On 4 April 2019, Austrian Finance Minister and State Secretary are sending the first part of their digital tax package for assessment. The package provides for the introduction of a 5% digital tax on large digital corporations, a liability clause for digital agency platforms, and a compulsory VAT for digital retail platforms.
Under the package, a digital tax of 5% will be introduced for large digital corporations. This will be levied on online advertising revenue in relation to companies with global sales of EUR 750 million, of which EUR 25 million originate from digital advertising sales in Austria. EUR 15 million of this revenue will be used for the digital transformation process of Austrian media companies. “Both Austrian and traditional media face enormous challenges as a result of the market power of large digital corporations, and this cannot be overcome by solely using commercial business models. In order to strengthen Austria as a media location and to secure the country’s identity for the future, a digitalization fund will be set up.
