Austria
27.5 percent capital gains tax from the first euro, no allowance, no holding-period exemption. Accumulating funds get taxed annually via deemed-distribution income.
Capital gains, dividends, bond income, derivatives, and cryptocurrencies are taxed at 27.5 percent. Unlike Germany, there's no allowance, the tax applies from the first euro.
There's also no holding-period exemption. Whether you held a stock for a week or twenty years, the gain gets taxed the same way. Interest on savings accounts and daily-access accounts is taxed at 25 percent.
For accumulating funds, undistributed income counts as deemed-distribution income and has to be taxed annually, even with no money actually flowing to you. Whether that happens automatically depends on whether it's a reporting fund that submits its data to the control bank.
Two practical points: choose a tax-simple broker with an Austrian custodian, and everything runs automatically. And check an ETF's reporting-fund status, or your tax return becomes a lot of work.
The 27.5 percent rate applies to capital gains, dividends, and ETF income from the first euro with no allowance; the legal basis is the special tax rate under Section 27a of the 1988 Income Tax Act, and the tax is withheld at the point income arrives, meaning at sale or distribution.
For foreign dividends, Austria credits at most 15 percent of foreign withholding tax against the 27.5 percent under double taxation treaties, leaving 12.5 percent due domestically; withholding beyond that can only be recovered through a refund claim abroad. Realized losses get automatically offset within the account, but carrying a loss forward into the next year isn't possible.
Deviating from the special tax rate, non-securitized derivatives like CFDs and currency trades without a derivative generally fall under the progressive income tax rate of 0 to 55 percent; some domestic brokers voluntarily withhold a corresponding tax. This distinction between securitized and non-securitized products is the practically most significant peculiarity of the Austrian system.
Summary
- 27.5 percent from the first euro, no allowance, no holding period.
- Accumulating funds get taxed annually, even with no cash flow.
- CFDs fall under the progressive rate, not the flat capital gains tax.
Did you get it?
Does Austria have an allowance like the German saver's allowance?
No. The capital gains tax applies from the first euro.
How much foreign withholding tax gets credited?
At most 15 percent under double taxation treaties, leaving 12.5 percent due domestically.
How are CFDs taxed?
As non-securitized derivatives, generally under the progressive income tax rate of 0 to 55 percent.
Sources and further reading
- Section 27a of the 1988 Income Tax Act, Federal Ministry of Finance
- Overviews of KESt treatment for securitized and non-securitized derivatives, as of 2026