Austria applies 0% VAT to small photovoltaic systems from 2024, later cut short to 1 April 2025
This page records one dated change. For the rules in Austria as they stand today, see the Austria guide →
- Jurisdiction
- Austria
- Tax
- VAT
- Change type
- Rate change
- Status
- In force
- Impact
- FYI
- Announced
- 22 December 2023
- Effective
- 1 January 2024
- Instrument
- AT-ACT-BGBl-I-Nr-152-2023
- Authority
- Rechtsinformationssystem des Bundes (RIS)
- Verified
- Fetched from official source · high confidence
Suppliers and installers of photovoltaic modules, and operators buying them, for systems of no more than 35 kWp on or near residential buildings, buildings used by public-law bodies, or buildings used by non-profit, charitable or religious bodies.
No action — the 0% rate ended for supplies from 1 April 2025 (end of 2025 for contracts concluded before 7 March 2025).
Article 10 of the Budgetbegleitgesetz 2024 (BGBl. I Nr. 152/2023, published 22 December 2023) added § 28 Abs. 62 UStG 1994. It applies a 0% VAT rate to supplies, intra-Community acquisitions, imports and installations of photovoltaic modules made after 31 December 2023, for the operator of a PV system with peak output of no more than 35 kWp. The system must be on or near a residential building, a building used by a public-law body, or a building used by a non-profit or charitable body. The original end date was before 1 January 2026. The Budgetsanierungsmaßnahmengesetz 2025 (BGBl. I Nr. 7/2025, published 18 March 2025) brought the end date forward: the 0% rate applies before 1 April 2025, or until the end of 2025 if the contract was concluded before 7 March 2025. Heat pumps and standalone storage retrofits are not covered.
What changed in detail
Article 10 of the Budgetbegleitgesetz 2024, published on 22 December 2023 as BGBl. I Nr. 152/2023, added § 28 Abs. 62 to the Umsatzsteuergesetz 1994.
By way of derogation from the normal rates in § 10, it applied a 0% VAT rate to the supply, intra-Community acquisition, import and installation of photovoltaic modules made after 31 December 2023 and, as enacted, before 1 January 2026. The conditions were:
- the supply or installation is made to the operator of the system, or the acquisition or import is made by the operator;
- the system’s peak output (Engpassleistung) is no more than 35 kWp; and
- the system is operated on or near a building used for residential purposes, a building used by a public-law body, or a building used by a body serving non-profit, charitable or religious purposes under §§ 34 to 47 of the Federal Fiscal Code (BAO). A system counts as “near” a building only if it sits on an existing building or structure on the same plot;
- no investment-subsidy application under the Renewable Energy Expansion Act (EAG) was filed for the system by 31 December 2023 (§ 28 Abs. 63 relaxes this for systems first commissioned before 1 January 2024).
On 18 March 2025, the Budgetsanierungsmaßnahmengesetz 2025 (BGBl. I Nr. 7/2025) replaced the end date “1. Jänner 2026” with “1. April 2025”. Where the contract was concluded before 7 March 2025, the period was extended to before 1 January 2026. The same amendment reworded the conditions sentence from “Dies gilt nur, wenn” to “Voraussetzung ist, dass” without changing its content.
What it means
This 0% rate is spent. BGBl. I Nr. 7/2025 cut it short at 1 April 2025, nine months before its original end date. Supplies and installations of PV modules from that date are taxed at the normal 20% rate. The only exception was contracts concluded before 7 March 2025, which kept 0% for supplies made up to 31 December 2025, and that window has also closed.
A 0% invoice is therefore correct only for qualifying supplies made between 1 January 2024 and 31 March 2025, or up to the end of 2025 under a contract signed before 7 March 2025. Heat pumps and stand-alone battery retrofits were never covered.
Proof
Abweichend von § 10 ermäßigt sich die Steuer auf 0% für die Lieferungen, innergemeinschaftlichen Erwerbe, Einfuhren sowie Installationen von Photovoltaikmodulen, die nach dem 31. Dezember 2023 und vor dem 1. Jänner 2026 ausgeführt werden bzw. sich ereignen.By way of derogation from § 10, the tax is reduced to 0% for supplies, intra-Community acquisitions, imports and installations of photovoltaic modules made or taking place after 31 December 2023 and before 1 January 2026.
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Archived from the official distribution · BGBl. I Nr. 152/2023 (Budgetbegleitgesetz 2024), ausgegeben am 22. Dezember 2023, Artikel 10 (§ 28 Abs. 62 UStG 1994) · ogd.ris.bka.gv.at
In § 28 Abs. 62 wird die Wortfolge „1. Jänner 2026“ durch die Wortfolge „1. April 2025“ ersetzt, nach dem ersten Satz folgender Satz eingefügt: „Erfolgte der Vertragsabschluss für diese Lieferungen, innergemeinschaftlichen Erwerbe, Einfuhren oder Installationen vor dem. 7. März 2025, verlängert sich der Zeitraum bis vor dem 1. Jänner 2026.“In § 28(62) the words "1 January 2026" are replaced by "1 April 2025", and after the first sentence the following sentence is inserted: "Where the contract for these supplies, intra-Community acquisitions, imports or installations was concluded before 7 March 2025, the period is extended to before 1 January 2026."
Source snapshot of the official page. Open full size ↗Archived from the official distribution · BGBl. I Nr. 7/2025 (Budgetsanierungsmaßnahmengesetz 2025), ausgegeben am 18. März 2025, Artikel 3 Z 2 · ogd.ris.bka.gv.at