January 2019, the Austrian tax authorities clarified that due to special agreements with the states of Mexico, Thailand, Turkey and the USA, the treaty eligibility of the foreign income recipient in these states can also be proven by means of a certificate of residence issued by the foreign competent authority on a foreign form if attached to the Austrian forms.

On 15 June 2021, the Austrian Ministry of Finance again published a decree (2021-0.401.077), whereby the previous decree of 2019 was revoked and the list of the above-mentioned DTA partner states, for which the certificates of residence on foreign forms are to be recognized by the Austrian tax authorities, was expanded to include two additional states:

• Chile (Decree 2020-0.549.140): The consultation agreement with Chile, effective as of 11 August 2020, provides that a residence certificate issued by the Chilean tax administration on the foreign form 3463 (or a form that subsequently will replace it) is also admissible in Austria, provided that it is attached to the Austrian forms. The application for a Chilean certificate of residence as well as its verification by the Austrian tax administration takes place in an electronic form at www.sii.cl.
  
  
• Spain (Decree 2021-0.390.150): As a result of the consultation agreement with Spain, a residence certificate issued electronically by the Spanish tax administration (Agencia Tributaria) and enclosed with the Austrian forms also must be recognized in Austria. The application for the Spanish certificate of residence as well as its verification by means of a verification code by the Austrian tax administration must be carried out online at https://www.agenciatributaria.gob.es/. Likewise, in the opposite case, for Spanish income of a person resident in Austria, the Spanish tax administration must recognize the certificate of residence by means of the Austrian ZS-AE or ZS-AD form for relief at source from Spanish WHT based on the relevant DTA.