BMF: Comprehensive administrative assistance in the area of income taxes
The Federal Ministry of Finance (BMF) has published the information “Comprehensive administrative assistance in the area of taxes on income” for the year 2025 and thus a list of those countries with which “comprehensive administrative assistance” will exist from 1 January 2025.
Austrian tax law requires the existence of so-called “comprehensive administrative assistance” for certain taxable items. A cross-border exchange of information is envisaged and required in particular for the subsequent taxation of foreign losses (Sec 2 (8) EStG), the preferential treatment of donations (Sec 4a (4) EStG) or the exemption of investment income (Sec 10 (1) no. 6 KStG).
Comprehensive administrative assistance
Comprehensive administrative assistance is seen by the Federal Ministry of Finance as a “large-scale” exchange of information, which thus exceeds the scope of the information required for the mere bilateral application of an agreement. The relevant legal bases for this are currently Directive 2011/16/EU, the multilateral administrative assistance agreement, DTA information clauses and Tax Information Exchange Agreements (TIEA).
The following list of countries was published on 9 December 2024 to clarify the question of which countries or territories are subject to “comprehensive” administrative assistance:
Comprehensive administrative assistance in the area of taxes on income (1 January 2025)
Accordingly, “comprehensive” administrative assistance exists with the following states and territories as of 1 January 2025
Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Azerbaijan, Australia, Bahamas, Bahrain, Barbados, Belarus*, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, British Virgin Islands, Brunei, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Chile, China (People’s Republic of), Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Curaçao, Denmark, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Estonia, Eswatini, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Gibraltar, Grenada, Greece, Greenland, Guatemala, Guernsey, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Iceland, Isle of Man, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jersey, Jordan, Cayman Islands, United Kingdom, Jersey, Jordan, Cayman Islands, Cameroon, Canada, Cape Verde, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Kenya, Colombia, Korea (Republic of), Croatia, Kosovo, Kuwait, Latvia, Lebanon, Liberia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macau, Malaysia, Maldives, Malta, Marshall Islands, Morocco, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Moldova, Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Montserrat, Namibia, Nauru, New Zealand, Netherlands, Nigeria, Niue, North Macedonia, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Rwanda, Romania, Russia*, Samoa, San Marino, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, Switzerland, Senegal, Serbia, Seychelles, Singapore, Sint Maarten, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Spain, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, South Africa, Tajikistan, Taiwan (Chinese Taipei), Thailand, Czech Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Uganda, Ukraine, Hungary, Uruguay, Vanuatu, Venezuela, United Arab Emirates, United States of America, Vietnam and Cyprus.
In contrast to the list of countries last published by the BMF on 6 December 2023, Benin, Burkina Faso and Papua New Guinea are now also listed as countries with comprehensive administrative assistance. The countries Belarus and Russia are still included in the list – but marked separately (*); Austria has not exchanged information with either country since March 2022.
