Austria e-Invoicing Guide

Austria has mandated e-invoicing for business-to-government (B2G) transactions since 1 January 2014. Suppliers to the Austrian federal government must send structured e-invoices: ebInterface or UBL through the Unternehmensserviceportal (USP), or UBL over Peppol. Foreign suppliers are obliged only as far as technically possible.

There is no B2B mandate, and an electronic invoice counts as an invoice for VAT purposes only if the recipient agrees to it. The accepted formats are ebInterface 4.3, 5.0, 6.0 and 6.1, and UBL 2.1, including Peppol BIS Billing 3.0. On request, businesses must supply data from computerised bookkeeping on data carriers, and SAF-T AT is one permitted format for it.

Suppliers to federal bodies have had to send e-invoices since 1 January 2014. From 18 April 2019 (central contracting authorities) and 18 April 2020 (all others), contracting authorities must accept EN 16931 e-invoices, but suppliers to bodies outside the federal government are not obliged to send them. B2B has no mandated timeline, though the EU's ViDA initiative may influence future requirements.

All suppliers to the Austrian federal government must issue invoices electronically in ebInterface 4.3, 5.0, 6.0 or 6.1, or UBL 2.1. Both can be sent through the USP; only UBL 2.1 can be sent over Peppol. Invoices sent to federal entities that are not in the correct electronic format will be rejected.

There is no B2B mandate, so businesses that exchange e-invoices with each other may use ebInterface or UBL 2.1 (including Peppol BIS Billing 3.0) as they see fit. B2C transactions are entirely outside the e-invoicing framework. Bookkeeping data must be supplied on request, and SAF-T AT is one of the permitted formats for it.

For B2G, suppliers send ebInterface or UBL 2.1 invoices to the federal government's e-Rechnung.gv.at platform through the USP, or UBL 2.1 invoices over Peppol. The platform validates the invoice and routes it to the correct government entity.

Austria follows a post-audit model: B2B invoices are not cleared by, or reported in real time to, the tax authority. Businesses that exchange e-invoices with each other can use the Peppol network.

Austria enforces B2G compliance through invoice rejection. Suppliers who submit non-electronic invoices to federal entities will have them returned, leading to payment delays. There are no fines for not using e-invoicing between businesses, since there is no B2B mandate. Wilfully breaching invoicing or record-keeping duties is a fiscal offence under § 51 of the Finanzstrafgesetz, with a fine of up to EUR 5,000.